LIDIA

Ni Juan Crisostomo Soto

Kasintahan ni Lidia si Hector, ngunit pagkaraan ng ilang panahon,biglang nagbago ng pakikitungo si Lidia sa kasintahan. Maging sa pamaskong pagtitipong dinaluhan nila sa bahay ng kaibigang si Miling at sa pamamasyal nila sa pagdiriwang ng Naval sa Angeles, ipinahalata ni Lidia kay Hector ang panlalamig ng kanyang pag-ibig dito.

Isang hapon, ipinasya ni Hector na kausapin si Lidia sa kanilang pag-uwi galing sa simbahan. Ngunit sa halip na pagbuhatan ng kamay ang dalaga sa kanilang pagsasagutan, niyakap at hinagkan ni Hector sa publiko si Lidia na naging dahilan ng paghahabla ng mga magulang ng dalaga sa likha ng eskandalong ginawa ng binata.

Isang mahabang liham ng pag-ibig ang ipinadala ni Hector kay Lidia ngunit bago iyon nabasa ng dalaga, dinalaw siya ng nakakatakot na panaginip. Namatay daw si Hector. Kinabukasan ng umaga, natagpuan nga ang bangkay ni Hector sa isa nilang bakanteng bahay na nagsisilbing botika ng mga magulang ng binata. Isinumbat kay Lidia ng mga kababayan ang pagkamatay ni Hector.

Ang pagbabago pala sa pakikitungo ni Lidia sa kasintahan ay dahilan sa isang kaibigan ni Hector na humaharang ng mga liham ng dalaga para sa kasintahan. May lihim na pagtatangi kay Lidia ang kaibigan ni Hector. Siniraan nito si Hector na hindi ito tapat sa dalaga. Nalaman lamang ito ni Lidia nang patay na ang kasintahan.

Nakatagpo ni Lidia sa libingan ang taksil na kaibigan ni Hector. Nagawa ni Lidiang paluhurin ito sa harap ng puntod ng kasintahan at paghingiin ng tawad kay Hector.

I.Tauhan:

Lidia – iniibig ni Hector

Hector – kasintahan ni Lidia

II. Tagpuan:

Isang hapon, Kung saan palaging maraming tao . . . sa simbahan.

III. Banghay ng kuwento:

A.Suliranin:

Nagbago na ang pakikitungo ni Lidia sa kanyang kasintahan. Nanlamig na ang kanilang relasyon.

B.Kasukdulan:

Nagpakamatay si Hector. Hidi niya nakayanan ang kinahinatnan ng relasyon nila ni Lidia.

C.Kakalasan:

Sinisira ng kaibigan ni Hector ang tiwala ni Lidia kay Hector, hinaharang niya ang lahat ng mga sulat ni Hector para kay Lidia. Dahil may lihim na pagtingin ang kaibigan ni Hector kay Lidia.

D. Wakas:

Nalaman lamang ni Lidia ang katotohanan nang patay na ang kanyang pinakamamahal na kasintahang si Hector. Bilang ganti, ipinaluhod at pinahingi ng patawad ni Lidia ang kaibigan ni Hector sa mismong puntod ng kanyang kasintahan.

IV. Aral:

Kung mahala mo ang isang tao ay dapat mo siyang pagkatiwalaan at siguraduhin natin na ang ating mga kaibigan ay tapat at makapagkakatiwalaan. Baka kasi ito ang maging dahilan ng pagkasira ng iyong buhay.

V. Bisang Pangka-isipan:

Matapos basahin ang kuwentong ito, pumasok sa aking isipang kung gaano kahalaga ang salitang “tiwala” sa isang relasyon. Hindi sapat sa magkasintahan ang pagmamahalan kung wala namang tiwala sa isa’t-isa. Ngunit natutunan ko rin ang labis na pagtitiwala ay nakakasama. Sumobra ang pagtitiwala ni Hector sa kanyang kaibigan na naging dahilan ng pagkasira ng kanyang relasyon kay Lidia at ng kanyang buhay.

VI. Bisang Pangka-asalan:

Nagawa ni Lidiang paluhurin ang kaibigan sa harap ng puntod ng kasintahan at paghingiin ng tawad kay Hector, dito ay napakita ni Lidia na mahal niya parin ang kanyang kasintahan.Dapat ay maging matapang at malakas tayo sa oras na iniwan na tayo ng minamahal na atin sa buhay kagaya ng ipinakita ni Lidia sa kuwento. Ito ang mga asal na dapat nating tularan.

VII. Bisang Pangdamdamin:

Nalungkot ako pagkatapos basahin ang kuwentong ito. Masakit malaman ang akalang pagmamahalang walang katapusan ay matatapos lang nang dahil sa isang pinagkakatiwalaang kaibigan. Talaga namang hinahangaan ko si Juan Crisostomo Soto dahil nakalikha siya ng isang nobelang gumising sa aking damdamin.

