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August 25, 2009

“Child’s Eye”


“We always questioned reality but what we don’t know is that the truth is far beyond our imagination.” As what we have observed, children in our society have the imaginations that are capable of understanding the essence of things while adults have had their imaginations encumbered by attachment to the quantifiable. Furthermore, adults are being glad to know such reasonable reason. It is because they have lost the curiosity of childhood, and their lives are bound by here and now. They never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to have to provide explanations over and over again.

The narrator who is really the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery begins the tale with an explanation of his dislike of adults. He claims he does not enjoy them, for they are much too practical. Instead, he prefers the company of children, who are natural and delightful. The author also weaves a thread through the chapters by the repetition of similar statements alluding to the same idea: “That’s the way they are.”; “Grown-ups are so strange.”; “Grown-ups are certainly quite extraordinary”; “And no grown-up will ever understand.” The theme of the story is reflected and clarified in the simplistic but expressive illustration by Saint- Exupery.

In the first chapter, the novel begins with an introduction of explaining the drawings of a boa constrictor that the pilot made as a young boy. Unfortunately, none of the adults who viewed the pictures were able to recognize the meaning of the drawings. Why was that so? It is because grown-ups only accept what is sensually obvious. As a result, at an early age, the narrator discovered that most people do not look beneath the surface to see the real message, beauty or importance of a thing.


Saint Exupery scorns man’s obsession with the wrong things, such as wealth, power, and technology. He uses the King, the Businessman, and the Lamplighter to highlight this theme. The King puts a great deal of importance into being obeyed, even though he orders only what would happen anyway. The Businessman takes great pride in owning all the stars, but he is too busy counting them to gain any pleasure from their beauty. The Little Prince also scorns the Lamplighter’s fascination with science and technology. Though the prince admires his commitment to his work, and admires the work itself which brings beauty into the universe. Nevertheless, the lamplighter displays a grown-up value. He is so caught up in the importance of lighting his lamp, that he misses what is important in life. Each of the adults the prince encounters on the various planets he visits symbolizes a particular characteristic of adults in general.


The story is set in the Sahara desert, a barren place ready to be shaped by experience. I can also describe a desert as very quite, mysterious place that somewhat an empty area. In this capacity, the desert symbolizes the grown- up’s mind that was so empty; that every time they need an explanation. Furthermore, the three-petaled flower in the desert has seen only a few men pass by, so the flower thinks men are rootless and scarce in number. The prince hears his own echo, so he thinks that men simply repeat what is said to them. Even a figure as enlightened and likeable as the little prince cannot help but have his beliefs shaped by his limited perspective of the world around him.


The protagonist in the novel is the little prince who symbolizes hope, love, innocence and insight of childhood that lie dormant in all of us. He is simple yet mystical creature from asteroid B-612. While the problem or the antagonist of the story is his thirst for answers. In the course of his life, he had great many encounters with great many people from different planets, whom he questions about life. In other words, this childish innocence of his allows him to keep asking the questions and receiving the answers that allow the conflict to develop throughout the novel. In particular, he wants to understand the existence and pastimes of adults, who unfortunately have been consumed with matters of consequence.

Although there are many smaller conflicts, after much questioning I have been led to believe that the prominent conflict in The Little Prince is man versus man - more specifically, children and their morals versus those of the adults. A little later in the conversation, the little prince says, “Only the children know what they are looking for because they have something to pursue, and are not unsatisfied or preoccupied with other worldly matters, such as the quest for wealth and power.” They are satisfied with just ordinary things and are searching for just that in order to achieve happiness and satisfaction. The depicted adults, however, are occupied with their endless prospects of gaining more wealth, power, and earthly objects. This is just one of the examples that add on to the developing conflict of children versus adults.

In the story, Saint Exupery points out that man has not learned to look beneath the surface, or perhaps, has forgotten how to do so. Because adults never look inside, they will never know themselves or others. All his life, the pilot thought that grown-ups cared mostly about inconsequential matters. When they talked about important matters, they always became dull and boring. They seemed afraid to open up their hearts to the real issues of life; instead, they chose to function on a surface level.

. Beneath the simplicity, however, there is a sophisticated tale that deals with the important lessons of life. Just as the little prince finds answers to his questions, the reader also learns the answers to what is most important in everyday existence. However, children will recognize its intent with a simplicity that does not require analysis, for “Only the children know what they are looking for and they don’t need any explanations like the grown-ups.

Grown-ups do not perceive with their inner eye, their imagination. They do not seem to possess the desire, make an effort, time nor the essence, or the purpose of what is before them. The grown-ups have a purely mimetic relationship with the world around them. They claim to know everything, but they only know little because they so rigidly refuse to explore for themselves. Children have to fill in the gaps because grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and therefore they always need explanations.

No grown-up will ever understand how such a thing could be so important! It is through this novel we can achieve a newfound understanding of the people that exists around us. This story is written as a nostalgic look by the author to an experience he had as an adult that helps him see the world again through a child's eyes. If we could all, as adults, read the story The Little Prince, through a child’s eye; we could all see the world through our hearts, and the world would truly be a better place.

“TRUTH CLAIMS: A WARMING WORLD”


“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
-Mark Twain


We hear it everywhere. Catastrophic Global Warming is a fact. It is here. It is now unstoppable. And we are not to question God of this catastrophic global warming but rather we gonna question ourselves. When will people wake up? Even more importantly, it goes to show why we should care that global warming is occurring. Well in fact, looking deeper into history reveals that global warming and cooling are simply a regular occurrence.

