Feet on the Ground - The simple joys of field work

With me are the Grade 5 Students and teachers of Alabel Central Elementary School, Sarangani Province.

One thing I love about my job is field work. Once in a quarter (or as need arises), I am tasked to visit a region in Mindanao and meet with the students/beneficiaries of the programs of a certain charitable organization. These students have disabilities (mostly visual impairment).

Always, I am awed and silenced at the perseverance and determination these students show in finishing their studies. I interview them and from these interviews, I write their life stories which are soon published and distributed to individuals who might be interested in extending their assistance. These interviews are also aired in a radio program which I host alongside my lovely office mate, Ate Faith.

This is what I love about my job. Part of the reason is quite selfish- it's because it strokes up my ego in a way that I feel needed. But more importantly so, I love my job because it gives me a concrete opportunity to help. This is where I can use what skill I have in order to make small, but significant changes in the lives of our country's marginalized population. This is my way of giving back love... my way of saying 'thank you' to my country and to the world.

Draft #7: Head in the clouds

billions within billions

When life on earth gets boring, I just either look up and stare at the blue/star-filled sky or close my eyes and drift into outer space where wonders are boundless and too spellbinding for my restless mind to contain! Yes, I admit, I am also the kind of person whose head is in the clouds!

I always have this longstanding fascination about the universe and I'm looking for the right timing to open up to people about this, thinking that they might not be able to relate or find this interesting.

I'll make this first attempt to share to you how highly I think about our universe and how in love I've been to its very essence. I will try to explain what it means to me. In my own words, I'd like to bring to mind the possibility of having other civilizations existing in its expanse- in simpler terms, extraterrestrial life- which circles around the unending question- Are we alone?

But, before using my own words, let me borrow wiki's just so I can set our perspective- "The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all physical matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space."

Just imagine how big a space we are talking about here. Big is not even a big enough word to justify universe's size. They say, to better understand the whole, it is necessary to consider its parts. Let us now take a look at the universe's contents then one by one.

1. Star - there are billions of stars in a galaxy

2. Galaxy - a galaxy is composed of billions of stars; our planet belongs in Milky Way Galaxy and it revolves around its mother star, the Sun

3. Planet - there are billions of planets within galaxies; planets are attracted by their mother star's gravity; so for our Sun, her gravity was able to attract 9 planets (if we include Pluto)

In a nutshell, Earth then, is just among billions of planets and it revolves around the Sun. The Sun, which is essentially a star, is just among billions of stars in a galaxy. And just how many galaxies are there in the universe? They're as numerous as the sand on the seashore! If, for you, that's not amazing enough, then I don't know what is!

Taking this number into consideration, the probability then, of having other earth-like planets is limitless! This has been a subject of my daydreams- thinking that there is a possibility that there are other creatures like us out there and we are just not aware of their existence and location. To what extent our likeness is, that we can't possibly tell. One dear friend, Kit Loma, in one of our YM conversations said that maybe, if these creatures live in a planet that is nearer to its mother star than we are, then probably, these creatures have thicker skin. (very observant of you Kittie!)

According to scientists, the following are the considerations in determining whether a planet is habitable:

1. size - it must be as big as our Earth (it would be hard to support life in Jupiter because huge planets like Jupiter mostly have mountains and rocks)

2. distance from its mother star - it must not be too far (because it will be too cold) and too near (because it will be too hot)

3. it must have water, air, and light

NASA's explorations, using hi-tech gadgets such as the Hubble telescope, have recently found 5 candidates for earth-like planets which can be found in our neighbor galaxy (Andromeda or Vega, if I'm not mistaken). The stage of advancement of our technology today limits our capacity to search for extraterrestrial life. We still don't have what it takes to build telescopes so powerful that will allow us to see even the slightest glint of the light emitted by planets from other galaxies.

Distance is also a factor. Since these galaxies, stars, and planets are millions of lightyears away from us, it means that sadly, we won't be able to have a glimpse of these planets. Not in this lifetime.

So, just how far is one lightyear (ly) anyway? Here is a vivid description, adapted from an article I read in NASA's website:

LY measures the speed that light travels and the distance it covers. Imagine that you are in a dark room. Once you turn the light on, the room is suddenly illuminated in just a second! No corner is spared by its light! Light was then able to travel that great a distance in a second. Now, imagine how far would light go in a year.... that's how far one light year is.

