A Wish For A Son

If I can make the sun shine on your face
Like the way you reflect the shine of the moon in your eyes,
My sweet child, I will make you happy
In your own terms, in your own way.

Though you push me aside when I hold you close
Only God knows that I'm close to heaven
When on rare moments you lay your head on my shoulder.
My happiness is taking all that weight off your head and shoulders.

Sweet dreams, my sweet child
How I long to make you smile
Even when you slumber your worries away.
My one true wish for you is your relief
From all the burden that this turbulent,
Ever-changing world hurts you with.

Rest your weary mind and soul against me.
My warmth will protect you from this cold, relentless world.
Let me, please let me take care of you,
My son, my sweet child.


Note:  This is for my son, Kirby, who has autism. I wrote this on the day that he started to live away from us, his family. We love him very much but his doctor told us that it's best that he live away from us so that he cannot harm us.

Hope against despair -- musings on the peripheral events of President Aquino’s state of the nation address

Watching the news on TV last night gave me goosebumps.  It was indeed a rare sight to behold:  the man-on-the-street, the laundry-woman-on-the-job, and every other Kuya and Ate congregating in front of the boob tube at 4 PM (Manila time) to watch the new president's state-of-the-nation address.  And when was the last time that you saw ordinary people out there on the street standing at attention and holding a hand over their heart while the Philippine national anthem is playing live on national TV?

What explains such a social phenomenon?  (I think the word phenomenon succinctly embodies the seemingly innocuous but resolute individual behaviors that have taken on national proportions.)

This scenario can only be comprehended when juxtaposed against the widespread pall of bleak and despair that the past 9 years has afflicted upon every Ate and Kuya.  The sound bites and the occasion itself have evoked tears from the laundry woman and made the tricycle driver teary-eyed.  They see new-found hope against the despair that has almost seemed a curse on their lives.  Indeed, the past 9 years were most god-forsaken, endless pestilence for these folks.

Hope against despair.  The people have faith indeed on the new leadership.  Be that it may include hope that the new leadership will not betray the trust that brought them into positions of great responsibility.

Book Review: Ethics for the Real World

Ethics is a topic that book authors, who are subject-matter experts, should endeavour to make available in layman understandable terms in order to be useful for the everyday person and worker. Ronald Howard and Clinton Korver are quite successful in doing this through their book Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life. Much credit should also go to Bill Birchard, the writer, who converted the academic work of Howard and Korver into a reader-friendly, self-help book.

Virtuous Leadership

I think that the concept of heroic leadership can trace its roots to the earlier teachings of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas on virtue ethics. Chris Lowney propounds that leadership is all about character built by clear and focused values, in the same manner that value ethics is more about the virtuous rigor of making decisions rather than the end result itself. It's a corollary to the old adage that the end does not justify the means.

Book Review: Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney

While most other authors on leadership have written almost the same things, Lowney’s Heroic Leadership introduced novel insights and inspired reflections on principles and concepts never quite previously associated with the subject.

The Fox and the Hedgehog

I did a bit of research regarding the hedgehog metaphor which was the basis of Jim Collins’ hedgehog concept.

The Greek poet Archilochus from the 7th century BC was the first to present the contrasting personalities of the fox and the hedgehog. In one of his poems, he said:
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Measuring Up President Arroyo against the Skyhooks for Leadership

While reading the book Skyhooks for Leadership, I thought of measuring up President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against the “skyhooks”, or the core values of leadership according to John Shtogren.