“Holy Mary Mother Of God, Pray For Us Sinners Now And At The Hour Of Our Death, Amen!”

Today, Dec 8, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Mother of God – as we Roman Catholics believe. If you do not believe in the Virgin Mary, ergo you do not believe in the Roman Catholic Church!

I do. (image from pixabay.com)

What is my message to the world on this date, the birth of the Roman Catholics’ “Virgin Mary” who suffered much as mother of Jesus Christ, in turn whom we Catholics believe to be “Savior of the World”?

None!

Because she doesn’t need my help – I need hers!

What is her message to me then, as her son in love? Remember, I just turned 85 on 17 September 2025.

It is this: “Have A Faith.” (HAF) which means I ought to believe in her because she is the mother of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Mary, the Earthly Mother.

“As he grew up, Jesus had faith in me, his Earth Mother. He trusted me 100%, completely. He trusted me when my husband Joseph and I, whose due date was coming up, went to Jerusalem for the census. That’s how Jesus came to be born in Jerusalem.

“The events that happened when my son Jesus grew up were a bit weird, but I accepted them all, as I knew they were all God-declared. (Aside: When Jesus knew it was God-declared, he followed the law.”)

Me: As I was saying in the beginning when I interrupted myself…..

I am a stubborn, diehard etc believer in Jesus Christ as Son of Mary and of God.

“Pope at Angelus: Believe as Mary believed, say ‘yes’ to God” (08 Dec 2025, “Say Yes To God,” vaticannews.va). Isabella H de Carvalho writes:

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Leo XIV prays the Angelus and invites the faithful to believe as Mary did, and to welcome Christ into their lives.

As the son of Mary, Jesus knew that he had inherited Mother Mary’s stubbornness in believing in God, the Father Almighty.

On Monday, December 8, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to believe in God as the Blessed Virgin Mary did and thus give “our generous assent to the mission to which the Lord calls us.”

He spoke to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for the recitation of the Angelus prayer on this feast day, where the Church celebrates how Mary, at the moment of her conception, was preserved from original sin by a unique grace from God, given in view of the future merits of Christ’s redemption.

“The ‘yes’ of the Mother of the Lord is wonderful, but so also can ours be, renewed each day faithfully, with gratitude, humility and perseverance, in prayer and in concrete acts of love, from the most extraordinary gestures to the most mundane and ordinary efforts and acts of service,” the Pope emphasized.

I blog for goodness’ sake, therefore I am serving the son of Mary, the son of God.@517

 

Sipagsikan: The More The Merrier!

 

SIPAGSIKAN:

The More The Merrier!

If Bill Gates is rich in dollars, I creative thinker am as rich, if not richer, with my inspiring ideas of creative farming, which I now refer to as SIPAGSIKAN. From the Philippines, this I dedicate to the millions upon millions of farmers especially in the tropics.

We need a himagsikan (revolution) in sipag or productive industriousness – to bring about that SIPAGSIKAN, a revolution in modern agriculture.

Above, I am showing the image of Bill Gates because of his vast wealth; I am using him as a take-off point for coming out in the open (Internet)  with a worldwide revolution in farming. How do I know we need such? In fact, we need to redefine what is good up to excellent agriculture! Which is good for farmers, consumers of farm produce, and the country. Yes?

Our poor farmers are still poor no matter what they do; our candidate political leaders promise the sky by and by and then after elections, the promiser elected or not, the promise is forgotten.

That is why I have come up with a slogan: “Himagsikan sa Sakahan,” in short SIPAGSIKAN – because I know if there is little industriousness, there is also little progress in agriculture.

Not only World Hunger but Farmer Poverty – and Climate Change. The same solution to 3 problems? Yes. Pay attention now!

SIPAGSIKAN: I Filipino invented the word from “Sipag ng mga magsasaka sa pagpapayaman ng lupa ng sakahan nila, upang yumaman ang ani, sa ganon yayaman ang kita ng magsasaka.” Gets?

Literally, that translates to “industriousness spread among the farmers in enriching their soils and planting them in different and appropriate ways so that they yield their maximum without chemical fertilizers and/or peticides.

