The title belongs to a short essay by the great modern Chinese writer Lu Hsun. He had written it just a few months before he died. Recurrent illness exhausted him so much he likened it to excessive manual work. It was during moments of recuperation, between sleeping and staring blankly at nothing, that he discovered … Read more
Apart from the deaths and the huge losses in property, the Pinatubo lahar’s greatest impact on the people of Pampanga has been the defamiliarization of the landscape. The landmarks we knew as children — the old houses, the majestic trees, the placid rivers, the stolid churches and the abundant markets — are all gone, erased … Read more
There is something humiliating in suffering and something elevating and superior in sympathy. Which is why these two sentiments, said Nietzsche, will always be strained. Their interaction must be handled with care. The problem of lahar in Pampanga is compounded by the fact that its victims have been unable to bear their suffering with dignity. … Read more
For 87 years, Oseola McCarty of Hattiesburg, Mississippi lived her life in total simplicity and anonymity. Today, she is America’s new-found hero. Recently the New York Times paid homage to this wonderful black woman in an editorial, and US President Bill Clinton asked her to be his date at a testimonial dinner at the White … Read more
Sarah Balabagan is only 16 years old. By the standards of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, she is just a child. By the norms of the majority in the civilized world, 150 countries that have ratified that Convention, she should not be in a regular prison, let alone sentenced to … Read more
What is interesting about the Catholic Church’s position on the reported Marian apparitions in Agoo is that while it claims there was nothing supernatural in the occurrences, it did not say that miracles could not happen. The Church Commission that investigated the Agoo phenomena and the devotees who are now protesting its findings actually share … Read more
“Look at the world through women’s eyes” admonished the souvenir T-shirts, bags, umbrellas, banners and posters from the NGO Forum on Women. It is an eloquent slogan, poetic and immensely more powerful than the official UN Fourth World Conference’s own “Development, Equality and Peace”. The struggle for women’s rights must indeed begin with a change … Read more
Senator Edgardo J. Angara’s rise to political power has largely passed unnoticed. This may partly be ascribed to his non-confrontational and noncontroversial persona. His style is that of the quiet consensus-builder; he threatens no one. He is not a leader of great charisma. But he gets things done. He is an organizer, not an ideologue; … Read more
I first met Mang Pandoy in 1989. He grew all kinds of vegetables then on a strip of cogon land inside the UP campus, and I was one of his regular customers. I distinctly remember how this city farmer jauntily watered his plants, balancing a pole on his shoulders with two sprinklers on both ends. … Read more
Civility is the art of living with others. It is also what we so terribly lack in this country. Those who have money, power and technology go about their daily business, completely unmindful of the effects they create on the life circumstances of others. The State, whose function it is ideally to balance these effects … Read more