The documentary is an eye opener and also a wake up call for me. I have heard about global warming before, probably back in grade school but I knew a little about it or I only knew the meaning of the term global warming. I’d heard a lot of information about this being a myth and since the time I viewed the film I’d clearly understand with many shown independent pieces of evidences. The documentary gave me a deeper understanding of what global warming really is and what will be the consequences if we do not do something about it. The way the documentary is presented is very effective. Al Gore defined and described global warming in a way a non-science-loving-environmentalist would understand. For the information and for the sake of everybody, I urge everyone to see this film and for sure you will not regret it because the film offers us ways, big and small, to help reverse global warming’s effects right now.

What is the solution of this Global Warming? If appropriate actions are taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less CO2 and planting more vegetation to consume existing CO2. So we should plant more tress. Small changes to our daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. Another solution is to buy recycled paper products because it takes less energy and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide. In general, we can stop this through reduce, reuse and recycle. I believe this is a moral issue for us and it is our time to seize this issue. It is our time to rise again to secure the better future.

Everything that has ever happened in all of human history, all the triumphs and all the tragedies, all the wars all the famines, all the major advances had ruined our world. And that is what we should think of. Our right to live on our planet Earth which is our only home has became destroyed and had been damaged. Do we not get depressed about all these state of affairs and be in despair with the condition of our world now? If the warming continues, we can expect catastrophic consequences. The earth’s coastlines will be flooded and it can affect about ten millions of people, it will increase the strength and frequency of hurricanes and tornadoes. The ice sheets at the poles are melting and it will kill species from polar bears to birds. The deserts are starting to burn. And, of course, the sky provides no shelter. A biblical proportion threatens not just our weather but life itself. Global warming is upon us. There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. The time to come together to solve this problem is now. Take an action.

We should help one another to stop this mysterious consequence we are facing of. We are the cause, therefore we are responsible to look for the solution of this and that if we are responsible enough because supposed to be we are reliable to this issue. As what the motto of Argao stated: “If you are not part of the cure, then you are part of the problem.” Yes, this is really true. When God had created in the first six day of His creation, all of these things around us are just merely unblemished. As the time goes by, humans slowly devastated this creation of Him. So we are very questionable about this. Look! Haven’t we realized until now? But until when? Until when all these things will be fade? Should we wait for the time when it’s too late? Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, “What were our parents thinking? Why didn’t they wake up when they had a chance?” We have to hear that question from them now. This is our chance to change everything of what we had ruined to our Mother Earth. We are created and placed here in the world not to destroy but to become steward to His creation.

August 21, 2009

"Poverty is not a Hindrance to Success"

(i wrote this during my elementary years.)




We know here in our country most of the people suffer from poverty. And because of being a poor citizen, they can’t satisfy their needs and of their children. But even though we lie on that situation it doesn’t mean that we won’t succeed. We should be strong and ready to sacrifice and suffer from being poor. If we are ambitious and if our desire to succeed in our profession is very strong as a matter of fact this perseverance will help us to gain success. On our way up to the ladder of success, we will meet both success and failures. So, we won’t be easily given up. We should try our best to succeed. Remember, success should not go our head so quickly and our disappointment must not dishearten us. But be reminded of the law,” give and take if we want to succeed in life”. Another thing we should remember is we shouldn’t forget to response our parents from supporting and loving us. When successful, give thanks to God. When faced with failures learn from the failures and become wiser.

August 20, 2009

TRUTH & BEAUTY: A FRIENDSHIP



We have a very thin understanding of what friendship really is. Others have idea that friendship is a matter of choice. While according to Aristotle, the traditional idea of friendship has three components:”Friends must enjoy each other's company, they must be useful to one another, and they must share a common commitment to the good.” But for me, my own definition of what friendship really means is that it is a kind of a virtue that it is also most necessary for living. Nobody would choose to live without friends even if he had all the other good things. Some hold that it is a matter of similarity that our friends are those who are like ourselves.


Saint-Exupery’s tale is filled with characters who either should be or have been tamed. The fox explains that “taming” means “creating ties” with another person so that two people become more special to one another. He said that the meaning of the world around him will be enriched because the Little Prince has tamed him. These ties are created because taming requires patience, sacrifice, understanding, perseverance and responsibility. When these virtues are put into practice for the sake of the friendship then there will be bond among them by means of sacrifice. Because if there will be no sacrifice lies and therefore no ties created. And this sacrifice is the language of love and not by words for words are “the source of misunderstanding” as the Little Prince learns from his own experience with the flower. In fact, the process of taming is usually depicted as being more intensive for the one doing the taming than for the person being tamed. And once you had tamed each other, he will be unique and one of its kind from among all the other for there was ties that established so therefore he will be treated as special.


Building friendships really takes time and to gain this state of friendship, certain things had to happen to us. We had to want to have it, we were willing to work at it and we had to learn by trial and error. If we put these together, does it not mean that actually we have been tamed by someone? We must made an effort, and been more changed. In this we learn to love the other person for their own sake not just for what they are or what they can offer, and we put the interests of the other before our own. And finally, to carry this idea one step further-in our relationship with God, do we not need to work at taming ourselves before we are ready for His ever available help and friendship?

August 19, 2009

Why do I not love to read Books?

Yes, I can really mirror out myself on the article that Arlene Babst-Vokey wrote. Because deep within, as I grew up and as the different technologies goes on, I noticed to myself that I become more lazy and it’s hard for me to read books, novels or somewhat else. Because as what the author hade mentioned, reading really takes time. And frankly speaking, I hesitate neither my time nor I didn’t give the chance to spend some of my times for reading. I also see through that in reading, I did not find myself enjoying it especially when it’s hard for me to understand or to get the deep point of what I had read. Until now I’d realized how important reading pala. And I want to hate myself for such a being lazy. I know it’s very unfair to myself that I didn’t give some chance to enjoy myself by spending some of my times with reading books and novels. And by that, I know naman that reading can benefit a lot to me on how I can interact with the society around me and in every activity that I am going through.