Jim Paredes's Blog, page 15
January 12, 2024
NU Honours 1st Year Result 2024 (সিজিপিএ সহ রেজাল্ট দেখুন)
The National University (NU) has announced the Honours 1st Year Result for 2024.Students who took part in these exams can check their results online or via SMS. Explore the step-by-step guide to check the National University (NU) Result for Honors 1st Year Result academic year 2024, including CGPA.
Learn how to access your results online or via SMS, understand the NU grading system, and download your marksheet. This article also offers tips on what to do after receiving your results and how to prepare for the next academic year. Essential reading for NU students awaiting their 1st Year Honors results.
Honours 1st Year ResultThe National University (NU) Honours 1st Year Result for the 2021-22 academic session was published in March 2024. Students who took part in these exams can check their results online or via SMS. Here’s a summary of the key details and instructions on how to access the results:
Key Details:Exam Name: NU Honours 1st YearSession: 2021-22Exam Dates: 16 October to 28 November 2023Result Release Date: March 2024Total Participants: Approximately 4,74,249 studentsExam Centers: 310 centers across 879 colleges for 31 subjects.How to Check NU Honours 1st Year Result 2024The National University (NU) Honors 1st Year Result for 2024, including the CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average), is available for students to check. Here’s a detailed guide on how to view your results with the CGPA:
Steps to Check NU Honors 1st Year Result 2024 with CGPA:Visit the Official NU Result Website: Access www.nu.ac.bd/results, the official site for checking NU results.
Choose Exam Category: On the website, select the ‘Honours’ option, then click on ‘1st Year’.
Enter Your Details: Provide your registration number, roll number, and the examination year.
Complete the Security Check: Enter the captcha code displayed on the website for verification purposes.
View Your Result and CGPA: Click on ‘Search Result’ to display your Honors 1st Year results along with the CGPA.
Additional Information:Marksheet Download: The website also offers an option to download the detailed marksheet, which includes your grades in individual subjects and the CGPA.
SMS Method: If you are unable to access the internet, you can also obtain your result via SMS. Send an SMS in the format: NUH1Your Registration Number to 16222.
Understanding CGPA: The CGPA is a weighted average of your grades. It’s important to understand the grading system of NU to interpret your CGPA correctly.
Points to Remember:Website Traffic: The NU result website might experience heavy traffic on result days. If you face difficulty accessing the website, try again later or use the SMS method.
Accurate Information Entry: Make sure you enter the correct registration and roll numbers to avoid any errors in retrieving your results.
Support and Queries: If you face any issues or have queries regarding your results, you can contact the NU helpdesk for assistance.
After Getting Your Results:Evaluate Your Performance: Use your results and CGPA to assess your academic performance and identify areas where you can improve.
Plan for the Next Academic Year: Based on your results, start preparing for your next academic year, focusing on strengthening your understanding of subjects you found challenging.
Stay Updated: Keep an eye on NU’s official notifications for any future updates related to your academic course, including registration dates, exam schedules, and other important announcements.
Checking your NU Honors 1st Year Result with CGPA is straightforward and can be done conveniently online or via SMS. Remember, this result is a crucial step in your academic journey, and it provides valuable feedback for your future studies.
The post NU Honours 1st Year Result 2024 (সিজিপিএ সহ রেজাল্ট দেখুন) appeared first on NU Result.
NU Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 (সিজিপিএ সহ রেজাল্ট দেখুন)
The National University NU Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 for the session 2019-2021 has been published. Students who appeared in the examination can check their results online or via SMS. The results are available on the official websites of the National University, which are www.nu.ac.bd and results.nu.ac.bd.
To check the results online, visit the National University’s official page at www.nu.ac.bd/results. You’ll need to select the “Honours” tab and click “3rd Year”. You will then be required to enter your Exam Roll, Registration Number, Exam Year, and a Captcha code to search for your result. If the details are correct, your result will be displayed, and you can print out the mark sheet for further use.
You can also check your NU Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 through SMS. To do this, type NUH3Your Roll Number and send it to 16222. For example, if your roll number is 12345, you would send NU H3 12345 to 16222.