SIPAGSAKA – “himagsikan sa pagsasaka gamit ang sipag at unawa.” You have to protect the richness of the soil; you have to actively promote that richness – in order to promote the wealth of the farmer.

We have to enrich our farmers but not at the expense of our farms!

We have to protect our farms from those destroying the plants and animals that enrich the earth!

Hereby I am launching the revolutionary SIPAGSAKA:

1.   What it is – Sipagsaka is cultivating the soil without plowing and enriching the same without fertilizers. This is by way of building in it organic matter.

2.   What it protects – Sipagsaka protects soils from erosion. That is, by building in itself a protective layer of organic matter composed of soil & plant materials.

3.   What it does to the soil – As the organic matter slowly decomposes, so does the soil surely enriches itself.

4.   What kinds of produce – Sipagsaka produces crops with a variety of fruits and fleshes rich in natural nutrients healthy for humans and other animals.

5.   What kind of farmer – Sipagsaka produces a rich farmer; that is, the lower the capital spent, the higher the profit per unit of produce.

The promise of riches from the soil – Is that good or bad news?

“Bill Gates Donated $51 Billion, Pledging 99% Of His Fortune By 2045, And Is Urging Fellow Biillionaires To Help Fight Hunger Nowl” (image from Facebook 29 Sept 2025)

I say:

Simplistic thinking! You cannot solve a problem by creating another problem!

Naïve! The poor in thinking would like you to think that!

Foolish! So much money not earned is so much money not valued!

Insane! You will simply be giving money to the poor – goodbye money!

Very bad farming is the problem now, not technology!

So, Good Farming is the solution.

Science points to good farming that is founded on natural plant growth.

How do you expect your techno-demo on natural rice growing will turn out?

(1)          Your costs vs returns will be at least 1 Cost : 11 Returns!

(2)          Your soil will be at least 2 times richer in natural elements: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium etc.

(3)          Your field will be at least 2 times healthier than when you first planted it this time.

(4)          Your field will be alive with insects, but zero pest infestation.

(5)          Your field will be alive with microorganisms but zero disease infestation.

Above all:

Ø You will harvest much more than you have ever had.

Ø Your produce will be much healthier to consume.

Ø And you will be richer than you have ever been!

Imagine at least 10 farmers in your area being Good Farmers as I have described above!

Yes, those billions of dollars will certainly fight world hunger if singularly dedicated against it. But the way I see it, hunger is NOT No. 1 World’s Problem – No. 1 is POVERTY! Which is the farmer’s hunger for legitimate & bounteous earnings.

If Bill Gates thinks more millions of dollars from the banks will produce much wealth on the ground so that millions of poor farmers will rise from poverty to prosperity from Africa to Malaysia to Mexico to the Philippines to Zimbabwe, he is naïve! Why?

Higher yields in the fields do not necessarily translate to higher incomes in farmers’ homes! On the contrary, the expenses they require add to the burden of poverty of farmers!

The African, American and Asian poor farmers will have to solve their own poverty themselves – but we have to help them technically as well as financially! No, this is not being taught in any agricultural schools that I have heard of in the world.

In fact, as far as I know, modern agriculture has not added to not only to the quantity of income but also the quality of life of farmers!

There is something wrong in there. About farmer poverty, let us help them release themselves from the enslavement of high costs & low returns – far beyond what they can do today.

Bill, right on!@957

As An Author, Do You Accept Any Correction? Albert Einstein Was Corrected In Public – And He Accepted, Also In Public!

 Here is Michael Parsi’s report in LinkedIn ( linkedin. com):

In 1930, a 22-year-old physicist corrected Albert Einstein in front of a room full of scientists. What Einstein did next became legend.

… Lev Landau, a young Soviet physicist barely out of university, was traveling through Europe – the center of the scientific world. He was brilliant but unknown, just another ambitious student sitting among the giants. That year, he found himself in a room where Albert Einstein himself was presenting. Einstein – the man who had revolutionized physics, whose name was synonymous with genius – was working through a complex mathematical derivation.

