Modern Day Violence

I've once read that when we recognize one's culture, one's race, we breed violence because we recognize our differences. Differences that makes us either superior or inferior to others.

The first time I saw that quote, i reacted a bit agitated. I am a firm believer of a belief that I am a Filipino, I am an Agusanon, I am different. I love my people. I love my nation.

But that kind of mindset was 300 years old, everything has changed today.

Look at what's happening today. Wars. Terrorisms. Massacres. Name it, we already have it.

The moment we recognize our differences, we also recognize that others are superior or inferior to us. We are aware of the things that we have and the things that we do not have.

Human as we are, we'd like to think that we are rare and distinct. One of a kind. Peculiar. Sometimes, it has brought us good effects in terms of stepping up and improving one' self. But sometimes, it happens the other way around. It breeds bullying. I must say, that religions and cultural differences are the main roots of the great wars of all time.

So what does this tell us?

I am reminded by Sartre's words, "Existence precedes essence." When we think of a definite purpose for our lives, we aren't only thinking of ourselves alone, we must also think of the community that we live in.

We are  as responsible to others as to how we are responsible of our own selves.

Everything that we do, beneficent or fiendish, we must always consider the world that we live in and not by the color, religion, race, socio-economic status, or culture of your so-called "world".

What goes around comes back around.

What you do to your community truly defines you and not how different you are to your community.

So if you want to live in a world full of thieves, keep on stealing. If you want to face every day inspired, find somebody to inspire first. Existence precedes essence.

If you are a student and you're tired of a corrupted government, stand up and be audibly against cheating and mediocrity in every paperwork that you must pass.

Stop pinpointing differences because at the end of the day we all are just the same humans having the same options between behaving humanely or inhumanely.

Student Athlete Turned Beauty Queen: Bae Taphagan 2015 Confessions

March 2015 was a month I never expected to exist in a way it did. I grew up getting the attention of an enormous crowd when either Im playing volleyball with my team or speaking alone. I was either an athlete or a student leader. A beauty queen? "Such worthless reveries," that was me before March 2015.

I considered it a big joke seeing myself on a big stage ramping the tsunami walk of Shamcey Supsup or the Venus' walk. I used to mimic their catwalk in front of my friends in a funny way that everybody would really laugh at. But look what happened, it seemed that the joke was on me.

Either a joke or a dream, it really happened.

March 30, 2015 I was crowned as Santa Josefa's Bae Taphagan 2015. If you want to know more about Santa Josefa and its Taphagan Festival, you can read my previous blog entry.

I never admitted my self in such competition with the assumption of winning it. What do I have? Nothing.

There were 10 of us. 8 of them are all expereienced and really into this beauty pageant thing while the 2 of us had our first ever beauty pageant.

I was inspired rather than coerced to commit myself into such. It was my tito. He was the barangay captain and he chose me to choose this event. Then eventually it was everbody's choice. But me.

At first i kept on laughing on the idea of me wearing this crown plus the horrendous stilettos. It is just so hilarious that I cant help but laugh.

However, when I found all the other girls was working their assess off during the photoshoot and the rehearsals, i told myself, "I cant afford losing." If this would be my greatest social suicide, I want to do it my way. I was so in the zone with my game face on, I started to take the high heels seriously. I watched youtube videos and pulling all my strings together for this kind of game.

Then poof, it became coco crunch.  I never won any minor awards like Miss Flawess, Best in Swimwear, Best in Long Gown and all, but I was more than ready for that. I never aimed for those minor awards. I was after giving my family and all the people who've put their trust on me what they deserved. And so I them gave my everything.

Apparently, God was just so good that he provided me the adequate confidence I need. It was neither my beauty nor my brain. It was all grace-driven.

I won. I was crowned Bae Taphagan 2015. I never know how I did it, I just know what I currently have and utilized it as efficient and as effective as possible.

For all the girls down there who dreams to become the next Bae Taphagan, dont stop dreaming and believing. It will be all yours if you just make yourself ready and available for such responsibilities.

And for all the girls who are on the same age as mine, dont give too much attention to beauty because beauty is fleeting. Value knowledge. Pursue education. Know who you really are and be confident in everything that you do.

"For the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the greatest enemy of knowledge is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen  Hawking

Taphagan Festival

Santa Josefa, a 3rd class municipality of the province of Agusan del Sur, Philippines celebrates its Taphagan Festival every year particularly at end of March.

Santa Josefa, an ecotourism municipality that incorporates the promotion of their tourism with the preservation and promotion of its discrete culture, and with a noticeable endorsement to practice agricultural-business among the people of Santa Josefa.

Considering that Santa Josefa is a vast land for planting crops like corn, rice, coconut and many more, the people of Santa Josefa are encouraged to think out of the box- to generate new kinds of innovations that would cater more source of income and to hopefully result in an increase in employment.

Majority of the people in the said municipality are farmers, that is why Taphagan represents them as one people with one culture. Long ago, the indigenous people of Santa Josefa practiced Taphag rituals to demonstrate how grateful they are for the abundance they've received. Taphag rituals are anciently led by Babaylans, a religious leader. 

This year, 2015, it is the 19th Taphagan Festival and at the same time the 50th Araw ng Santa Josefa (50th year of Santa Josefa's existence), making it more historical, more special and more challenging for the people of Santa Josefa to advance in all its aspects particularly in its economy and literacy. Santa Josefa may be well-advanced in terms of its age, but still there are more room for improvements.

Personally speaking, Santa Josefa, is such a young and an unheard municipality. For the past years it has remained just the way it is if not, progressed but not efficiently. This is not to belittle my own hometown but to raise awareness that the weight of making a municipality advance and improve in all areas is neither on the sole shoulders of the government, nor on a single group of people that are regarded as "influential" or "powerful", but on every individual. 

For without an individual, there would be no community. For with the absence of a dream of an individual, there would be no dream for a municipality to achieve.