Wasting Time on Trivial Preferences

You bought a new phone only to know later that its features are not really what you needed and the one that could have suit you better which you picked your phone over costs a lot cheaper. Making wrong choices on things that cost us money, time and effort happens to most of us. That is considering how we spend a lot of time researching about the latest phone models before purchasing one for example. 

And for the movies or tv series we are watching, many throw in a lot of effort in defending those choices we make. Network war is a big deal here even to the point that common people would bring up tv ratings and survey results that they know nothing about. And these discussions are usually serious ones. 

The word preference itself speaks about its variety among people. We are faced with many choices everyday and your preference is what makes it easier for you to choose. There are those which aren't charged with moral nor social responsibility. You just need to choose then that's it. Like whether you want an apple or a banana for snack, it should not matter what tv network you are watching this afternoon. Same as what phone brand you want to buy. These are all but things that are competing to catch your attention. Which ever wins it, it is definitely different with how it is with others. No one is right or wrong. 

But there are other preferences that need better attention from all of us. Like politics, investments, beliefs and education for example. Unfortunately, a big part of the population just let the system or the majority dictate their option regarding these matters. If only more of us spend more thinking into these things compared to the former, I wonder how better our society would be.

One Click Mentality

My breakfasts are amazing especially that my wife always prepare a good set of it. I also do the preparations at times but since I have to start working at 4:30 AM daily, all I can do is to prepare my coffee and wait for my wife's cooking. Or sometimes if we are both too busy, everything else will be instant. Noodles, pancit canton, canned goods, etc. I admit that the taste of these kinds of food are mostly good. It's the preservatives, maybe?

Listening to the news daily, on the other hand, is a different story. 80% of it are bad or even more than that. Corrupt government, crimes, poverty, tragedies and disasters are the usual headlines. If there's one thing that we can't be desensitized from, it's with the nation's problems. Even if most of them seemed happening repeatedly, most will still make you sick to your stomach.

 
Are there solutions to these? For sure there are. But are we taking the right steps towards it? Is the public really aware of what we need to do to alleviate these problems? Or are we all just taking things in face value and not looking for the root cause? With the suggestions that we are hearing, it seems that it is the case.

For poverty, there's RH law. For crime solving, it's death penalty. For governance issues and corruption, it's to support this candidate for president. It's like for every big problem that this country have, there's a one click solution that we can readily choose from. And many are buying into them. I can't blame these people. Most probably, they are tired of it all and just want sudden changes and hoping that a superhero or a super-formula antidote is found somewhere and can make things happen like a simple one click solution.

The irony though is that the this kind of thinking is the same mindset that causes most of our society's trouble. Most of us wanted shortcuts. When applying for government permits and licenses, when driving thru our congested roads, when we want to achieve something, we have our own ways of what we call "diskarte" to get it done quicker. Usually, "diskarte" is about something not legal that we just turn a blind eye on. We deem them as normal since a lot is already doing it. One click and it's done.

Looking at the nation's situation deeper, everything is interrelated. The effect that we see could be the root, same as the chicken and egg situation. Everything is crisscrossed that suggesting a huge one-click solution could spell another disaster. In mathematics, the simplest solutions are usually the best ones. But in our society, the simple solutions, especially those that are not analyzed well and are merely products of public clamor and emotions can be a can of worms that once opened will extend the tentacles of the illnesses of the society rather than fixing them. Just as instant meals which usually taste good but lacks the nutrients that our body needs.



And I love my breakfast today. A cup of rice, "bistek" which my mom cooked yesterday, fried egg and a cup of coffee. I eat a lot for breakfast but I usually miss out on dinner. I read somewhere that it's a healthy practice. Though I think skipping or eating a meal is not the point whether it's healthy or not. It's still on what things you put on your plate and how much of it you take that matters.

Ngayon Ko Lang Ito Sasabihin

Nagdugo yung daliri ko. Nahiwa ko kasi ng kutsilyo nung minsang nagluluto ako ng ulam. Matigas palang balatan ang kalabasa. Hindi ako madalas magbalat ng kalabasa dahil di naman din ako talaga madalas magluto. Buti hindi bumaon masyado. Di rin kasi masyado matalim ang kutsilyo kaya rin siguro nahirapan ako magbalat. Binuhusan ko na lang ng tubig. Wala pa naman akong gamot. Sinabon ko na lang at pinabayaan ko.  Sana ay gumaling agad, kanang hintuturo pa naman.

