Roots and Wings

If I had two wishes, I know what they would be.
I'd wish for roots to cling to, and wings to set me free;
Roots of inner values, like rings within a tree,
And wings of independence to seek my destiny.
(from A Child's Bedtime Song by Denis Waitley)

I was reflecting on the past events. It was nice to see old faces as well as new ones gathering together once a year during the school's Christmas celebration. I noticed that many past pupils take this opportunity to visit their former school and get in touch once again with their classmates of yesteryears. When you see them in their seemingly-endless boyish and girlish chatter, you wouldn't even think they're men and women who work in NGO's, schools, or banks. They simply have that need of revisiting their roots in order to gain their wider wings.

Today, the last day of 05, You remind me once again of my roots - all those things you've sent me since I was in my mother's womb until the present. I am indeed grateful for them - they have shaped me into what I am today.
And as I look forward to 06 - "as I face my fear of falling when I test my wings in flight... Just be there when I need you, to tell me it's all right!"

Don Bosco SHV Christmas Presentation

Season's Greetings to All!

The picture portrays the Christmas Nativity scene adapted to the Cambodian way of life.
May Peace reign in us all! (photo courtesy of CCCC)

រីករាយបុណ្យនូអែល​និង​សួស្តីឆ្នាំថ្មី

Merry Christmas to all our readers:
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Christmas is Family

They say that: “The best Christmas of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another.” After all these years, I still feel homesick every Christmas because I'm away from my “natural” family. But I do have my “acquired” family here at Don Bosco. Both students and teachers are so enthusiastic preparing for this day’s celebration. I do believe that even if they are not Christians, they have earned the spirit of Christmas in their hearts – that of loving and sharing… and most of all that of family.

Christmas is when You left your family “up there” and was born to your family “down here.” By doing so You did not lose your family but rather You gained another… nay more, You got the latter family to join the former. Thus You made Christmas one big family reunion.

Computer Ethics at UPOU

This semester I'm enrolled at the University of the Philippines (Open University) via distance learning for a subject elective called "Computer Ethics" (IS 201). Besides the usual moral and ethical discussions on the uses and abuses of the computer today in cyberspace, resources and links are also given for us to read and further our worldview of what's happening globally and how ethical principles are applied locally.

As I do the study, I'm becoming more convinced of the saying "Think Global, Act Local" as a prime principle for approaching the subject of computer ethics and the formulation of its local policies.

And they also require us to put our thoughts down in web format. I've created another website for it and entitled it: "My Academic Journey" (PS. posting of Mr King's cartoon under "Fair use of copyright materials")

Amazing how amidst such technological change, universal ethical principles remain virtually intact. People long for an ordered universe to make this world a place worth living. In their search for the unchanging values of truth, justice, and order, will they find the Unchanging You as the Root, the Cause and the Source of it all?

I'll be Home for Christmas

"I'll be home for Christmas," so goes the song...
I met some Filipinas in Church this morning, two of them have finished their contracts with their garments company and will be back home for Christmas.

Meanwhile, the others (like me) will have to finish our Christmas song with "... if only in my dreams!"

Plinius once wrote: "Your home is where your heart is." This morning all of us were at home here with You in the Eucharist, for after all that is where our heart is. I need look for home nowhere else.