Friday, April 28, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
XXXIX. THE POWER OF WORDS
" If a thief takes my money and I take it back, does that
make me a thief ? "
Just a simple question but it changed the course of destiny. What was suppose to be a hanging party for Adolf Hitler turned out to be his greatest opportunity to rally his supporters and gained new admirers as he defended himself on the charges of treason. His rise to power was probably the greatest in modern history being only a simple soldier whose sense of nationalism blended with rhetorics hypnotized the entire German nation to seek world domination. His words, his speeches, his leadership, wrote the bloodiest page in the 20th century. Such is the power words can unleash.
The world spins around the 26 letters of the alphabet. How you arrange this letters to represent your thoughts will spell the difference of your life from that of others. Words is our only means of expressing what is going on inside our mind and our heart, but it is never really enough to picture things out the way we wanted it to seen and felt by the one we are alluding to. The way we say the words, our facial expressions, our gestures, the tone of our voice, the timing, the place, and a lot of other things can greatly affect the message we are trying to convey. What we say, how we say it, when we say it, where we say it, and to whom we say it, will make or break us. Unfortunately, not everybody is equally gifted. This is the part of our life that we have to figure out ourselves.
A sign says " You were born an original, don't die a copy". Another one says " Never change your originality for the sake of others for no one else can play your role better than you". Well I guess there is no such thing as originality, its how you say things as if it has never been said before that really counts. What you have thought of was probably been thought of before - its just the way you will use that idea that will give it its significance. Former US president Bill Clinton said that all men are 98 percent genetically the same, but we concentrate on the 2 % part that makes us different from one another. And it is that 2 percent difference that had created all the wars and conflicts that beset our history.
It took me a lot of years before I came to realize the kind of life I wanted to live. It may not be the ideal one to some, but I can honestly say that I no longer pray for the things I wanted to have. Everyday when I wake up, I thank God for the added time I could mark on my calendar. It is just that I feel time is slowly slipping by, and I must hasten things up before my failing vision and gout stricken hand could no longer type the words I wanted to leave behind. Life is fun, life is exciting, and life is designed differently for different people. Maybe our life may not be worth writing about, but given the opportunity and the tools to make something out of a simple life well-lived, I'd say why not ?
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
XXXVIII. HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR LOSSES
George Foreman knows how it is to lose and lose badly. He guested in the 700 Club after winning the World Heavyweight Championship against Michael Moorer and what he said about losing sort of changed my views. He said that it took him ten years to admit that he lost to a better man, and it was a right hand that did him in. He was laughing when he said that, and you can very well see that he truly was a different man from what he was in 1974 Zaire fight. He knew that people won't listen to him if he preached about God when he returned to the square ring. He waited for the right moment, and what he did after knocking out Moorer, kneeling at the corner to thank God and pray, rather than raising his hands in triumph proved to the world that he really has become a man of God.
Years later, after his second retirement, he was asked how he saw his other losses and he smilingly said - they were not really losses, he just failed to knock them out. Foreman's second coming proved that you are not really a loser if you will just keep on trying. Either you come out swinging back to form or pause for a while as heal your wounds, and then recondition your self that the comeback road is a lot tougher than the first. He knew that ranged against younger and quicker opponents, he has has to double his effort, work harder and hurdle more pains in order to succeed.
Tom Hanks' role as Captain John Miller in the movie " Saving Private Ryan" summed up his losses by convincing himself that for every man he lost under his command, he was able to save some 20 or 25 of them. It was that way of thinking that allowed him to handle his own "private war."
Manny Pacquiao knew that he has to continue fighting the best in his division to be able to bounce back after getting knocked out cold by Torrecampo in 1996, and won his first world title 2 years later. But it was after his second KO loss that really boosted his career jumping 2 weight classes to win his second world title against Ledwaba. He did rested on his laurels, worked even harder, and established a record that would be hard to match winning world titles in 8 weight divisions. The big difference between him and most fighters is that he knew that getting beat up and losing is part of the game, and there is no shame in getting knocked out - for he was loved by boxing afficionados for going all out each time, taking chances, instead of fighting not to lose.
Michael Jordan failed to make the junior high basketball team on his first try, but instead of giving up worked harder and successfully made it the next year. He was always the first to arrive and the last one to leave during practice games. His advice to aspiring athletes : " When you find a wall, find a way to over it if you cannot go around it. I could understand people who fail but never the ones don't even want to try."
In my case, I learned to handle a loss the way a scientist do - each failure is just a lesson learned how not to do things the right way. My failure is my pain and I know I have to pay for the consequences. Conjugal mistake is another thing though, finger pointing won't help, and finding the reasons why at times is more like adding more fuel to the fire. The best way is she is falling from a cliff, and you jump in with her, and hold hands to meet whatever is down there together. There is no better way to grope in the dark when you someone to watch your back.
As the saying goes, marriage is the only gamble in which either both of you win or both of you losses. The best way to be treated like a king is to treat your woman like a queen. And for a man to be proved right, you have to accept that you are wrong, for its always either she is right, or you are wrong. And maybe, aside from the marital vows - for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, - the priest should also read the Miranda Rights to the groom, that every word he says can be used against him.
Years later, after his second retirement, he was asked how he saw his other losses and he smilingly said - they were not really losses, he just failed to knock them out. Foreman's second coming proved that you are not really a loser if you will just keep on trying. Either you come out swinging back to form or pause for a while as heal your wounds, and then recondition your self that the comeback road is a lot tougher than the first. He knew that ranged against younger and quicker opponents, he has has to double his effort, work harder and hurdle more pains in order to succeed.
Tom Hanks' role as Captain John Miller in the movie " Saving Private Ryan" summed up his losses by convincing himself that for every man he lost under his command, he was able to save some 20 or 25 of them. It was that way of thinking that allowed him to handle his own "private war."
Manny Pacquiao knew that he has to continue fighting the best in his division to be able to bounce back after getting knocked out cold by Torrecampo in 1996, and won his first world title 2 years later. But it was after his second KO loss that really boosted his career jumping 2 weight classes to win his second world title against Ledwaba. He did rested on his laurels, worked even harder, and established a record that would be hard to match winning world titles in 8 weight divisions. The big difference between him and most fighters is that he knew that getting beat up and losing is part of the game, and there is no shame in getting knocked out - for he was loved by boxing afficionados for going all out each time, taking chances, instead of fighting not to lose.
Michael Jordan failed to make the junior high basketball team on his first try, but instead of giving up worked harder and successfully made it the next year. He was always the first to arrive and the last one to leave during practice games. His advice to aspiring athletes : " When you find a wall, find a way to over it if you cannot go around it. I could understand people who fail but never the ones don't even want to try."
In my case, I learned to handle a loss the way a scientist do - each failure is just a lesson learned how not to do things the right way. My failure is my pain and I know I have to pay for the consequences. Conjugal mistake is another thing though, finger pointing won't help, and finding the reasons why at times is more like adding more fuel to the fire. The best way is she is falling from a cliff, and you jump in with her, and hold hands to meet whatever is down there together. There is no better way to grope in the dark when you someone to watch your back.
As the saying goes, marriage is the only gamble in which either both of you win or both of you losses. The best way to be treated like a king is to treat your woman like a queen. And for a man to be proved right, you have to accept that you are wrong, for its always either she is right, or you are wrong. And maybe, aside from the marital vows - for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, - the priest should also read the Miranda Rights to the groom, that every word he says can be used against him.
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