№ 474. When You Believe

[MIRIAM]

[Verse 1]
Many nights we've prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood
Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains long before we knew we could

[Chorus]
There can be miracles when you believe
Though hope is frail it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

[TZIPPORAH]
[Verse 2]
In this time of fear when prayer so often proved in vain
Hope seemed like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away
Yet now I'm standing here

[MIRIAM]
Now I'm standing here

№ 473. Vitamin S (Science)

Taiwan scientists find antibody that fights coronavirus.

BUT...

As many experts have reminded us, it will take about 12-18 months AT BEST to have a vaccine. 

Many viral diseases like polio, flu, chicken pox, hepatitis, etc. took many years, even decades, to manage with an effective and affordable vaccine. We will have to put in a community of resources --- time, scientists, governments, funds, cooperation and goodwill, etc. --- to invent another "miracle" of science. 

We need unity in diversity.

AND...

To be philosophical about this collective pandemic experience, it makes me appreciate how wonderful it is to be alive and how truly worth saving humanity is. Because what is the other path? Death? Despair? Descent into chaos?

№ 472. Cynicism is Sanity 2

Virus misinformation has human costs. It's very real. Lives are at stake.

"In one case we verified, a 5-year-old boy went blind after his parents plied him with illegal booze in an attempt to fight the disease."

How do we navigate across the lies, falsehoods and other misuses of information? Cynicism.

Here's the ABC of cynicism.

A - Ask for proof.
B - Be doubtful.
C- Confirm the information from reliable, independent sources.

Critical Thinking versus Fake News

№ 471. Time

"You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space." --- Kahlil Gibran

№ 470. World War C

This a test.

A test to see if we can rise above our differences. To see if we can unite as one community of nations. The enemy is not the other. It is not China. Our enemy is our selfishness, divisiveness, opportunism, our inability to see what's beyond our closed, comfortable turfs.

Bigger tests are coming.

Winter has come. Global warming is upon us. It is a far bigger challenge. It is planetary in scale. But unlike this pandemic, it directly infects everything we breathe, drink and eat. It's the disease that's creeping into and inhabiting the world we live in. The irreversible consequences are coming.

All our accomplishments are being stress-tested now --- our societies, governments, institutions, systems, rule of law, economic infrastructures and other inventions of human civilization. It's only a dry run.

Bigger tests are coming. We are being prepared.

I hope we can pass the test.

Winter is Coming

№ 469. The White Plague in La Traviata

Hold Your Breath

In La Traviata, Violetta was stricken with tuberculosis, also known as the White Plague or consumption. Thanks to the science of medicine, today TB is generally a curable disease. People will have to think of more dramatic causes to kill off their heroines. Covid-19?

№ 468. Happy Mother's Month

Here's a favorite lullaby from the Philippine National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro. The lyrics were composed by another Philippine National Artist Levi Celerio.

№ 467. Crayons

№ 466. New York City on My Mind

№ 465. California on My Mind

 Here's an unabashed California nostalgia. Old songs never fade. They're just remade into new music videos.




Here's another big city story tinted with the recurrent song California Dreaming --- Chungking Express.

№ 464. Know Thyself

This is the reason for the essay " Who Am I?"  The essay was a requirement to the university admission. That was thirty years ago. And yet the question remains timely and vital.

Live Real

№ 463. Downtime

Not Buying Anythng

The concern that downtime is a costly extravagance that can’t pay for itself has also been shown to be incorrect when studied over the long term. Research from business, academia, design and other fields has shown that periods of idleness and open exploration improves the quality of work, increases productivity and thus also financial gain. Sagmeister noted in an interview that their studio can charge higher prices because the quality of their work improved after a sabbatical. During the 1970s, scientists Art Fry and Spencer Silver developed the widely-used Post-it notes during their 15 percent time at 3M, where employees are paid to “chase rainbows and hatch their own ideas”. More recently, companies such as Pixar, Google, Twitter and Facebook claim to have incorporated time for tinkering and contemplative practices as an essential part of their way of working. If such financially driven entities can appreciate the economic benefits of these practices, we can put to rest monetary objections to such activities in any sector.

№ 462. The Great Realization