The NU Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 includes a detailed grading system. The grading points range from 4.00 for 80% or above (A+ grade) to 0.00 for scores below 40% (F grade).
Furthermore, if you are unsatisfied with your results, there is a process for re-scrutiny. You can apply for re-verification of your results by paying a fee of 500 takas, which must be paid to Sonali Bank.
For more details and to stay updated with any further announcements from the National University, it’s advisable to visit their official websites regularly.
Honours 3rd Year ResultThe National University (NU) officially released the Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 on 10 October 2024, with an announcement made at 4 PM. A considerable number of students, 3,35,421 in total, took part in the examination across 324 centers and 880 colleges throughout the nation. The examination witnessed a commendable average pass rate of 94.74%.
The Honours 3rd Year Examination at the National University started on May 3, 2024, and ended on June 1, 2024. Moreover, from May 1 to June 4, the respective colleges conducted practical examinations for various subjects in the BA, B.Com, and BSc Honours courses. The schedule for the Honours 3rd year exam was released earlier on March 19, 2024.
Students can check their NU Honours 3rd Year Exam results using two primary methods:
Online Method: Visit the National University’s official websites, www.nu.ac.bd or results.nu.ac.bd, to check your results. In the results section, choose ‘Honours 3rd Year’, and input your exam roll number, registration number, and exam year to access your result.SMS Method: Results are also accessible via SMS. Students should send an SMS in the format NU H3 [Your Roll Number] to 16222. For instance, if your roll number is 12345, type ‘NU H3 12345’ and send it to 16222.These methods make it convenient for students to access their results and download their mark sheets if needed. For any further information or updates, it is advisable for students to regularly visit the National University’s official website.
How to View Honors 3rd Year Result 2024
To view the National University (NU) Honours 3rd Year Result 2024, you can follow these step-by-step guidelines for both the online method and SMS method:
Note: If you experience delays or server issues, please be patient and try again later.
SMS Method for Checking NU Honours 3rd Year ResultOpen Messaging App: Go to the messaging option on your mobile phone.Compose New Message: Type the following format: NUH3 followed by your registration/roll number.For example, if your roll number is 896734, type: NU H3 896734Send Message: Send this message to 16222.Receive Results: Wait for the return message, which will contain your Honours 3rd Year Result for 2024.These methods should enable you to easily access your NU Honours 3rd Year Result for 2024 either online or via SMS. Please remember that SMS charges may apply for the text message service.
The post NU Honours 3rd Year Result 2024 (সিজিপিএ সহ রেজাল্ট দেখুন) appeared first on NU Result.
NU Degree Release Slip Result 2023 (১ম রিলিজ স্লিপ রেজাল্ট)
Bangladesh’s National University (NU) has released the 1st Release Slip Result for Degree Admission 2023. This result was published on December 13, 2023. Candidates selected for admission through the 1st Release Slip must complete their admission process by December 21, 2023. To do this, they need to fill out the final admission form, which can be done between December 13 and December 20, 2023.
The admission process includes submitting the final admission form, the necessary documents, and fees. It’s essential to complete this process within the given timeframe, as it will result in the cancellation of the nomination. In such cases, applicants may apply for the 2nd Release Slip.
The NU Degree Release Slip Result can be checked online or via SMS. To check the result online, visit the official admissions website at www.nu.ac.bd/admissions, log in with your admission roll and PIN, and access the result from the dashboard. Alternatively, you can SMS “NU ATDG [Admission Roll]” to 16222 to receive the result.
If you’re not selected in the 1st Release Slip, you can apply for the 2nd Release Slip, where you can choose preferences for five new colleges.
Degree Release Slip ResultThe National University (NU) of Bangladesh has announced the release of the 1st Release Slip Result for 2023 for Degree Pass Course Admission. This result is part of the NU Degree Release Slip process and is now available for students who applied for it.
The NU Degree Release Slip Merit List became accessible from 4:00 p.m. and can be checked in two ways: online or via SMS, similar to the process used for checking the Degree First and Second Merit Lists.