VIII.Rekomendasyon

           

           

FORREST GUMP

The film begins with a feather falling to the feet of Forrest Gump who is sitting at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia. Forrest picks up the feather and puts it in the book Curious George, then tells the story of his life to a woman seated next to him. The listeners at the bus stop change regularly throughout his narration, each showing a different attitude ranging from disbelief and indifference to rapt veneration.

On his first day of school, he meets a girl named Jenny, whose life is followed in parallel to Forrest's at times. Having discarded his leg braces, his ability to run at lightning speed gets him into college on a football scholarship. After his college graduation, he enlists in the army and is sent to Vietnam, where he makes fast friends with a black man named Bubba, who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him when the war is over. Later while on patrol, Forrest's platoon is attacked. Though Forrest rescues many of the men, Bubba is killed in action. Forrest is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism.

While Forrest is in recovery for a bullet shot to his "butt-tox", he discovers his uncanny ability for ping-pong, eventually gaining popularity and rising to celebrity status, later playing ping-pong competitively against Chinese teams. At an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. Forrest reunites with Jenny, who has been living a hippie counterculture lifestyle.

Returning home, Forrest endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles, earning himself $25,000, which he uses to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. His commanding officer from Vietnam, Lieutenant Dan, joins him. Though initially Forrest has little success, after finding his boat the only surviving boat in the area after Hurricane Carmen, he begins to pull in huge amounts of shrimp and uses it to buy an entire fleet of shrimp boats. Lt. Dan invests the money in Apple Computer and Forrest is financially secure for the rest of his life. He returns home to see his mother's last days.

One day, Jenny returns to visit Forrest and he proposes marriage to her. She declines, though feels obliged to prove her love to him by sleeping with him. She leaves early the next morning. On a whim, Forrest elects to go for a run. Seemingly capriciously, he decides to keep running across the country several times, over some three and a half years, becoming famous.

In present-day, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny who, having seen him run on television, asks him to visit her. Once he is reunited with Jenny, Forrest discovers she has a young son, of whom Forrest is the father. Jenny tells Forrest she is suffering from a virus (probably HIV, though this is never definitively stated). Together the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama. Jenny and Forrest finally marry. Jenny dies soon afterward.

The film ends with father and son waiting for the school bus on little Forrest's first day of school. Opening the book his son is taking to school, the white feather from the beginning of the movie is seen to fall from within the pages. As the bus pulls away, the white feather is caught on a breeze and drifts skyward.

REFLECTION:

We need a bigger heart than a bigger mind. Most people think that intelligence determines success. Just look at our country. A lot claim that they are intelligent, but where do we stand compare to the other countries? Why do we seem to be at the end when we are “intelligent?”Maybe because we are too intelligent that we think of ourselves as superior. We only value our own thoughts and own opinions. And that’s where “stupid” people become better. Stupid people do not know anything and so their ears are always open to hear what other people say and think.

These are their characteristics stupid people are naïve, and ignorant, but they are also unselfish, open-minded and determined. This is what Forrest Gump proved.

Catching Waves, Helping Kids

George G. Plaze, known as Jun to family and friends, grew up near Dahican Beach, a seven-kilometer stretch of white sand facing the Pacific Ocean in the Philippine province of Davao Oriental, but as a young man he showed no interest in surfing.

The changed in 2002 when several Davao city skimboarders visited the beach.  Amazed at how their simple wooden boards carried the surfers along, Jun, then in his early 30s, built a plywood skim board and began practicing.

His interest was further kindled when another group of surfers from Davao City arrived the following year. Jun and some local children were mesmerized as they watched the surfers riding their boards atop the three-meter waves. The visitors gave one of their boards to the local boys, and Jun borrowed it regularly to hone his surfing skills.

Despite suffering injuries, including a badly twisted wrist, he never gave up. “No pain can stop me from doing what I have started,” Jun says. “Why should only people from other places enjoy what we have right on our shores?”

Since some local boys were also having fun in the waves, Jun decided to help fun in the waves, Jun decided to help them their skim boarding and surfing skills. And he had another goal: to lead these youngsters away from the temptations of smoking, drinking and pretty crime.

Jun did not want to repeat his mistakes. Growing up in poverty, he was forced to leave school at 15 after his father died. As the eldest of 12 children, Jun had to support the family, and before long he had taken up the illegal and environmentally destructive practice of dynamite fishing. He was caught three times, but was let go because there was no direct evidence against him.

Fortunately, Jun was led away from a life of a crime by father Patricio Alo, who hired to run errands for the local church. “I really didn’t want to be a fisherman like my father,” he explains. “So when Father Alo provided work for me, it was a big chance.” He now works in coconut farm.

In 2004 Jun founded the Amihan Surf and Skim team, named after the northeasterly winds that blow through the area from November to March. Initially he recruited four boys who had helped him with the coconut harvest. Using his own money, he bought materials and the group made their own skimboards.

