(Dondee, thanks for this. Another friend led me to The Outsiders where this poem is highlighted.)
Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
The Outsiders
C. Thomas Howell ... Ponyboy Curtis
Matt Dillon ... Dallas Winston
Ralph Macchio ... Johnny Cade
Patrick Swayze ... Darrel Curtis
Rob Lowe ... Sodapop Curtis
Emilio Estevez ... Two-Bit Matthews
Tom Cruise ... Steve Randle
Leif Garrett ... Bob Sheldon
Diane Lane ... Cherry Valance
Johnny's Letter to Ponyboy:
Ponyboy,
I asked the nurse to give you this book so you could finish it. The doctor came in a while ago but I knew anyway. I keep getting tireder and tireder. Listen, I don't mind dying now. It's worth it. It's worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for. Some of their parents came by to thank me and I know it was worth it. Tell Dally it's worth it. I'm just going to miss you, guys. I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he means you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep it that way, it's a good way to be. I want you to tell Dally to look at one. He'll probably think you're crazy, but ask for me. I don't think he's ever really seen a sunset. And don't be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows.
Your buddy,
Johnny
They don't make movies like this anymore. Our generation has been pampered. Today's youth, well...they have Bella and Edward and that wolf character. They also have the internet and facebook and i-pod and i-pad and cellphones and the list goes on and on.
But WE had gold.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Nothing Twice
By Wislawa Szymborska
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrived here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
this course is only offered once.
No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with exactly the same kisses.
One day, perhaps, some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.
The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a rose or a rock?
Why do we treat the fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to stay:
Today is always gone tomorrow.
With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star,
although we're different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrived here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
this course is only offered once.
No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with exactly the same kisses.
One day, perhaps, some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.
The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a rose or a rock?
Why do we treat the fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to stay:
Today is always gone tomorrow.
With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star,
although we're different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A Breath of Fresh Air From A Singaporean
A Singaporean friend has sent a message to another friend over FB: "Hi! How are you? When are you visiting Singapore? I miss the Philippines!"
This while "Hong Kong is furious." (PDI)
MZ visited the Philippines for a business trip last year. Being her counterparts, we gave her and her colleagues a city tour -- Alabang, Greenbelt, Megamall and Eastwood. Her first trip to the Philippines and she was amazed and couldn't believe that it was the Philippines she heard about and saw from the news! She calls the Philippines an unforgettable country with warm people and great food. And we haven't even taken her outside Metro Manila!
She loved, loved Goldilocks polvoron and ensaymada and brought home boxes and boxes of them we wondered how she got away with them at the airport - ours and theirs.
She was impressed at the "way we prepare our food" (Goldilocks??? ) and the "care that's always put into it." She loved the experience so much that when we visited her in Singapore she had to warn us that we should not expect food in Singapore to be as good as those in the Philippines.
When the whole Chinese world is against us, this one Singaporean-Chinese sends a message and says she misses the Philippines!
There really is still hope in the world.
This while "Hong Kong is furious." (PDI)
MZ visited the Philippines for a business trip last year. Being her counterparts, we gave her and her colleagues a city tour -- Alabang, Greenbelt, Megamall and Eastwood. Her first trip to the Philippines and she was amazed and couldn't believe that it was the Philippines she heard about and saw from the news! She calls the Philippines an unforgettable country with warm people and great food. And we haven't even taken her outside Metro Manila!
She loved, loved Goldilocks polvoron and ensaymada and brought home boxes and boxes of them we wondered how she got away with them at the airport - ours and theirs.
She was impressed at the "way we prepare our food" (Goldilocks??? ) and the "care that's always put into it." She loved the experience so much that when we visited her in Singapore she had to warn us that we should not expect food in Singapore to be as good as those in the Philippines.
When the whole Chinese world is against us, this one Singaporean-Chinese sends a message and says she misses the Philippines!
There really is still hope in the world.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Coward!
I called in sick today.
This cough has been with me for a week now. I have risen to morning fever and muscle pain for a week, too. Yes, I've come to see a doctor yesterday at 5 AM but not for me, but for my nephew who has been showing the same signs for the last 36 hours. My nephew feels better now. And I still am sick and I'm on my second week. I may come see my doctor later, but then I will feel better middle of the day and I will lose the drive to see the Man In White.
I can come to work today, it being like any other day since this cough virus or bacteria (The doctor will have to say which.) hit me. But I choose not to. Today is mancom meeting, my major stressor. And unless I want to die before I bear a child, I may stay well away from it while sick. For now, my boss makes me sick.
There are things I can tolerate. There are things I can put up with. There are things I can stand up to. But in order to live, one has to be a little coward for small things, a little afraid of worms.
This cough has been with me for a week now. I have risen to morning fever and muscle pain for a week, too. Yes, I've come to see a doctor yesterday at 5 AM but not for me, but for my nephew who has been showing the same signs for the last 36 hours. My nephew feels better now. And I still am sick and I'm on my second week. I may come see my doctor later, but then I will feel better middle of the day and I will lose the drive to see the Man In White.
I can come to work today, it being like any other day since this cough virus or bacteria (The doctor will have to say which.) hit me. But I choose not to. Today is mancom meeting, my major stressor. And unless I want to die before I bear a child, I may stay well away from it while sick. For now, my boss makes me sick.
There are things I can tolerate. There are things I can put up with. There are things I can stand up to. But in order to live, one has to be a little coward for small things, a little afraid of worms.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
No Apologies
It's been five days. The President has apologized. The DILG Secretary has admitted mistakes. The PNP, too, has apologized. The Filipino people all over the world have apologized.
But we have yet to see and hear the local broadcast media humble themselves, admit their mistakes and apologize.
In the next few days will anyone between GMA 7 and ABS-CBN claim and brag that they had the highest ratings during Monday's hostage-taking coverage as they always do? Showing statistics and percentages side by side the number of deaths?
Will the news readers like Mike Enriquez, Mel Tiangco, Karen Davila and Ted Failon, alongside their field reporters and big bosses, lose the smugness on their faces and own up to Monday's lousy job? Or will they continue to reign supreme on prime time TV as if August 23, 2010 didn't register in the calendar?
But how difficult is it to apologize? Where business takes front seat, Serbisyong Totoo and Panig sa Katotohanan, Panig sa Bayan remain cute slogans masquerading as core values.
But we have yet to see and hear the local broadcast media humble themselves, admit their mistakes and apologize.
In the next few days will anyone between GMA 7 and ABS-CBN claim and brag that they had the highest ratings during Monday's hostage-taking coverage as they always do? Showing statistics and percentages side by side the number of deaths?
Will the news readers like Mike Enriquez, Mel Tiangco, Karen Davila and Ted Failon, alongside their field reporters and big bosses, lose the smugness on their faces and own up to Monday's lousy job? Or will they continue to reign supreme on prime time TV as if August 23, 2010 didn't register in the calendar?
But how difficult is it to apologize? Where business takes front seat, Serbisyong Totoo and Panig sa Katotohanan, Panig sa Bayan remain cute slogans masquerading as core values.
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