I was 12 when I became hooked on origami. My ninong (godfather) taught me my first lesson, the famous origami crane, some weeks after he arrived from Japan. I was in sixth grade and it was a creative adventure. At the time, aside from cheap plastic toys sold along the sidewalks near the school entrance, […]
Read more "Folding, Unfolding"After a talk I gave, a young lady from the audience approached me and told me how thankful she was to learn that we are in the same boat: she is a struggling creative with a lot of passion for singing and music. She is a nurse, but her heart sings more for her creative […]
Read more "Creative Side"I enjoyed the company of older people. I sought the counsel of a priest or a nun. I chatted with librarians, janitors, security guards, drivers, cashiers, vendors and people living ordinary lives. I talked to older people in hospitals and communities, learning about their condition while taking their blood pressure. Those conversations as a young […]
Read more "Elders’ Healing"Life is not possible without the dynamics of opposites. There will always be up and down, left and right, hard and soft, hot and cold. This truth is true in all levels, whether in nature or in humans. What is troubling is that we see opposites mostly as opposing. We have created absolute concepts, like […]
Read more "Love Has No Opposites"The Vernacular Kapwa I have always heard the meaning of kapwa, at least in vernacular, as a reference to a popular public service TV program here in the Philippines. Its thrust is to help the poor, sick, disabled, depressed and devastated ease their suffering by giving financial, medical and psychological aid. Amid the fancy and […]
Read more "The Meaning of Kapwa"