Key Details of the Degree 1st Release Slip Result 2023:
Release of Result: The National University has published the result for students who applied for the 1st Release Slip as part of the Degree Pass Course Admission process.Admission Procedure: Selected students are required to complete their admission by filling out the Final Admission Form. This form must be filled out by December 20, and the admission process should be finalized by December 21, 2023.Consequences of Missing Deadlines: If a student fails to fill out the Final Admission Form within the given timeframe or does not complete the admission process by the deadline, their nomination will be cancelled.Opportunity for 2nd Release Slip Application: In cases where a student’s nomination is cancelled, they have the option to apply for the 2nd Release Slip. This application process will start after the completion of admissions from the Degree 1st Release Slip. During this phase, students have the opportunity to provide their preference for up to five new colleges.Students who are interested in checking their NU Degree Release Slip Merit List can do so online or by sending an SMS, following the same procedure as for the previous merit lists.
How to Check Degree Release Slip ResultHere’s a step-by-step guideline on how to check the Degree Release Slip Result for the 1st and 2nd Merit Lists at the National University of Bangladesh, using both the online and SMS methods:
Online Method:Visit the Official Website: Open your web browser and go to the National University admissions website: www.nu.ac.bd/admissions.Navigate to Degree (Pass) Section: Once on the site, locate and click on the ‘Degree (Pass)’ tab.Access Applicant Login: Click on the ‘Degree Pass Applicant Login (Click Here)’ link. This will take you to the login page.Enter Login Details: Input your Admission Roll and PIN in the respective fields.Log In: Click on the ‘Login’ button to access your dashboard.Check Result: Once logged in, your dashboard will display the Degree Release Slip Result. Check for your status in the 1st or 2nd Merit List.Fill Up Final Admission Form: If you are selected, proceed to fill up the Final Admission Form, which is a necessary step to complete your admission process.SMS Method:Prepare New Message: On your mobile phone, go to the ‘New Message’ option.Compose the Message: Type the following text: NU [space] ATDG [space] Admission Roll. For example, if your admission roll number is 568790, you would type: NU ATDG 568790.Send the Message: Send this message to 16222.Wait for Reply: After sending the SMS, wait for a reply message. This message will contain your Degree Release Slip Result.Note: You can send this SMS from any mobile phone operator in Bangladesh. Standard SMS charges will apply. Ensure that the results have been officially released before sending the SMS, as messages sent before the official release will not yield the result.By following these steps, you can easily check your Degree Release Slip Result for the 1st and 2nd Merit Lists through either the online portal or via SMS.
The post NU Degree Release Slip Result 2023 (১ম রিলিজ স্লিপ রেজাল্ট) appeared first on NU Result.
NU Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 (ডিগ্রী ২য় বর্ষ রেজাল্ট)
The National University of Bangladesh has officially announced the Degree 2nd Year Result 2023. This result is for the Degree Pass Course Second Year Examination for the academic session of 2021. The results were published on November 27, 2023, with a high pass rate of 94.08%. A total of 1,73,331 candidates, including regular, irregular, and quality improvement students from 1897 colleges in 702 centers across the country, participated in the examination.
Students can check their results online as well as via SMS. To check the results online, students should visit the National University’s official website at www.nu.ac.bd/results. They need to select the examination name (Bachelor Degree pass Course 2nd Year), enter their exam registration number and exam year (2021), and then click the Search Result button. The results can be checked without the need to enter any captcha code or exam roll number, making the process straightforward and convenient.
For those who prefer to check their results via SMS, they should go to their mobile message option and type NU [space] DEG [space] Degree Exam Registration Number, and send this SMS to the number 16222. For example, “NU DEG 123456” sent to 16222. There is a specific charge for this SMS service.
It’s also mentioned that the marksheet for the Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 will be available online, usually 1 to 2 days after the results are published. Therefore, students who wish to check their results along with the marksheet should keep an eye on the official website in the days following the result announcement.
Degree 2nd year ResultThe National University (NU) of Bangladesh has officially released the Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 on November 27, 2023. This result pertains to the Degree (Pass) Course 2nd Year Exam for the session of 2021. The results encompass the performance of regular, irregular, and quality improvement candidates.
