A Life in a Single Sentence

“The reward of a good life is the living of it.”—Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World. If I only knew life would be extremely trying, like a runner jumping over several hurdles, yet not guaranteed of victory, I would have refused to get out from my mother’s womb, though it would result in… Read More »

In Search of Jesus Christ

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” —John 3:16-17. There should not be any question about the story… Read More »

For One Shining Moment

“Touch ‘em all, Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” — Tom Cheek, the play-by-play radio announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, during Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. There’s nothing like going euphoric over a sports team, especially if you are emotionally invested in their winning ways. So in the 2025 season,… Read More »

The Testimony

“When you cannot see where you are going, when you do not know your final destination, every hour is its own eternity.” —Tess Gerritsen, Playing with Fire. In A Perfect World, people will love one another, be kind and welcome differences, share the bounties of the earth.  But we are not perfect and this flaw in our nature… Read More »

A Life Profiled: Roger Federer

“It’s often difficult to recognize legends or all-time greats when they’re at the height of their powers. It frequently takes the decline in their careers for people to realise the enormity of what they have achieved.” — Chris Bowers, Fantastic Federer: The Biography of the World’s Greatest Player. Roger Federer was born on August 8, 1981 in Basel,… Read More »

The Making of a Filipino Dictator

Is being a dictator due to luck or destiny? “I often wonder what I will be remembered in history for. Scholar? Military hero? Builder? The new constitution? Reorganization of government? Builder of roads, schools? The green revolution? Uniter of variant and antagonistic elements of our people? He brought light to a dark country? Strong rallying point, or a… Read More »

Reading Teodoro M. Locsin

“Time is an eraser leaving the board of consciousness blank. Only chalk marks of thought and feeling remain…Stories and poems are their maker…They are what he thought and felt when he crafted them.” — Teodoro M. Locsin, Trial & Error [Preface]. I wasn’t much of a reader then. But our house would have reading materials such as books… Read More »

Torn

“Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool/Loving both of you is breaking all the rules.” — Lyrics from Torn Between Two Lovers, a song by Mary MacGregor. “What decides the purpose of life is simply the programme of the pleasure principle.” — Sigmund Freud. Marriage is the total surrender to love, I thought, when I married my… Read More »

Bahala na ang Dios

“If God exists, all depends on him and we can do nothing against his will. If he does not exist, everything depends on us.” — Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus. “Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks.” — Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents.… Read More »

Don’t Fuck With Me

“I’m telling the Filipino people, not me, it’s going to be bloody, because I will not sit there as president and just like any other regime, say, ‘That’s all I can do.’ If you put me there, don’t fuck with me.” “Am I the death squad? True. That is true.” —Rodrigo Duterte. One of the endearing qualities of… Read More »