Nessie!

The beast said to inhabit Loch ness in Scotland highland which is said that have more freshwater than England and Wales combined. The legend began in the 6th century when St. Columba went to Christianize the country who ordered one of his monks to swim across the loch to get the boat and when suddenly a monster appeared to the monk, then St. Columba upon seeing the monster said these famous lines: "go no further, nor touch the man, go back!" and the monster (nessie) said to fled.

After that story a numerous number of explorers gathers round the loch and waiting for the appearance of the 'Monster'. And centuries of waiting, in 1934, there was a man who was allegedly caught a picture of the monster, but it was deemed fake during the late 70's and during the 80's it is said to be a diving board and lately it is said to be a hoax perpetrated by the Big-game hunter who took the shot, and the reality was it was a toy with a clay attached to it.

In 18th century, the loch ness monter said to have a color of an elephant, a small head that is turning side to side. After a year the witnesses found the creature in the wooded area, that has 4 legs, long nech and a dak grey color. In the early 19th century it is compared to a camel but smaller, long neck, humped-back and fairly long legs, sandy pale yellow color. In 1934 Grunt said it has a bulky body with 2 slight humps, long tail, rounded at end. head like an ell with large eyes. Overall length is 15-20 ft, tail is 5-6ft, neck 3-4ft long,maximum diameter of 4ft and the color was black or dark brown.

Even for today it is being verified if the creature really exist.

New data last May 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB_c2RwpbXU

Degeneration of Society

The Guardian of the Cause of God, Shogi Effendi had said:

"Indeed, the chief reason for the evils now rampant in society is the lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age has so much absorbed the energy and interest of mankind that people in general do no longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and condition of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand for things that we should call spiritual to differentiate them from the needs and requirements of our physical existence."

There are a number of conditions when he describes the process of disintegration in the world. Among them are: moral downfall, laxity and depravity of the permissive society, irresponsible attitude towards marriage and the consequent tide of divorce, weakening of family solidarity and progressive slackening of parental control, feverish pursuit after earthly vanities, riches and pleasures, lapse into luxurious indulgences, the degeneracy of art and music, the deterioration of the standard of literature and of the press, racial animosity and patriotic arrogance.

Media and technology as we know today, has made our lives easier, albeit enjoyment and communication. But if we look deeper into the condition of our society, we see more violence exploitation degradation of family solidarity, music,arts and many others.

The opposite effect effect is rather alarming. If we try to evaluate the mode of music, commercials and programs aired by the media today, there is a lack of language and images that instill us noble thoughts. The effect is so strong that the society accepts these foul language and images as a standard. Technology help us execute things more efficiently and quickly, giving us more time, but in reverse, we still try to add more hours to our laziness, vanities and things that obviously harmful to us and others. The purpose of media & technology is not at bad, but the effects,when not controlled, would be very dangerous.

People became more focused on getting ahead,competing with others,acquiring more and more of material things than focus on what is really needed when people are dying everyday from hunger, oppressions and many more and the thirst for power become more evident; misuse of our natural resources leads to environmental problems;the disregard of the Divinity of our nature is so widespread which is lowering the standards of moral behavior resulting in the misdirection in our sense of purpose.

Material progress is surely dominating our civilization, but this will not sustain us long enough to see a brighter future. This should be accompanies with our spiritual progress- for it is our natural part of existence.

The trap within the war

This is a story of a boy whose name is John-to hide his real name- who had seen the effects of violence and war since has was eights. When he was thirteen he began to promote peace in schools and youth organizations, accepting the consequences which included harsh ridicule from some of his peers:

None of it bothered me. My family believed it was important to care about the community and to do whatever we could help. Even though I was only thirteen, I could see that the biggest problems facing us were violence and the war. Peace was needed more than anything else. Of course, it is hard for a child to try to make peace, but trying is the only way anything ever happens...

So many lies have been told in my country for so many years that people do not know what or who to believe anymore. They cannot always trust the newspapers, the radio or television, the politicians, the armed group-but when they hear children talking about the violence and the war is affects us and how we want peace, somehow they know they are hearing the truth...

Some people say they are fighting for the poor, but the poor have suffered more than anyone else in the war. I think that some people are also fighting for revenge, or for power, or because they feel that they have no other choice. Some young people join the armed groups because their families are poor and they see no other way out.

John and his family were threatened in the midst of civil conflict and had to move out of town. His father went back and forth between his office and the farm in which they lived, but this relative calm could not be maintained. His active support of the processes of peace finally resulted in his being assassinated.

I thought I understood about war because I lived in the thick of the conflict. There were battles in the streets during the night. I was often woken up by gunfire. When I went to school in the morning. I saw the evidence - the blood on the sidewalks, the bullet-riddled buildings. And I had seen the victims at the morgue, not far from my fathers office.

