revolution

Years ago, I didn't think anything would happen when I joined some outreach activities. I just wanted to get out there and help. Then, I told some friends about it and sent them an email with the details. They weren't really into it. So I thought, well that's that. But I didn't know that the word had spread. Now, I see posts in facebook from co-workers that I didn't really know that well, inviting people to the same outreach I joined years ago.

Another friend thanked me when I invited her to join a training seminar I attended for special kids. She said she was planning to do that full-time in the future and the seminar will be her starting point. I'm so happy to know that others are also getting involved.

You may think that what you're doing doesn't influence anyone but it does. Last Friday, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. It was also last Friday when angry protests calling for change swept Middle East. Both of these revolutions started from small seeds, and it grew and grew and grew, until it became a revolution. From one simple act, like Rosa Parks saying "I ain't movin" and refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger, you can make change happen. Even if it's small, it will ripple out. It's a start.

work wisdoms: pruning

I'm not a person who likes to meddle with other people's business. As long as I'm doing my job and I'm not hurting anyone, then everything's fine. Live and let live. However, there are times when life puts us on the spot. Sometimes, we have to call out someone when they're doing something wrong. I have a real problem with that. I hate confrontations.

Someone told me about an orchid she once had. She took good care of it, gave it enough sunlight and water but when it grew, it was crooked. It wasn't as perfect as the ones she saw on the shop. Her dad told her that she should've pruned it while it was growing.

"Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. The practice entails targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted tissue from crop and landscape plants." ~wikipedia.com

She told me, we have to prune people to make them better. We may look like the bad guys but in reality, we're shaping their character for their own good. When you look at it that way, the job's not so bad after all. We're an instrument to help others become their best selves.

After a while, I realized I still need some pruning myself. Well, I guess I don't need to worry, because life always makes sure that I get all the pruning I need. I don't think it stops as long as we're alive. We're all enrolled in that school. It hurts (my pride mostly) and oftentimes it's embarrassing. But you know what? I'm still here and I'm still standing-- only now my head is bowed down. I think that's the best way to handle pruning-- but I'm saving that for another post :).


Sources:
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.partylightsite.com

how to be alone

A video by filmmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis.

~Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. But lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it...

Happy ♥ Day everyone!

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs
http://www.tanyadavis.ca
http://www.andreadorfman.com

Treasure Trove: Honus Wagner Baseball Card

the Find
A rare Honus Wagner Baseball Card, printed around 1909 to 1911.  Honus Wagner was known as "The Flying Dutchman" because of his speed.  He played in the National League for 20 years, most them as a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates .  Inducted in 1936, he was one of the first five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Baseball cards back then, were printed and distributed along with tobacco packs to appeal to young boys.  Honus didn't like the idea and put a stop to the production of his card. Today, there are only 57 known copies of the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card. It is one of the rarest and most expensive in the world.  A near-mint copy sold for $2.8 million last 2007.

the Lucky
The nuns from School Sisters of Notre Dame in Baltimore

the Place and the Time
The card was found in a safe-deposit box, with a note that said, "Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century!". Heritage Auction Galleries sold it last year, November 2010.

How in the world!?
One of the nuns' brother left all his possessions to the convent when he died in 1999. His lawyer found the card in his safety deposit box and informed the nuns about it. It sold for $262,000, even though the card was in poor condition-- it had creases, had been laminated and one of the borders had been cut. The money will be used to help the order's ministries in more than 30 countries.

"It just boggles your mind," one of the nuns, Sister Virginia Muller told AP. "I can't remember a time when we have received anything like this."


Sources:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honus_Wagner
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5732365
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206_Honus_Wagner