Key points about the NU Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 are as follows:
Release Date: The results were made available from 8 pm on November 27, 2023.Pass Rate: The overall pass rate for the Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 is 94.08%.Number of Candidates: A total of 1,73,331 students appeared in the examination.Examination Centers: The Degree Second Year Examination 2021 was conducted across 702 centers.Participating Colleges: Students from 1897 colleges took part in the examination, including those who were regular, irregular, and quality improvement candidates.Courses Included: The results include various courses such as BA, BSS, BSC, BBA for the pass course second year.For students who wish to check their results, they can do so via the official website of the National University or through SMS. The detailed process for both methods has been provided in previous responses.
The declaration of these results is a significant step for the students and the university, marking the culmination of their efforts and perseverance, especially in the context of the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students are encouraged to check the official NU website for their results and for any further information or updates regarding the examination and results.
How to Check Degree 2nd Year Result
To check the National University (NU) Degree 2nd Year Result 2023, you can follow these step-by-step guidelines for both online and SMS methods:
Remember to visit the National University’s official website for the most up-to-date information and further details regarding the results and any subsequent steps.
The post NU Degree 2nd Year Result 2023 (ডিগ্রী ২য় বর্ষ রেজাল্ট) appeared first on NU Result.
March 1, 2014
Priceless
Priceless
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 2, 2014 – 12:00am
One of the things every person must figure out in his life is his relationship with money. It is important to have a healthy attitude towards money. Too much attachment to it is not good. People can be driven to corruption, addiction and moral decay when they obsess too much about it. Too little concern may prove costly too in the sense that one may throw it all away needlessly and uselessly. The Chinese saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted,” comes to mind.
Everything has a price tag if we look through the value system that runs this world. The system after all is controlled by economists, bankers, politicians, and they all subscribe to the materialistic equation that money is power and power is money. And needless to say, everything from the economic point of view has a price tag. And the more money one has, the greater one can have a life of consumption.
This article is not about the price and value of things, people, etc. In fact, I will be exploring what has not been touched by the value of money. It is about what is priceless in life that is worth pursuing.
“Priceless” means you can’t put a price on it. It can’t be bought, or sold. It is something we can only appreciate if we get out of the realm of economic and material values that dominate our lives.
I was reading an article called “Giftivism: Reclaiming the Priceless” by Pavithra Mehta. It is based on a movement a few people founded to simply do good and encourage its spread. It is called Servicespace. It is composed of successful Silicon Valley people who started by doing websites for free. They believe in people’s natural ability and desire to give and connect to others. What they have set out to experience is the practice “unconditional generosity.”
They have three guiding principles which surely make no logical sense to the business world they live in. For one, everything they do is completely voluntary. No paid staff or employees. The second is, no fundraising is to be done. They rely on their own resources. And the third is, they focus on small acts. No grand schemes or big outcomes expected.
Naturally, people who work with the usual business models have predicted they would not scale, they would not sustain and they would be aimless without a big project. But their reason for doing what they do is to experience for themselves the value of things that cannot be measured. In short, they were searching new experiences and forms of value. They want to discover the meaning of “priceless.”
The idea has caught on with 500,000 members worldwide. They have put up sixKarma restaurants in different parts of the world where the menu has no price. The customers get a 0.0 bill at the end of the meal and are told that someone who came before them has gifted them with the meal and if they want to continue to pay forward, they can donate. Or they could decide not to pay, too.
Let me share here a portion of Mehta’s narrative.
“One time we had a computer scientist serving tables. At the end of the meal one guest who was skeptical about the whole pay-it-forward idea handed him a $100 bill, ‘You trust me to pay it forward,’ he said, ‘Well, I trust you to bring me back the right change.’ This wasn’t part of the plan. Our volunteer ran through a list of options in his head. Should he split the money 50:50? Should he try and calculate the price of the meal? Suddenly the answer came to him. He handed the $100 bill back to the guest, and then opened up his own wallet and added an extra $20. In that moment, both waiter and guest experienced a mini transformation and ‘got’ what Karma Kitchen is about.”