As Einstein spoke, Landau noticed something. An error in the math. A flaw in the reasoning. Most people would have stayed silent. You don't contradict Einstein. You don't interrupt genius. You certainly don't challenge the most famous scientist in the world when you're (merely) 22 years old and nobody knows your name. But Landau wasn't most people. Calm and steady, he raised his hand and voiced his objection. The room went silent. All eyes turned to the young man who dared to say Einstein was wrong. Einstein paused. He considered. He worked through the math again. And then he acknowledged it: The young man was correct.

… The story has been told and retold over decades. Landau did travel to Europe in the early 1930s. He did meet Einstein. And knowing Landau's fearless personality and Einstein's intellectual humility, the story certainly could be true. … The story endures because of what it represents – two essential truths about how knowledge advances:

First: Truth doesn't care about your age, your credentials, or your reputation. If you're right, you're right. And having the courage to speak up, even when facing authority, is how progress happens.

Second: Real genius isn't about being infallible. It's about being willing to listen, to reconsider, to accept correction from anyone – even a 22-year-old nobody – because truth matters more than ego.

Lev Landau would go on to become one of the 20th century's greatest physicists. He won the Nobel Prize. He made groundbreaking contributions to quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics, and theoretical physics. His textbook series became the bible for physics students worldwide. But in that moment in 1930, he was just a young man brave enough to speak. And Einstein was a master wise enough to listen.

Whether (the above) exact scene unfolded or not, the lesson it teaches is timeless: The best ideas don't come from protecting egos. They come from creating spaces where truth can be spoken – and heard – (and corrected in public) – regardless of who speaks it.

So the next time you spot an error, even if it comes from someone far more famous or experienced than you, remember young Landau. Truth doesn't need permission to be spoken. … Genius isn't about being right all the time. It's about being willing to [admit you are] wrong when the evidence says so.

Genius, what can you say? This genius is asking you! – @517

You Want To Learn How To Write Better? First, You Have To Learn How To Read! Second, You Have To Learn To Rewrite!

No, good writing is not easy but it’s delightful to the heart once you master it. (image from quotefancy.com)

I’m talking this time to would-be writers, or would-be better writers – you have to be a good reader first before you can be a good writer. That’s based on my wide,documented experience of 50 years, 1975-1980, from being writer & Editor In Chief (yes, instantly) of the 4 publications of Forest Research Institute (FORI); yes, all of them were my brainchildren: 3 FORI publications: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and 1 quarterly color magazine Habitat. Note: All those 4 printed media, as The Editor In Chief, I made appear in 1975, or 50 years ago – that’s half a century! (Yes, FORI Director Filiberto S Pollisco approved them all.) Those were pre-Internet years.

Special Note: I did not study journalism or any related course – writing came naturally to me, promdi, from the pronvince! (A clue: My mind was full. In my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, at the Rizal Junior College (RJC) high school department, with its free library, I became an avid reader of books – in the 1960s yet. When you are a wide reader, your world is wide, very wide.

You really want to be a writer? Then you really have to be an indefatigable writer and rewriter!

Yes: Writing is first writing, then reading, then writing, then rewriting.

If you want to be the best you can be, you have to rewrite. Even today, I the “Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing” for the UP Los Baños College of Agriculture (UPCA) in the 1980s (and the one-and-only so far), I always have to rewrite; you always have to rewrite. Whether you are an accomplished writer or an apprentice, you always have to rewrite.

And yes – you have to read. You have to learn from the well-known ones in history. In high school, in Asingan, Pangasinan, I was an indefatigable writer. Here is a short list of whose writings I loved to read, no need to be told: Emily Dickinson, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman …

You have to encourage yourself too!

How about religion? I am a Roman Catholic – does the hierarchy, from the priests to the Pope, encourage writing? Not that I know. (For me, I do not wish to write to show that Catholics serve God better than non-Catholics – Pride is a sin!)@517

So? Try and try until you succeed! (I cannot emphasize this enough.)

 

Having just celebrated my 85^th birthday Wednesday, Sept 17 (I ask to live to 117, Lord), I pledge to teach anyone who wishes to enjoy her/his writing for the public good – avoiding negatives against specific people left or right. You can disagree but don’t be disagreeable!

