I’m still shaken over the news of former President Noynoy Aquino’s passing. I admired the man and how he operated on pure integrity of character during his term. His appointees all seemed so principled, full of integrity, incorruptible. “Walang wangwang” - who could forget that, when people with connections didn’t really get ahead of the rest of us? The showstopping economic growth of the country? The “do the right thing” mentality that the government and the citizens rallied behind? I didn’t vote for him when he ran for president but he easily won me over, even though he was imperfect.
The Aquino nuclear family accomplished so much — his dad, incendiary opposition senator whose death sparked the EDSA People Power Revolution; his mom, who led the traumatized country out into a new democracy; and PNoy who again shone a light on the goodness of the Filipino people. The newspapers generally stop there but I’d like to add: Kris Aquino, the top individual taxpayer of the country for several years, purely by her own hustle, keeping Filipino families entertained for so many years. What an iconic family. No pressure to the other family members, though.
While I’m sad about his death, it’s uplifting to get to use this time to reflect on the good and the potential of the Filipino people. I hope that our leaders follow his example.
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Speaking about the good of the Filipino people, I’d like to share about this new product that’s knocking my socks off lately. Inquirer Plus!
It’s nice to access on an iPad. A much better upgrade than just relying on Inquirer.net (because one would have to click on each individual story), easier to get and flip through than a physical paper. I never appreciated how hard and messy it is to handle a physical newspaper. Here, it’s easy to flip through the pages to scan headlines and tap on stories of interest to make them bigger or to enter reader mode. Unlike with the website, there’s a nice sense of completion once you’ve finished flipping through all the pages. It’s much faster and efficient overall than both the website and the physical copy.
I also like that the subscription is a means to monetarily support a local paper. The local newspapers need all the support that they can get in these times.
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Anyone else getting pandemic fatigue? The Delta variant is worrisome, especially the developments with the medical community in Indonesia. One must keep firm and remember that while the cases are going up from these variants, the hospitalization and death numbers appear to be unaffected, showing that vaccines still prevent severity in cases and death. For the time being, anyway. I hope the vaccines hold up.
In the meantime, isn’t it a wonder how well we are kept alive in our tiny apartments even if we can’t stay long outside? We live better in our tiny modern apartments than medieval kings and queens; better, I would say, than even any rich person from the sixties. Thanks to technology and relentless innovation by our forebears. I would think that any modern human needs the bare minimum 5 of food, exercise, work, rest, and connections to other humans to stay alive. All these can easily be provided sufficiently even in the smallest apartment. For food, we all have fridges and cupboards to store it for weeks or even months; we have an abundance of food delivery apps and phone numbers to have food brought directly to us. For exercise, there would be room to lay out a yoga mat in even the tiniest apartment for all the necessary exercise one needs. Essential workout equipment take up very little space; just a pair of dumbbells, resistance bands, access to Youtube. Wi-fi and our devices take care of our need to work and to connect to others. Travel, museums, concerts, tours, and other live experiences — so many passable substitutes on Google and Youtube. A human is now practically growable in a lab, hmm.
What to get excited about — emerging in a post-pandemic world after our time in the chrysalises of our tiny apartments. Some of us got physically fitter after the lockdown forced us to commit to daily exercise. Some, mentally fitter, after the lockdown forced us to adopt daily meditation/mindfulness practices to stay sane. Either way, it’s helpful to have a mindset that all challenges in life are baking us to be better people.
Have a great week ahead!
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