Their idea is to create experiences that are impossible to monetize like acts of kindness and generosity, etc. A few other examples of these are giving one’s time helping others, or paying the toll fees of the car behind. While the time spent and the toll may be measured, the intention of doing it with kindness cannot. The experience of both the giver and the receiver is priceless.
It is not about the money but about believing that people have it in them to be generous. When you experience something like it, you open yourself to the flow of giving and will do your part to continue it.
In the whole process, people develop more trust in each other. And because it is unconditional giving, it stops being a transaction where people are constrained to give each other things of more or less equal value. It becomes a new relationship where people simply experience the spirit of giving without money or worldly value in mind. And that is priceless.
I know some of you dear readers will find this absolutely crazy. Will it work? Here’s another narrative where Mehta talks about her uncle, Dr. V, who did something really extraordinary.
“In 1976 he and his five brothers and sisters started an 11-bed eye hospital in India called Aravind. At Aravind no one who needs care is turned away. They do 60 percent of their surgeries for free. They don’t do any fundraising or accept donations. And yet it is a fully self-sustaining enterprise. How does it work? Patients can choose if they want to pay or not. The revenue from paying patients goes towards covering costs for the others. The quality of care whether you pay or do not is world-class. It’s a brilliant, elegant and breathtakingly compassionate system that really works. Today Aravind is the largest provider of eye care on the planet. Over 38 million patients seen. More than five million surgeries performed. It has redefined the impossible. Harvard Business School has been studying it for years trying to understand how a place that breaks all the rules of business still succeeds. The thing is Aravind doesn’t succeed in spite of the fact that it breaks these rules. It succeeds because of it.”
Every day that passes, I find myself believing less and less in the value system perpetrated by the world. It is dangerously unsustainable when so many have so little and so very few own so much. Sometimes I ask myself how much I must do for money and how much I should be doing just for love.
In the end, the question is about how I want the world to be. Should I continue to invest my time and efforts to a world of unsustainable, uncaring consumption, or a more sustainable world that runs on kindness and giving?
If we all asked this question, we could really change ourselves, and — who knows? — the rest of the world may follow.
February 22, 2014
Forget being perfect
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 23, 2014 – 12:00am
I’ve been on overdrive the past two weeks with too many things that I need to do. It seems like I don’t stay too long being preoccupied with thinking and doing just one thing. I have been multitasking, using my different skills lately to get all my commitments done.
I did an acting stint for a public service video last week. I wrote some music for a documentary last Monday. I also fulfilled my weekly writing commitment for this column. There is also an online project I am involved in now which I will write about soon. I am also in Bali at the moment to attend a Samsung conference as I write this.
On top of that, there is the little house Lydia and I are building at the back of our property which I check on a few times a day. I am also working on a few commissioned songs that are slowly being written inside my head. On Monday, I will be performing a few songs with the AMP band for a tribute to the late musician/arranger Eddie Munji whose contributions to OPM are epic. A few more speaking engagements, photography gigs are scheduled in the next month. I really have my plate full.
Compared to how I was then — and how I used to do these things 25 years ago — I am much calmer now. At that time I would get too hyper and stressed out doing everything I had to. While I had no doubt that I would get them all done, I would practically be running on empty with very little sleep, with a not pleasant disposition until I finished them. But hell, yes, I would get them done and it did not matter to me whatever shape or state I was in after.
Those were the days when I was a dyed-in-the-wool perfectionist. I would leave nothing to chance. I would have all the bases covered. I proudly considered myself as someone who always went the extra mile to get the job done well all because I had said yes to it.
Looking back now, I can see what a thoroughly driven man I was then. And as I go reminiscing about those days, I find myself feeling physically and emotionally tired, with a blur of unpleasant feelings coming back to me. That’s because I was too hard and unforgiving of myself and others.
Perfectionism is a hard master. Things always had to be perfect to a ‘T’ or else it was a failure. I could not stand the idea of being relaxed or cavalier about mistakes being made. I felt that I had to hold the standards up and always made sure that everything was working to a high capacity with seriousness and dedication. I must have been so difficult to work with then.