I had talked about this with confidence, as if I knew what the war meant - but when my father was murdered, I was shattered not just by grief, but because then I understood the war. I knew what if felt like to want to fight. I realized that no matter how much you want peace, you take a stop towards violence when the war hits you personally.

This is the same trap that has caught so many people in my country....

Nothing was the same afterwards. The house felt like a dead empty shell, The streets that were so familiar all looked strange. Nothing and nowhere felt safe. I thought all my work for peace was worth nothing because it had not saved my father. The horrific violence that had engulfed our town had finally struck the heart of my family - and I had been unable to stop it. I blamed my self. I asked myself "What had i done that my father should die in such a violent way?"

The family continued to be threatened. John bought a gun in order to protect his loved one. One evening, ten days after his father was killed all members of John's family were gathered in a room on the upper floor of the house. As John came down to the kitchen he saw an intruder in the garden carrying a gun and looking at the second floor windows:

I knew that I could gun and kill this man.. It would be taking revenge for my father's death. I would be protecting my family. And almost no one in.. would be me for shooting him.. Yet while all of this was true I did nothing.. My father had wanted me to work for peace. How could I become violent now? The only way I could show respect and love for my father, the only way I could help save my family, was by trying to make peace. Killing him would bring no peace to me, or my family or my country. In fact, by killing him I would lose everything. I would be no better than he was.

John watched the intruder quietly who, after a while and for no apparent reason, turned away and left. Not long after, John got rid of his gun and decided never again to acquire one.

Miss Mafia!

In Hungary, a beauty pageant for girls, who were accused of Mafia-connected crimes, is held last week.

This year in Budapest, the organizers will be hosting the first-ever contest exclusively for women, who are committed crimes such as, thievery, fraud, bank robbery and swindling.

To get into the contest, the gang member will post a picture in a specific website only after submitting to the police their mugshot to prove their backgrounds with charges and time spent behind bars.

Ann, who as a finalist in the said competition, said that "I was told by my friends several times to go in for a beauty contest. But I couldn't because they rule out anyone with a criminal record.

The finals was held in a bar that was once bombed out by a mafia clan fight.

The winner got a car and an apartment.

Language

As we celebrate this month the importance of our national language, Filipino, the question came to me-how can I give importance and contribute to enrich it?

There must be numerous ways. One thing I am sure of is by using it the right way, expressing my thoughts and letting others feel that our language is beautiful. Simply using it everyday is preserving it, but more to that is how we translate our words into actions, I believe this is the truest way to enrich it. A noble idea can be appreciated but putting it into action is giving life to every letter and words which makes it alive inside of us. The most powerful collective result language can achieve is to motivate each person to participate in social action.

Being a student, I know the possibilities are endless but again, it lies in my own understanding of why I need to do it and how, which leads me back to my purpose as a part of this human family created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.

The Carpenter's Story

This is indeed a heart-warming story of a carpenter who made a bridge to unite two estranged brothers instead of following the older brother's order to build a fence separating him farther away from his younger brother. He used his skills and his wisdom to accomplish his task. He made them realize that people can always have choices with our actions-either to just do something that benefits one person or reach out and see more beyond the words of people, not acceding to their shallow needs but letting them reflect on what their divine needs and responsibilities are.

In our society now, how many people have the carpenter's perspective?to conquer the hatred with a more powerful thought of love to bring more light in this world. Would the most knowledgeable engineer think the way the carpenter did? As a member of the greater human family, how can I contribute to building bridges in this world that has become too small to be filled with fences?
Just like the carpenter, I should have some skills to contribute to building something, and that skill is developed through education. If in each community, education is given the most importance where the members can use their talents and skills to help others and improve their conditions, the world by now must have become one country.

Education is just one of the strong foundations to build bridges that I will mention here. We know that knowledge is acquired through science(understanding our physical environment) and religion(spiritual reality and its relation to the individual and community life-in its pure form the source of unity). These two are both needed because they help us understand the world we live in. If science is without religion, it becomes dogmatic materialism; and religion without science becomes superstition. The forces of these two work together to overcome superstition so that humanity can advance free from the limitations on the human mind.

As a student I hope that my education will help me fulfill my purpose: to be like the carpenter building bridges to make the world just one homeland for everyone.

Mysterious Mountain

I found the text very informative and it is presented chronologically. Mt. Apo was described through the order of time. Also a great deal of information was given in various fields like how it was named, it's geological truths and spiritual beliefs about Mt. Apo.

The text is also easy to understand because the vocabularies are easy and the text is objective, it adds to the interest of the reader because it gives him a vivid picture of Mount Apo in his thought.

Therefore, descriptive type of narration can point the scene of the story, the appearance or characters. It also makes places more concrete and through imagination it is presented to the reader and through descriptive writing and wide scope of informatiuon and creativity it can light the fire of interest to a person or whatnot.