Madalas ay hindi na kailangan pa ng maraming bagay para baguhin ang pananaw ng tao sa iba’t ibang bagay. Ang “salita” ang pinakamabisang kasangkapan para ang mali ay maging tama at ang baluktot ay maging tuwid.  Isang pangungusap lang ang kailangan para magmukhang mabuti ang masama. Ilang dagdag na kataga lang para maniwala ang tao sa kasinungalingan. At ito ay nangyayari din sa kabaligtaran na ang mabuti naman ay napapalabas din na masama.

Madalas pa ay nasa nagsasalita ang bigat, hindi sa sinasabi. Dahil sa ito ang unang nakikita at napapansin kaya mas nadadagdagan ang bigat ng mga katagang binibigkas. Kung may ideya kang gustong ipakalat at ipapaniwala sa tao, bukod sa kung ano at paano sasabihin, idagdag na rin kung sino ang magsasabi. Para paniguradong mas paniniwalaan. 

At nangyayari lang naman ang ganitong kalakaran dahil sa katamaran sa pag-iisip ng karamihan. Tatanggapin na lang kung ano ang unang nakita at nabasa. Dagdag pa sa kung sino ang nagsabi.  Sa panahon ngayon na mas mabilis ang mag-react at magsalita bago mag-isip patungkol sa nabasa, narinig o nakita, ang paggamit sa salita bilang kasangkapan para gumawa ng sariling katotohanan ay laganap na laganap na. 

At ang paghawa patungkol dito ay mabilis. May maniniwala at maaapektuhan. Magkkwento sa iba. Maniniwala ang iba. Uulitin, ibabahagi. Kahit di masyado naiintindihan, makikisali sa pagshare. Minsan di pa nga nababasa talaga. Ganon kabilis at ganoon kadali. At ang isang bagay na mali, sa isang iglap lang, magiging tama na.

May paraan naman para malaman kung totoo o hindi ang sinasabi ng iba. Minsan kailangan lang analisahin ang lahat ng bagay na nakapalibot sa isyu. Dun ay matitimbang na kung ano ang tama o mali. Paniguradong may pros and cons naman ang magkabilang panig pero ikaw na rin ang makakapagsabi kung ano ang dapat mong paniwalaan. Pero tandaan mo rin na hindi naman din lahat ay dapat mong  ayunan. Karapatan mong makialam pero karapatan mo ring hindi makialam. Lalo na kung ito ay wala namang epekto sa buhay mo. Hindi naman kailangang laging magreact at maapektuhan sa lahat. Kailangan mo ring piliin ang bagay na pakikialaman mo. Limitado din ang oras at lakas natin para lahat ng bagay ay isaalang alang natin. Kailangan din nating salain ang mga ito at unahin ang kung ano ang dapat. Nasabi ko na ata ito dati sa iba kong post. Pero uulitin ko na lang uli at kunwari ngayon ko lang sinabi.

Ngayon ay medyo ok na yung daliri ko. Hindi ko pinahiran ng gamot. Hindi ko rin nilagyan ng bandaid. Pero saglit lang gumaling na. Mahapdi magtype noong una. Pero ngayon ay ok na uli. At masarap naman yung nalutong ginataang kalabasa na may sitaw at hipon. Sabi nila pampalinaw daw ng mata ang kalabasa. May nagsasabi na hindi rin naman daw totoo. Naniniwala ako na totoo yun. Kung hindi man, masarap pa rin naman talaga ang kalabasa at sigurado akong masustansya. Pano ako nakakasiguro? Sabi kasi ng mga eksperto. Pero hindi ko naman talaga nakikita yung mga sinasabing nutrients. Nararamdaman ko naman ang epekto. Pero di ako sure, baka kasi psychological lang sabi ng iba. Pero basta, naniniwala ako na totoo yun. Gusto mo rin ba ng ginataang kalabasa? Don’t worry, walang bahid ng dugo ng daliri ko yun.

Just In Case You Forgot

I’ve been lacking sleep the past few days.  I just came from graveyard shift the past 4 weeks and now I’m back for morning duties. My body is still adjusting.  And sometimes I feel dizzy and confused. I also get easily irritated. While all of these happen, I try doubly hard to keep my mouth shut because I tend to get too emotional with my words and reactions. This isn’t an excuse but it’s just that I know myself well. I will inevitably hurt people if I let myself get loose when I’m on this state.

Humans are both logical and emotional beings. Most of the time, it’s the situation you are in which dictates which part of you talks louder. It is also evident in people’s opinions.  Try logging in on your social media account and check out on the hottest issues. Look at the comments section and you’ll see identical opinions and words. It’s like someone orchestrated their anger to speak and sound the same towards the perceived villains of the stories.  

The Good, The Bad and The Pure Logic

You’ll be fortunate to see few voices of logic within the flood of emotional comments.  You can identify them as those which will make you think by providing possible reasons, causes, effects or solutions. But most of the time, these comments get drowned by the majority.

