Letting Go

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring,

it means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off,

it's the realization I can't control another.

To "let go" is not to enable,

but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness,

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another,

it's to make the most of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for,

but to care about.

To "let go" is not to fix,

but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge,

but to allow another to be a human being.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle arranging the outcomes,

but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To "let go" is not to be protective,

it's to permit another to face reality.

To "let go" is not to deny,

but to accept.

To "let go" it not to nag, scold or argue,

but instead to search out my own shortcomings,

and correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desiresbut
to take each day as it comes,

and cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to criticize and regulate anybody,

but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To "let go" is not to regret the past,

but to grow and live for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less,

and love more.

Living in Our Fantasies

Although I love you so
and most likely always will.
But the time has come
to let you go,
No matter how I may feel.

For darling it is like
living worlds apart.
You in your own world
And I am in mine.

Know that you will always
be deep within my heart.
From now and until the
very end of time.

Each night I feel so
empty and so alone,
A deep yearning to be
held by you.

Yet I know that it will
never be.
For the closest we get
is only by phone.

Oh how I long to feel
your tender touch.
Yet your touch I never
will know.

This distance between us
is just too much.
Although I love you dearly,
I must now let you go.

For what is the point of
holding on to a dream,
A dream that most likely
will never come true.

We have lived in our
world of fantasies.
Believing that one day
it would be you and me.

Oh, how this is ripping
me apart,
for babe I am going to
miss you so.

My love for you will
live on within my heart.
Although I must now
forever let you go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Time to Change the Political System in the Philippines

The most important reason for amending the constitution is that it is the best way to respond to widespread dissatisfaction with our politics. Our political system is the same as that designed by the American colonial government and Quezon seventy years ago. It is not anymore capable of responding to the needs of the Philippines of the 21st century.

We are unhappy with the caliber of our politicians. But it is not enough to say we should replace them. With few exceptions, the system continuously produces corrupt and incompetent politicians. The best way to get better politicians is to change the whole system of representation starting with electoral system.

Some leaders of peoples organizations oppose constitutional reform because they are afraid that nationalist provisions on the economy and the ban on foreign military bases will be removed. But as long as we have the same politicians, they will continue to find ways to get around these provisions. We should defend these provisions. But we should also change the political system so we can have the leaders we want, - leaders who will implement the constitution’s nationalist provisions instead of circumventing them. This can only be done by supporting constitutional reform.

Among the substantive proposals are reforms on : executive-legislative relations – the form of government, central-local relations, and the electoral system.

All signs point to the timeliness of starting the process for constitutional reform at this time. Public perception has significantly changed. There is a growing consensus for it in the Congress and the Senate. People opposed to constitutional reform during the Ramos and Estrada administrations are now in favor. Even our moral leaders Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin, civil society and the academe support constitutional reform..

Student Activism: Voice of the Youth

Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. It has often focused on making changes in schools, such as increasing student influence over curriculum or improving educational funding. In some settings, student groups have had a major role in broader political events

Here in the Philippines, the student movement has long been a vital part of the people’s movements—both as an ally of other sections of the people and in the struggle against students’ own particular forms of oppression. A fair number of attempts at building and sustaining national-level, multi-issue student activist organizations have been made over the years. I think the time has come for another effort to answer the clamor of the youth, especially if we’re going to analyze the things happened and learn well our lessons of the past.

It has been found that universities with a strong student influence have become highly politicized, and have generally ceased to be academically distinguished... Schools could suffer a similar adulteration of their academic role. When we talk about student participation in decision-making, we have to be very careful that we are talking about the kind and number of decisions that are appropriate to the students' level of maturity.

Numerous critics of student activism have identified the flaw of developing large categorizations based in the inherent oversimplification of singling out the role of individual recipients of educational processes as agents of change a larger society to which they belong; by isolating individuals as students without acknowledging their multiple other identities, activist movements tend to disenfranchise the very oppressions they sought to challenge and/or transform.

"The world is going down the drain, and we haven't done anything to stop it. We must heed the cries of the younger generation and give them what they want, for they are our salvation.” It is time to hear the voice of the youth in the different issues of our society.

Sad Goodbye

It is always painful to know that someone is irrecovably gone

and all that's left are memories of beautiful days gone by.

Sometimes it boggles my mind why people fall in love ,

then say goodbye;

why they can't belong when at first,

they can never seem to part...right?