Rizal and the art of living

In an earlier time, philosophy was understood not as the theoretical subject that we know today, but simply as the art of living.  The philosopher’s concern was the practical task of creating a self — an unforgettable human being, a meaningful life — from the raw material supplied by chance. People like Socrates, Montaigne, Nietzsche, … Read more

The bombs of Christmas

To many people in the outside world, there is no longer any question that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein has become a menace not only to the international community, but to his own country above all.  Here is the head of a nation who uses his country’s earnings from oil exports not to feed, clothe, or educate … Read more

A rapist’s smirk

Something about the way Leo Echegaray looks on television and in his newspaper photos makes it very difficult to summon sympathy for him as a man about to be executed.  He wears a faint smirk on his face.  It may be the sneer of contempt of a prisoner for a public that he stubbornly believes … Read more

When siblings meet

Rare is the Filipino family nowadays that has none of its members living abroad.  We have long become a nation of emigrants and, though our own diaspora may not come close to that of the Jews and the Chinese, we know that a good part of our national soul now resides in distant shores.  We … Read more