Why have I not mentioned “Learn how to think”? Because if you learn how to search for more info or opinion, to rewrite, you will surely learn to think more! So? Think more!@517

My Unselfish Love. At 85: Frank A Hilario

On 2025 September 17, I Frank A Hilario is exactly 85 years old, thank God! Now then, I pledge “Like More, Live More, Love More!” The above love image (from Dreamstime, de.dreamstime.com) says, “Royalty-Free Vektor”; thus inspired, immediately i say this, “The victor in love cannot be loyalty-free.”

More!

(1) Saint Augustine: “Love is the beauty of the soul.”

(2) Aristotle’s love expanded: “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting all bodies.”

(3) H Jackson Brown Jr: “You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.”

(4) Jimi Hendrix: “The sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea.”

(5) Timothy Keller: “Our culture says that feelings of love are the bases for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.”

(6) New International Version: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

(7) John Updike: “We are most alive when we’re in love.”

(8) Mantak Chia: “In ancient China, the Taoists taught that a constant inner smile, a smile to oneself, insured health, happiness and longevity. Why? Smiling to yourself is like basking in love: you become your own best friend. Living with an inner smile is to live in harmony with yourself.”

(9) Aristotle: "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

(10) Robert Mitchum: “Maybe love is like luck. You have to go all the way to find it.”

(11) Kathy Baker: “There's different kinds of love, darling. Some people you love no matter what, and others you love when the situation is right. To me, the best kind of love is no matter what kind.“

(12) Joseph Campbell: “Love is perfect kindness.”

(13) Bob Phillips: “Love is a state of mind which has nothing to do with the mind.“

(14) Henry Van Dyke: “Love is not about getting, but giving.“

(15) Marilyn Monroe: “I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go; things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right; you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself; and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.“

(16) Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “Love is a force.... It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces.”

(17) Wayne Dyer –- “Love is forgiving and Love is for giving.”

(18) Leo Buscaglia: “Love is trusting, accepting, and believing, without guarantee. Love is patient and waits, but it's an active waiting, not a passive one. For it is continually offering itself in a mutual revealing, a mutual sharing. Love is spontaneous and craves expression through joy, through beauty, through truth, even through tears.”

(19)  Hermann Hesse: "If I know what love is, it is because of you."

(20) Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “Love is a force.... It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces.”

(21) Robert Breault: “Some say that true love is a mirage; seek it anyway, for all else is surely desert.”

(22) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”

(23) David Viscott: “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.”

(24) Joseph Campbell: “Love is a friendship set to music.”

(25) Mahatma Gandhi: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

(26) Dr Seuss: “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

(27) Rumi: “Love is the bridge between you and everything.”

(28) Eleanor Roosevelt: “The giving of love is an education in itself.”

(29) Oscar Wilde: “You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”

(30) Elbert Hubbard: “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”

(31) John Lennon: “Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.”

(32) Albert Schweitzer: “Love is a better teacher than duty.”

(33) Harry Potter: “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.”

(34) Nicholas Sparks: “Love is like the wind; you can’t see it, but you can feel it.”

(35) Timothy Keller: “Our culture says that feelings of love are the bases for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.”

(36) Khalil Gibran: “One day you will ask me which is more important: My life or yours? I will say mine, and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.”

(37) Paulo Coelho: “Life is short. Kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly.”

(38) John Updike: “We are most alive when we're in love.”

(39) Mark Twain: “Love is not a product of reasonings and statistics. It just comes: none knows whence, and cannot explain itself.”

(40) Jules Renard: “Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.”

(41) Chidanand Saraswati: “Love has no conditions. When we put conditions, when we put barriers and boundaries, then we lose love. Love is condition-less. Love is barrier-less. Look at the moon, sun, stars, trees. . . they are just on for everyone. When our love also flows for everyone, you become very natural.”

(42) John Keats: “I have so much of you in my heart.”

(43) Paulo Coelho: “We don't need to explain our love. We only need to show it.”

