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March 2024
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OPTIONS AND EMOTIONS12/4/2023 My daughter was complaining about her English assessment today. She was a bit worried as to how she would perform. We already rehearsed some scenario for the exercises where you have to imagine what happens/happened in the series of photos last night. But, emotionality gets in the way. We all have options and solutions. I will not guarantee that they will all be successful but at least, these options are there for you to take, analyze, and, maybe, you're closer than you think to addressing the issues. My student in the last session told me that he wanted to take a Masters of Psychology and he had to attain a certain grade level for him to be admitted to this program. It's this one or bust. I told him, "Well, there are many universities and programs that could be an alternative to that only one. You might be happier and less stressed if you could widen your choices a bit." But of course, people do what they want to do, no matter how much you will warn them otherwise. I will never ever believe that this one choice is the end-all and be-all of everything. As life happens, we know that change happens in the blink of an eye. We see systems collapsed, infrastructures paralyzed, and even the securest of securities crumbled in multiple crises environments. If a salesman is selling a widget with a ten-year warranty, you better believe that a warranty is another ploy to give you the peace of mind without the real guarantees. Emotions have got to do with it, as well as the limited and narrow framing. Politicians and policymakers want to narrow down the issues so they can use a magnifying glass, albeit with more disastrous results. As for us, we need a wider vista to overcome the paralyzing and emotional roller-coaster of created miseries.
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HOSTAGED PEACE11/15/2023 With the world on Gaza these days, there's a call for ceasefire but not a call for peace. Peace is surely underrated, underexplored, underinvested, and under-committed in this specific conflict. Revenge in this situation is overemphasized, as in the use of military might. Aside from Israeli and Palestinian deaths, Hamas as a terrorist organization is not vilified as much as the Israel-Arab animosities more aroused than ever. Pitch forks on both sides including the mainstream media showing its partiality on the issue. Peace whether in the form of multilateral diplomacy, Qatari-based leadership, or an Arab League-UN combination should be explored to the maximum. Israel should be restrained from exacting more harm on civilian population in pursuit of Hamas' leaders and Hamas must be pressured by its allies and friends to release the hostages. A ceasefire doesn't mean that Hamas had won or giving Hamas a congratulations. They can always continue to fight to get their aims but the Palestinians have been bombed enough. If the lessons of the Oslo Peace Accords can come alive again, they need people from the Israeli side who can broker long-term peace and not just the sure military victory from a terrorist organization. The Palestinians need better leadership too. The Palestinians deserve a better deal post-Hamas and that they should govern better than what their leaders did a decade ago. Let's not let history repeat itself.
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MISTAKEN NOTIONS11/14/2023 As a new instructor in a university way back circa 2000s, I was mistaken to be a student trying to attend a faculty orientation training program. When I told the nun I am an instructor, her eyeballs grew big. As a consultant in a room of community service providers, they think I was there trying to get their monies out of their budget into my pockets. People have stereotypes of consultants. I told them, " I'm just here to help." As a Filipino immigrant, I was always perceived to be a caregiver or a nurse by way of just knowing my ethnicity, they could guess my employment or occupational interest somehow. I usually told them otherwise. As a minority writer and author of a commercial book, my publisher was perceived to be more partial and welcoming of unheard and non-mainstreamed voices in the sector. What's wrong with that? As a job applicant before, I was told that they are looking for a senior professional who had previously taken executive-level positions. I had to do a short litany of what I had accomplished at a younger age. Age is not a defining factor of competence. As a diaspora in Canada, some people assume that I have married my husband to get permanent residency and citizenship. My husband is quick to correct that notion. As an instructor, I was told that my stories tend to convince them that I am an expert in the course. Yes, I'm really the expert. That's why they've better listen up. As a social enterprise, I was told that I'm very entrepreneurial. I had to be. I'm running a business not a charity. Even charities must be entrepreneurial to survive. Mistaken notions perpetuate when you don't enlighten them in that moment. Surely, we all have the fair share of these on a regular basis. What matters is what we say and do when we catch them. You may only have one chance. Do it well. |