SpRiNg TiMe iN ThE CiTy

My sister and I at the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco.

WoRdS oF WiSdOm

• Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one's courage. -Anais Nin
• Let me listen to me and not to them. -Gertrude Stein
• Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. -George Eliot
• My favorite thing is to go where I've never been. -Diane Arbus
• Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. -Marie Curie
• You can't test courage cautiously. -Annie Dillard
• Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. -Ella Fitzgerald
• From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover you have wings. -Helen Hayes
• Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh. -Katherine Hepburn
• Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got. -Janis Joplin
• What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. -Mother Teresa
• Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. -Marie Curie
• No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. -Eleanor Roosevelt
• I am not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship. -Louisa May Alcott
• Where there is great love there are always miracles. -Willa Cather

wHaT i'vE LeArNeD

I have learned that...
... you can never measure your capacity to love. You will always have more to give even after you think you've given your all.
... the simplest things in life are the ones that gives us the greatest of joys.
... poverty is not a reason to feel sorry for one's self, it's a reason and a challenge to move forward and upward.
... it doesn't matter how many friends you have; what matters is the quality of friendship you have with them.
... it's more important to be a friend or a family to someone in times of their need, than in times of their joy.
... no matter how many precautions we get from others, we have to encounter the errors to learn from them. And sometimes, we have to encounter those errors repeatedly before we can completely master a way out or veer away from them.
... there is a goodness in every man, although, at most times, we have to look real deep to discover that.
... all our prayers to God are answered but we don't always know that because we only want the answers the way we want to see them.
... no one can put a limit to what you can accomplish in life. The possibilities are really endless and it's up to you to realize them.
... you can choose to be happy, and your attitude is a choice you've made.
... change is the only thing constant in this world. Every move we make creates or influences it. We can never really hold on to something or someone permanently. In fact, we shouldn't.
... we are all loved, and we can all love. That is our greatest gift in life.

i BeLiEve...

... that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
... that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
... that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
... that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
... that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
... that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
... that you can keep going, long after you think you can.
... that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
... that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
... that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
... that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
... that my bestfriend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best of time.
... that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will be the ones to help you get back up.
... that sometimes when I am angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
... that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
... that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others, sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
... that no matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn't stop for your grief.
... that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
... that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
... that two people can look at the exact same things and see something totally different.
... that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
... that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
... that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
... that the people who you care about the most in life, are taken from you much too soon.
... that life is more precious than money will ever be able to be.

--- from an e-mail forward ---

aN iNsPiRaTiOn

(this is an excerpt from the speech delivered by Manny V. Pangilinan at the Ateneo School of Management and School of Science and Engineering commencement rites on March 24, 2006 and published by the Philippine Star on April 9, 2006 at www.philstar.com)

"Before I close, I’d like to make a personal request.

I’d like to ask each of you a favor. Give me bragging rights. Do something great. Sometime in the future, I want to hear some incredible thing you’ve done. And I’d like to brag that I spoke at your graduation.

In return, I offer you a few more pieces of advice. Keep it real. Stay true to what’s best in yourself, to the best of your experience here at the Ateneo. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. Engage in sports, you’ll need it as you age. Make art, or at least, value it.

Be brave. Be bold. Find something that moves you or pisses you off, but do something about it. You have a voice, speak up. Take a stand for what’s right. Make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is cool, isn’t it?

But I also want to offer a warning: you will meet people who’ll entice you to compromise your principles. They’ll try to seduce you and distract you with money, power, security and perhaps, most dangerously, a sense of belonging. Don’t let them; it’s not worth it. You can have genuine values and still get that job. You can have a conscience and still make money.

Let me send you off with one final thought.

I was born poor, but poor was not born in me. And it shouldn’t be born in you either. You can make it. Whatever you may wish to do with your future, you can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes always. Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint.

You must not disappoint."