Granting that other planets are millions of lightyears away from us, their light then, is still traveling in outer space and will take millions of earth years before we can see them. Another obstacle that stops us from intensively observing the universe is our inability to travel in outer space, as fast as the speed of light, for a long time. No space vehicle is able to do this. No kind of fuel has been invented to last the vehicle this long.

If we think of it even more, Lightyear and traveling in the speed of light actually make the sci-fi notion of time travel remotely possible! If we can be onboard a spacecraft that can travel in outer space in the speed of light, then we can continue living for a really long time! We can spend thousands of years traveling in outer space and go back to earth still young while our planet and everything in it have grown old. hmmm... this is overly amazing, yes... but is also a bit sad.

Hahahay.... so there- these are the things that fill my head when I'm not busy thinking of my everyday cares and worries about my career, financial freedom, my love life... And it has always been a beautiful recluse, a sweet escape to also think of things and concerns other than myself and the people close to me. I think it will work for you too!

This piece of information may just be a tiny speck in the ever indescribable circle we call life but we can never deny that the things below, around, and above us will affect the way we live in one way or the other.

It also gives us a humbling experience. No one and nothing is larger than life. No one and nothing ever will be. In the midst of our universe, we are all one and the same- creatures who, regardless of our status and riches, are but dusts and at some point, it will do us good to admit that we can't have it all!

Also, this comforts us. Whenever we feel down and feel like we bear the weight of the world because of our problems, let us just look up and reflect. I hope that you will realize how insignificant your concerns are amidst the vastness of our world.

...with this in mind, I end my ramblings and go back to earth... but first I would like to thank the websites of Discovery Channel, NASA, and National Geographic for providing wonderful company and useful entertainment during boring work hours... now really, back to earth!

Draft #6: Calculable Wisdom

I bought this book last February 9 and I was able to finish reading it yesterday. All in all, it took me almost 3 weeks to finish a 500/600-paged paperback novel. Do you think it's a reasonable length of time? hmm... Anyway, here's what I think about the book...

If you've read Dan Brown's other books featuring the funny and intelligent (which, for me, is a rare and sexy combination) symbologist from Harvard, you can practically plot the twists of 'The Lost Symbol' before even finishing Chapter 1.

I don't like to say it, because I've been fond of Dan Brown's (DB) knack of coming up with clever plots and his ingenious way of weaving intrigue through a string of facts and making it sound so exciting you'd wish it's all true, but DB was kind of predictable in 'The Lost Symbol'.

I can almost hear myself blurting out what Langdon will do next. Also, the way characters think and act in the book does not quite match their impressive profiles. I would expect a Noetic Scientist not to immediately trust someone whom she just talked to in an anonymous phone call. You're not supposed to follow what that someone tells you to do. And Langdon, of all people, should not be surprised every time he realizes that there are codes hidden within codes which turn out to be more complex than the first set. After what he went through in Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, he should already be in a state of mind where he sees things not as they seem. He should know better. Langdon failed to evolve in this book.

For the first time, I skipped through chapters. There was a part where I wasn't so much enjoying the word-play anymore. I eagerly wanted to see what the lost symbol is that the novel's chapters have so draggingly tried to conceal from me.

But then of course, I still like DB and (I think) I understand him and what he's probably going through (even if I haven't been there). I remember Man-Man and I discussing about Lost Symbol's predictability. And we concluded that maybe DB felt pressured that his next Robert Langdon novel would be as big a hit as the other two.

Elizabeth Gilbert had the same problem when, after the epic success of 'Eat Pray Love', she felt dizzy of what the book has become to the point that she decided to stop writing for a while and spend her time tending the tomatoes in her backyard garden. This, she did, to try to separate herself from the enormity of it all and re-focus her perspective.

Maybe DB didn't do the same. Maybe he doesn't have a garden :-) To not sound too all-knowing about this writer's dilemma because I am, after all, not a certified writer least of all, novelist, I will consider DB. We can never feel for ourselves the pressure he must have felt.

All the same, aside from the predictability factor, nothing's irritating about 'The Lost Symbol'. It featured DB's worst villain yet - a crazy, frightening fellow covered with tattoos! I also wished Robert Langdon exists in real life!

And comes that familiar feeling in the end - the novel's desire to open our minds and keep it open for things- facts and scenarios that hold so much possibility in them! It also reveals a fascinating information about the Holy Bible. In a very good way, 'The Lost Symbol' encouraged me to read the bible and to desperately try to uncover the valuable wisdom that it reserves only for those who are worthy enough to receive it.