I was doing a lot of work with APO then and I knew that my drive for perfection was taking a toll on my two friends. I was always pointing out mistakes and hardly recognizing or acknowledging the good and positive things being done by others or myself. I was like this for years.
One day, after some words were exchanged between the three of us, I decided that I would stop being a perfectionist and just let things flow. Just like that, I made a resolution and mostly followed it. I stopped nagging and listened more. It did not mean that I stopped caring or that we would stop rehearsing and allow our standards to go to pot. It just meant that I would stop being obsessive and trust that things would get done without me having to always be the catalyst.
In no time, I noticed a general improvement in our relationship as a group and as individuals. As I got calmer, the atmosphere was more relaxed and creative. I began to notice that more and more, the two other guys took more interest in the music, spiels and the performances we did. And things were more enjoyable because we were more spontaneous about it.
One of the things I learned because of all this is that perfectionism is a crazy thing. I noticed that instead of bringing out the best, it actually brought out the worst in me, and the people I worked with. I became obsessive, unpleasant, and felt I carried an unjust burden because I cared more than the others. At least that’s what I believed I was doing. And carrying that burden must have caused a resentment in me which made me a nitpicker and a fault-finder.
Today, as I find myself being swamped with work, I feel I can be less stressed about it than I used to be. And I can carry it out with more joy and pleasure. Sure, there are deadlines. But I know I will meet them better if I do not worry too much. I work by “watching the flow” and going with it. And the easiest way to be in the flow of things is to simply show up and start the work. By simply being present and beginning the work, my creativity immediately awakens and begins connecting, piecing disparate objects and making new creations. It’s like I can readily summon my powers to do what needs to be done while remaining relaxed.
The perfectionist in me used to make things appear harder than they were. For one thing, I never felt completely happy nor content despite all the work I put in. Nothing was trivial. Everything was way too serious. Strangely, even a rough draft had to be close to perfect or I could not continue. Everything just had to be better, or the best all the time. And so I ended up repeating myself quite often, since I followed a tried and tested formula that had delivered before. In the process, I would severely criticize myself for being predictable.
I know a lot of young people who think perfectionism is a wonderful thing. They see it as one trait that separates them from others. Maybe it seems like a good thing to them in their young age. But sooner or later, they will realize it is not a sustainable attitude.
They will soon discover that their best work still awaits them when they discover the inspiration one can get just by being present to the flow. Fresh ideas and spontaneity will emerge, and they will feel a personal joy and satisfaction that is more sustainable.
My simple advice is this: Relax. Pay attention. Work hard but joyfully. However your work turns out is the state of the art of where you are right now. Compared to before, you will either be better, or worse, or just the same. Accept that and make peace with it. There are better ways to do the work than trying to make everything perfect.
February 18, 2014
The many shades of love
Love is one of the most beautiful things one can experience. It can also be the most confusing, frightening, traumatic and foolish emotion that can befall anyone.
It is easy to say “I love you” to people we love. And if we live long enough, we will experience many kinds of love, in different shades, involving many kinds of people and situations. We may experience love in different doses, some too little, others too much, depending on the circumstances and the decisions we make.
Motherly love probably has the most impact on the formation of our personalities. To a mother, loving her child is a primal experience; many women feel totally overwhelmed with an entire gamut of emotion when they have a child.
When the dice were rolled, we ended up with the mothers we have, for better or worse. As humans, we first experience love and also rejection from our mothers. The abundance or lack of love, the nurturing qualities and neurotic dysfunctions of mothers are passed on and leave their marks that their children carry for the rest of their lives.
I can say that I am very happy and grateful to have been born into this world through my mom.
There is also fatherly love, which gives off a love energy, which is nurturing in a masculine way. Unlike the motherly kind, it expresses love by protecting, materially supporting, guiding the children, and showing physical strength. Its affection can be distant but constantly reassuring. While a mother’s love is unconditional, a father’s love expands and pushes you to measure up to something — an ideal, an ambition. Ideally, fatherly love cheers you on as you set out to claim your future, and encourages you when you fall short of your dreams.