(44) e. e. cummings: “Love is the whole and more than all.”

(45): Charles Dickens: “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”

(46): Everett Ruess: “Happiness lies in a large measure of self-forgetfulness, either in work . . . or in the love of others.”

(47): Loraine Boettner: “Although the sovereignty of God is universal and absolute, it is not the sovereignty of blind power. It is coupled with infinite wisdom, holiness and love. And this doctrine, when properly understood, is a most comforting and reassuring one. Who would not prefer to have his affairs in the hands of a God of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and love, rather than to have them left to fate, or chance, or irrevocable natural law, or to short-sighted and perverted self? Those who reject God's sovereignty should consider what alternatives they have left.”

(48) Bradley Cooper: "I hope it's okay if I love you forever."

(49) Joseph Campbell: "Love is a friendship set to music."

(50) Juno: “In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for what you are. Good mood, BAD mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you.”

(51) Zelda Fitzgerald: “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”

(52) Hermann Hesse: “If I know what love is, it is because of you.”

(53) Jane Austen: “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”

(54) Bob Reiner: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you wamt to rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

(55) Jerry Maguire: “You had me at hello.”

(56) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: “You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought.”

(57) Carl Sagan: “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” 

(58) Lee Brice: “Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse ‘I love you.’”

(59) Loraine Boettner: “Although the sovereignty of God is universal and absolute, it is not the sovereignty of blind power. It is coupled with infinite wisdom, holiness and love. And this doctrine, when properly understood, is a most comforting and reassuring one. Who would not prefer to have his affairs in the hands of a God of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and love, rather than to have them left to fate, or chance, or irrevocable natural law, or to short-sighted and perverted self? Those who reject God's sovereignty should consider what alternatives they have left.”

(60) Antoine De Saint-Exupery: ‘True love is inexhaustible. The more you give, the more you have.”

(61) Charles Bukowski: “If I never see you again, I will always carry you inside, outside; on my fingertips and at brain edges and in centers, centers of what I am, of what remains.”

(62) JRR Tolkien: "I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone."

(63) Milan Kundera: “Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.”

(64) Elvis Presley: “Take my hand. Take my whole life, too. For I can’t help falling in love with you.”

(65) Taylor Jenkins Reid: “If you are intolerable, let me be the one to tolerate you.”  

(66) Henry David Thoreau: “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

(67) Leo Tolstoy: “All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”

(68)  Martin Luther King: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

(69) Nat King Cole: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

(70) Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

(71) Katharine Hepburn: “Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get: only with what you are expecting to give: which is everything.”

(72) Anonymous: “Thinking of you keeps me awake. Dreaming of you keeps me asleep. Being with you keeps me alive.”

(73) Helen Keller: “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that what we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

(74) Elie Wiesel: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

(75) Lao Tzu: “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

(76) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.”

(77) Jules Renard: “Love is like an hour glass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.”

(78) Kathy Baker: “There's different kinds of love, darling. Some people you love no matter what, and others you love when the situation is right. To me, the best kind of love is no matter what kind.”

(79) Oscar Wilde: “Who, being loved, is poor?”

(80) Mike Flanagan: "It's you. It's me. It's us."

(82) William W Purkey: “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.”

(83) Martin Luther King Jr: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

(84) Friedrich Nietzsche: “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”

(85) Frank A Hilario: “Love is as deeply and as lovely as we make it!”@1923

Just being Editor in the field of Agriculture and neither an environmentalist nor a psychologist, I am quite disturbed to read “Human Connection To Nature Has Declined 60% In 200 Years, Study Finds” by Monique Moate (03 April 2023, End Time Headlines, wd  cnews6.com). That explains many bad/sad things to me!

I say”
“Not BAD” – If you “simply commune with nature” by “being there” in the open, you are not influencing Mother Nature, simply enjoying what she has or is for you.

“BAD” – A farmer is trying to play God by trying to influence the relationships of living beings that God created in the world and on his field – that he must appreciate, not exterminate.

I believe, given those examples, directly my well-being depends on me, primarily on me, not the Creator, not God, not Mother Nature.