Jun imposed strict rules and training. The group, which now includes 20 boys aged nine to 16, meets every morning at 5 am to go jogging. Skimboard and surf lessons are held after school and on weekends. The Amihan Boys, as they are known, are also forbidden to smoke, drink or take drugs. Anyone breaking the rules is either barred from practice or kicked out of the team.

The group also spends time keeping the beach clean and, thanks to lobbying by Jun. the local government has declared a hectare of the Dahican waters a marine sanctuary.

The Amihan Boys are starting to make their presence felt in the world of competitive surfing. For instance, 16-year-old Sonny “Boy” Aporbo recently took the 220$ top prize at the Mindanao Open Skimboarding Competition. Some of the money went to the team to cover expenses, and the rest went to Aporbo’s family, who used it to buy outrigger.

Jun, who is married and has two daughters, does all this work without pay or any support from external agencies. The team funds travel and equipment costs by offering surfing and skinboarding lessons, as well as making and selling skimboards.

“This reformed man has shown us that poverty and lack of education is not a hindrance to helping others,” Mati Town’s tourism officer Dashiel Inedible, Jr, says of Jun.

To the Amihan Boys, Jun is something of a father. “He doesn’t teach us only how to surf, he also keeps us safe from vices,” says 15-year-old Rodel Patawi, whou used to smoke and drink. “He gives us confidence and encourages us to become successful in our endeavours.”

Comments like this inspire Jun. “I may not be rich but somehow I have made difference in the lives of these kids,” he remarks. “They are my treasure.”

REFLECTION:

                Master Oogway (Kung Fu Panda) said “Nothing happens by accident everything has a cause”

                When we are faced with problems, I believe that is because we need to learn something. We may not recognize it right away because of the emotional burden we feel, but sooner, we will realize it and we will become a better person.

Whatever talent we have, we need to share it. Not just to gain personal growth but  to bring growth to other people. It’s said that we only became human when we realize our interconnecting with each other. Because of this interconnectivity, we need to help bring out the best.

Life is about learning, sharing, and growing. The more you share, the more you learn, the more you grow . . . THE MORE YOU MAKE MOST OF YOUR LIFE!

Disable Doesn’t Mean Unable

My mother, Rosie F. Hilario, is always fighting for her rights as a woman and as a mother. She was born deaf and cannot hear or speak well. Despite her condition, she managed to take care of my half-sister Rosyl, my sister Rea, and myself.

                My mother was 27 when she moved in with my father. They were happy – at least in the beginning. As I grew up, I increasingly observed my father coming home late and he was almost always drunk. I also saw him hitting my mother. I felt so sorry for mum but there was nothing I could do to help as I was still a kid.

                I was in year four when my father completely abandoned us. Although she was devastated, my mother was determined to give us decent life. She never finished elementary school as she was the sixth of 12 children and they were very poor. She knew what it was like to not have an education and she didn’t want any of her children to experience what she had been through.

                Despite her disability and with no academic background, she applied to be a beautician at a local salon in Kalibo, Aklan, and was accepted. To make ends meet, she also took on other jobs such as washing clothes for other people.

                When I was in high school, she started saving money in a coin bank, putting in her spare change, ranging from two to 20 pesos. Her customers, instead of receiving their change, would also put money into the coin bank. At the start of the school year, she would be used to buy school supplies for other children.

                She inspires other kids by showing them my achievements, however small they are. When I graduated from college, she was very proud and happy. She almost cried when I introduced her to my friends during my graduation. “This is my mother and I am very proud of her,” I told them.

                My mother is now 49 years old and she is our inspiration. She used to say, “If we only have only faith in God, we will enjoy life to the fullest despite all the worries we have to face each day.”

Reflection:

You surely will want to hug your mother tight and smother her with kissed after reading this article.

The narrative reflects the selfless devotion of a mother to her family and was chosen to be published in the May issue of Reader’s Digest.

As we all know, May is the month we celebrate Mother’s Day.

A huge thanks to Anna M. Jarvis we had a special day to honor mothers.

All mothers simply want their children to have a good life.

If they could shield their children from all sorts of pain, I am certain they would do it without a doubt.

Unfortunate to say, most people neglect their mothers.

Or, a more appropriate term, take them for granted.

Probably because, they always see them.

They always hear their concern.

They always feel their love.

And, more probably because, they never complain.

Or, if they rarely would, out of exhaustion,

They still won’t  stop caring and thinking of our welfare.

They are like robots programmed to love us forever.

But, we forget, that they are not robots.

They are humans who get hurt and feel pain.

The narrative reawakened my sensibilities.

And, i hope to others as well.

We never know when they will be taken away from us,

So let us not just be remember them every second week of May.

It should be every day of our entire lives!

They are the reason of our existence.

Without their selfless sacrifice, we wouldn’t be who we are and where we are.