Sibling love is a kind of “identity” love. It affirms a sense of connectedness, context and bonding that children feel for each other as the offspring of the same parents. Brotherly and sisterly love can make us feel very much at home and teaches us a lot about sharing, competition and camaraderie. It also promotes the value of loyalty to family in an intimate, comfortable way.
Love among friends is probably the easiest kind of love, if you have the right kind of friends. In such a relationship, everyone gives and receives voluntarily. When it is good, there is no one to impress; it’s a come-as-you-are kind of connection. Such bonding may last a few weeks, years, or a lifetime with people coming and going as they wish.
Love of country is somewhat similar to family love except that the circle is way bigger. It involves a relationship with society and geography, and demands that we subscribe to the myths, values, history and interests of the groups that live in it.
Except for its broad coverage, love of country is hardly different from the love we have for, say, our alma mater or any large organization we belong to. Think of the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry or the EDSA experience. On an emotional level, love of country is felt as the stirrings of nationalism or team spirit. It is a “tribal,” ethnocentric kind of love.
Universal love is experienced by people who have a genuine concern for all of humanity, and all things, living and non-living. People who feel this are the kind who join Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and World Wildlife Fund. They are the environmentalists, mediators, peace advocates, and the likes of Mother Teresa. They go beyond all borders, feeling empathy and compassion for the nameless and faceless suffering masses and working to improve their lot. Their love for humanity is boundless.
I have purposely saved the best and most obvious kind of love for last.
Romantic love is the kind of love we cultivate and offer paeans and unending devotion to, especially at this time of year. To the overwhelming majority the world over, it is the most sought-after experience of love.
To put it simply, romantic love is like all the different types of love described above, but laced with fuzzy, warm, intense and erotic feelings, and the entire range of emotions we are capable of, both pleasant and unpleasant. Romantic love may include different grades of relationships from “puppy love” to the real full-blown deal.
Whether requited or unrequited, romantic love involves adoration, intense physical attraction, a strong erotic desire, and obsession. You can also throw in passion, pain, alienation, extreme pleasure, great calm, contentment, belonging, an unquenchable desire to be with that special someone, and even a fleeting out-of-body experience of being in some kind of heaven.
Romantic love can be a totally powerful physical, mental, and spiritual experience that stretches us in ways that can surprise us.
Love is one of the big deals in life, if not the biggest. We may strive for money, power, fame, health, beauty, and whatever else, but mostly, the motive for these acquisitions is we want to be more attractive, and thus more lovable, to others.
Why do we have such a need to love and be loved? I honestly don’t know, except that it feels good. All I know is, despite the foolhardiness of falling in love, it is way more foolish not to engage in it. Perhaps, despite all the pains associated with it, we were born to love and be loved.
But what do you do when romantic love wanes, as it does, eventually? If you stay around long enough, another form of love takes its place. As the psychologist M. Scott Peck wrote, the death of romantic love can be the start of true love.
We can make love grow deeper through the years by loving unconditionally. Loving truly means to stop searching for, enumerating or finding reasons, justifications or conditions for loving someone. When love moves beyond the original lure of physical, mental, psychological and sexual attraction that started it all, it becomes an act of the will, a decision to love, unconditionally.
You love and continue to love because you have chosen to. No ifs,? and/or buts about it. You have become a true lover. You are love itself. No conditions apply. Nothing else matters.
May all those who are in a romantic relationship reach the stage of True Love.
February 12, 2014
Over the hill and picking up speed
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 9, 2014 – 12:00am
Illustration by REY RIVERA
“If you think you will be too old when you finish if you take up a new study or course or anything now, well, guess what? You will still get old even if you do not take up whatever it is.. Just effing do it if it needs to be done. Time is slipping by. Maybe some of you needed to hear this.”
I posted this message on Facebook and got immediate positive responses. A lot of people related to it instantly. Many reposted it. Some who are in their 30s, 40s and 50s talked about being back in school or taking online classes, and looking forward to doing something new.
