HUMAN DIVERSITY: Diffferences of HUMAN is not a HINDRANCE for a better WORLD.

ANAIS NIN: "We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations." I was STRUCK by this NOTION, indeed it is TRUE.

Differences challenge assumptions, I bet. We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of a wide canvass of beautiful art of the WORLD. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams but with common GOAL. Its how we perceive things, you and me sitting together hesitant to talk to each other for we may have conflict. WHY THINK THAT WAY? We might ended up a lot of COMMON THINGS about the WORLD, about LIFE, and about ASPIRATIONS. Isn't it a LOVELY PLANET to LIVE IN?

For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes their perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us. We are just one small part of this HUGE LIFE GIVER WORLD. Each of one PLAY a VITAL ROLE in each and every one's LIFE. We breathe the same air. We step on the same ground, we ate to live, we work hard for our own future. If we just count on things that we SIMILARITIES rather that counting on things we DIFFER from each other. Isn't it a LOVELY PLANET to LIVE IN?

DIFFERENT CULTURE, DIFFERENT RELIGIONS, DIFFERENT LAWS, DIFFERENT GODS, DIFFERENT TRADITIONS, DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, DIFFERENT COLORS, DIFFERENT PRACTICES. We live on the MODERN ERA, We are not on the SAVAGE LAND anymore. What we need is RESPECT, LOVE, COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING, ACCEPTANCE and we will make this WORLD a BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN. NO MORE WAR and PEACE Will certainly REIGN in this MARVELOUS and AMAZING WORLD WE LIVE IN. With our DIFFERENCES and despite of our DIVERSITY we will be in a HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP; MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING of LIFE in this WORLD. OUR DIVERSITY will color the WORLD and just like MUSIC we are a symphony that will make an astonishing composition to hear and listen. I BELIEVE that our DIFFERENCES is not a HINDRANCE for a better world, Isn't it a LOVELY PLANET to LIVE IN?

FREEDOM: Its Just like an OXYGEN that GIVES LIFE and WATER that QUENCHES.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." This is in accordance to DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, but for you what is FREEDOM? The state of being free? Exemption from the power and control of another? FREEDOM is" LIBERTY and INDEPENDENCE?

In our present time we are fortunate to live as FREEMEN as they say. If we recollect our own HISTORY, In every NATION'S HISTORY we could see suffering, bondage, injustice, violence, remorse, agony and a lot more. Every NATION, every COUNTRY have it's own GLORIOUS PAST for FREEDOM. As to the PHILIPPINES that has been COLONIZED by SPAIN for more than 300 YEARS, UNDER by AMERICANS, HOSTAGE by the JAPANESE, what we are now today? EVERYTHING in the PAST is HISTORY for now but what we are TODAY? FILIPINOS are FREE! ARE WE? During my GRADE SCHOOL I was able to have this SPEECH memorized which until now is very clear to my consciousness. VERY VIVID that embarked to my HEART. A piece from RAUL MANGLAPUS. Please read and understand:

Land of Bondage, Land of the Free

By: Raul Manglapus

The tao does not come here tonight to be judged -- but to judge! Hear then his accusation and his sentiments:

I indict the Spanish encomendero for inventing taxes impossible to pay!

I indict the usurer for saddling me with debts impossible to bear!

I indict the irresponsible radical leaders who undermine with insidious eloquence the confidence of my kind in our government!

I indict the haciendero for seizing my lands with subtle trickery and reducing me to peonage!

I indict him for sacrificing the honest efforts of an honest government on the altar of his illimitable greed!

You accuse me of IGNORANCE. But I am IGNORANT because my master finds it profitable to keep me ignorant. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false!You accuse me of INDOLENCE. But I am INDOLENT not because I have no will, but because I have no hope.Why should I labor if the fruits of my labor go to extinguish and inextinguishable debt! Free me from bondage, and I will prove you false! GIVE ME LAND. LAND TO OWN. Land unbeholden to any tyrant. LAND THAT WILL BE FREE. Give me land for I am starving. Give me land that my children will not die.Sell it to me. Sell it to me at a fair price as one free man sells to another. And not as a usurer sells to a slave.

I AM POOR. But I will pay it! I will work and work until I fall with weariness for my privilege and my right to be free!

But if you will not grant me this last request. This ultimate demand, then build a wall around your house... build it high!... build it strong!... place a sentry on every parapet... for I who have been silent these three hundred years, will come in the night when you are feasting, with my cry and my bolo at your door...And may God have mercy on your soul!

Though this was intended to the conquerors the colonizers, this might be applicable to our present times. I believed we are still oppressed and tortured. We are still fighting for that light. We are still searching for our own IDENTITY for our OWN SELF as FILIPINOS. We may be lucky enough to have this so called DEMOCRACY, but let us be vigilant still, be intelligent enough for there is no one who can help our selves but us FILIPINOS.

LET US BE PROUD of our SELVES, of being a FILIPINO. LET US UNITE for one COMMON GOAL and for the COMMON GOOD OF ALL. I CAN STILL SEE HOPE...