Considering that, I say the well-being of a farmer depends primarily on him, not the Supreme Being. His behavior in the field greatly influences the outcome of what he does as a farmer, the Laws of Nature having been declared long before the farmer was born.

Farmer or not, according to Ms Monique:

“Computer modelling predicts that levels of nature connectedness will continue to decline unless there are far-reaching policy and societal changes – with introducing children to nature at a young age and radically greening urban environments the most effective interventions.”

Ah! Along with radically greening urban environments, I would insist on radically greening all those rural environments, especially the farms!

And how do we green the farms? Simple: Prohibit the farmers from burning anything on it, from spraying any chemicals on any “unwanted” species, We show them how “dead leaves turn into life-giving materials” by adding life to growing plants, farmer crops or not! In short: Natural Fertility.

And how do we get the farmers to obey such a command? Simple: Teach them to produce their own organic fertilizers!

In fact, I know of 13 ways by which we can farm successfully without using chemicals – without having to follow the strict rules in producing organic fertilizers that some environmentalists dictate. These 13 practices are called, collectively, Regenerative Agriculture (RA):
(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

My personal list, I must point out. With such a list, not a single farmer has any good reason for avoiding Regenerative Agriculture.

Farmer, if you love Farming, you must love Mother Nature and not Chemicals loving Mother Nature!

The heart of the matter lies in connecting with Mother Nature, I Agriculturist say. If there is no such connection, there is no obedience to the laws of Mother Nature! (No, I did not learn that in school, at UP Los Baños College of Agriculture, now UPLB. It’s personal observation.) Mother Nature knows best!@517

 

 

Poor Logic! PH CA Justice Antonio Bruselas Jr Pushing For “Filipino” As Primary Court Language; As A UPLB-Taught Teacher, I Say “Justice Does Not Depend On Language But Logic!”

Jane Bautista writes in the 11 August issue of Inquirer.Net (newsinfo.inquirer.net):

“To bring judiciary closer to people” is the rationale for Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr of the Court of Appeals in Manila even as he has been trying for more than a decade to cause a ripple of change in the system by writing (his) decisions in Filipino.”

Atty Bruselas, this is not simply a question of justice. It is first a question of (1) truthfulness followed by the (2) ability to translate – #1 is more important than #2. Justice is all logic. (“Logic” image source Shutterstock, shutterstock.com, “2 heads” from Shutterstock.com).

(Also, the translators should have an Editor In Chief, no kidding.)

No Sir! It is not language that is important in giving justice to anyone anywhere – it is logic. And logic can be explained in any language.

Now then, how do we explain, with or without a court case finished or not finished, how justice is playing in the field of agriculture, where we find that millions of Filipino farmers are poor!?

My own answer to my own question is: “Justice is not playing in the farmers’ fields! Why should farmers be poor who toil night and day with the soil?”

“To bring justice closer to the people” is not simply to speak their language – especially in the Philippines where there are multi-languages, but to make sure that the people understand in their language what they are going through in and out of court, that which is in English.

More importantly – Forget the language, Atty! The Philippines has 5 million native speakers (Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org): Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, and Hiligaynon. In addition, there are 7 languages with between 1 and 5 million native speakers: Central Bikol, Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Maguindanao, Maranao,  and Tausug.

What is more important than understanding the (English) language of the court is understanding the logic of the law. I can understand the logic of the court only if I can understand the logic of the law!

Example: What is most important to me right now, as an Editor In Chief in Agriculture (if self-appointed) – is to bring to the farmers the literature of farming that will bring about the prosperity of all farmers, big and small! That would be justice for all. Literature that they would understand. No, Sir, not simply a problem of translating from English to any of the Filipino languages.

Voltaire says, “It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.” Applying that, it is better to risk saving the poor in their poverty than condemning somebody else for that poverty!

Now then, instead of condemning the current set of technologies of farming, I prefer to offer a qualitatively and quantitatively different set of technologies for agriculture. It’s called “Regenerative Agriculture.” No, I did not invent that set; the term was masterminded by Robert Rodale.

and yes, RA reinvents Agriculture eveywhere. Brilliant logic!@517