Though when anger starts tapering off, you will see a sudden shift of tone. All the previously emotional people will start sounding like the logical ones, usually in an expert matter-of-factly tone.  But just like how they sounded the same in the past, it still is the same case.

Then give it a few days, weeks or months and everything will be back to normal. That is until the next big issue comes up and emotions will burst once again. Good thing about these scenarios is that many people begin to become aware of what’s happening around them. And a few starts actively working towards alleviating the problem either in a large scale or even just for their own selves.

But the sad part here is that majority of the people will remain as they are after the emotions fade. It’s like nothing happened and that they were not affected at all. And some even forgets to the point of doing the thing they detest themselves.  So it gets even worse.

While I’m about to end this post, I’m starting to feel dizzy again. I think I’m also hungry. It’s a signal that I must end this post so I won’t be saying anything unnecessary “accidentally”.  Anyway, all that I want to do here is to remind you, just in case you forgot.

Did you?

Stop the "Copy-Idol" Syndrome

I suck at being original. I always have this tendency of imitating the people I look up to. I have my own style doing things yet when I get impressed by these big people, I can't help but try hard to look, sound or think like they do. But I usually look up to people whom I can relate to or who I think I share some similarities with so it must be not that bad at all. Or maybe I only thought so but not really.

And I can say that I'm not alone in this department. This tendency for us to copy the people whom we admire is an epidemic. Such behavior results to loss of individuality and uniqueness. And this is one of the biggest factor why most people now seemed to think, look and sound the same. It is not totally wrong though as long as you are aware that you are doing this and not just being a mindless chameleon camouflaging everything else around him just to fit in. But unfortunately, the reason is the latter most of the time. And yes, I know that chameleon's camouflage doesn't work like that. But you get the point.

A lot of us are trapped into wanting to become the same as our "idols". We admire them so much that we aim to become a duplicate of them. But let me tell you straight. This will never happen. I'm sorry. It's not that I'm saying you are not capable to reach their level. You are. And it's great to be inspired and to learn from these great people. But if you continue aiming to be their "copy", you'll remain to be in their shadow no matter how good you become in the future. 

So stop trying to be so much like them and start becoming the best of what you can be.

And please remind me to tell this to myself.

Judge and miss the choices

I’m guilty of judging people.  Call it “first impression” but sometimes my mind works and talks of a lot of things to me just by looking at a person’s appearance. Though during my college years, it helped me survive incidents like holdups in jeepneys and buses. When I saw people who looked suspicious and acted differently, it’s either I alight from it or move away. 9 out of 10 incidents, I was right.  It’s not an exaggeration. I actually had more than that number of holdups and snatching experiences.

Men by nature are quick to judge. Maybe an instinct. Probably one of our traits that made our ancestors survived. They reacted quickly upon first judgment which helped them escape dangers during those eras.

Run for your lives!

At present, nothing really changed. People are still naturally reactive. And quick to judge on just about anything. The predators who are now more sophisticated and intelligent know this. When they want to make their prey move to their chosen direction, they sow fear. And the prey will react , controlled by emotion most of the time. They thought they have options and that they are thinking freely to move away from danger. Not realizing that they were just being pushed by fire to make them reach the slaughterhouse quickly.  And that prey mentality makes it quite easy for the predator. 

You’ll be told about the dangers of venturing into something else that you’ll stick to what you are doing no matter how much you hate it. And that you need to support this idea because if not, we’ll starve to death. Or something like that. We were told that we can only vote for these people and we have no other options. That they are the only ones who are capable and experienced to run the country and therefore we should not experiment with unknown guys.  Then you judge at first glance. And lose sight of other options.

Sila lang daw puede (photo from kapatiranparty.org)

But keep in mind that some of these warnings and dangers are true. And the only way to recognize which is authentic is by using logic above emotions. And only a few are able to manage and calculate their actions. And only some take the risks. And by doing so, they attain better control of their emotions and reactions. It gives them more room to think thus having more options compared to those who just react to fear. These are the ones who are not pushed around to forced choices.

These individuals see the better options. They will find more worthwhile things to do in their lives.  Or will think of a more beneficial idea for the people.  And will find better candidates or parties to vote for in government positions. And will think, hear and speak of better things amidst the noisy choral emotional crowd.

Currently, I’m training my mind to refrain from judging people quickly. I always give other people the benefit of the doubt. Or no doubt at all. Just a blank page without presumption of character.  We can’t like everybody. We also can’t be liked by everybody. But we can be civil and tolerant. Though being tolerant has its tolerance. And before reaching that point, leave. So you can keep cool and calm. And that we may all live happily ever after.