I notice as I get older that as much as I am thinking more and more about my age, I am also thinking less and less about it. While it is true that I take care of my health so that I can live strong, sane and trouble-free for as long as I can, I do not necessarily think of it as a factor when I am pursuing things I like to do. As the creator of Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz, said, “Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.”
That’s exactly how I feel.
Last week, I traveled to two places in five days —Lagen in El Nido and Naga City. I will be going to Bali in a few days. I really enjoy traveling with my camera on hand. I am always thrilled to be in a new place and on the lookout for that scenery and moment that is waiting to be captured digitally and experientially. I can sit with people I’ve just met and get a terrific conversation going. I am totally fascinated by the stories shared by strangers I encounter. I feel that my understanding of human nature and the human condition expands after meeting new people, and I am easily inspired.
There are young people who are of the mindset that if they don’t “make it” early in life, if they don’t get the trappings of success, the good job, the high position, the prestige, etc. before they reach 30, it will be too late to succeed in the greatest possible way. I find it sad that they are so hard on themselves.
I believe that while it is good, or even great, to have a job or a career, one must also have passion for what one is doing. You may have the most glamorous high paying job but if your heart is not really in it, you will not be able to sustain it or be truly productive.
Something will eventually have to give. If it is the job that has to go, it’s a small price to pay in the pursuit of happiness, and being free from something that does not sustain your entire being. But if you keep the job to keep the money coming, it is your soul that you could lose, and that would be a tragedy.
When I was growing up, my mother told me that it did not matter what I wanted to be. What mattered was that I would try to be the best in my field. Together with that advice was the suggestion that if I loved what I chose to do for a living, my passion for it would make me excel.
One of the benefits Australia offers to its people is the availability of education at any age. Aus Study, as it is called, allows anyone to pursue studies later in life. And since returning to school and studying may not be financially easy, they offer a stipend of about 700 Australian dollars (AUD) to help adult enrollees through.
But while that is available, sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a mad rush among Aussies to go back to school, which gives truth to the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.”
Age does not have to be a hindrance or an excuse to avoid pursuing new interests or learning new skills. There are opportunities for anyone who is interested. Everybody will get old physically, but not everyone has to have an old, inflexible mindset.
Sophia Loren once remarked that, “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
Understanding and internalizing this is probably one of the best life skills everyone, young or old, ought to learn. There are young “old people,” and there are old “young people,” if you know what I mean. The point is to be ageless, and not let physical age matter too much.
What really matters is becoming alive to your own life, to live and be so interested and absorbed with life that you want more and more of it so that you feel more expanded and see enchantment in everyday living.
Grandma Moses, one of America’s painting icons, started her career as an artist when she was in her 70s. Picasso never stopped painting, and ever so playfully, until he died. Paul McCartney at 71 is still writing songs, cutting records and touring the world doing concerts.
The late radio and TV writer Andy Rooney pointed out, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”
The world has had a wrong view of what aging is all about. But I personally feel I do not have to live my age in stereotypical fashion. To age does not mean to just slow down one’s intake of life, even if one does not have the health and the strength left to do it. Knowing that “the end” will eventually come makes it imperative that if there is still something you want to do, you must not wait too long to do it.
Time is precious. It is wiser to spend it doing something new than wasting away and not doing anything at all.
February 1, 2014
Culture wars
Almost everywhere I look, I seem to sense a clash of ideas and opinions about a lot of things. In the US, there is a war of values about practically everything. In politics, religion, morals, etc., both the conservatives and the liberals are fighting for dominance as each side tries to win elections and approval so they can shape their society’s agenda towards the future.
Culture wars are when people of contrasting beliefs debate, argue and try to gain political power and cultural dominance in the hope of shaping society’s mores and laws to conform to their own set of values.
In the Philippines, the same thing is happening. There are culture wars being fought in many areas even if some have just started and their intensity is more subdued, at least compared to other countries. Let’s look at some of them.
Religion is a battlefield. This is a wide area where many contentious issues are being fought right now and will be fought even more fiercely in the immediate future.
Firstly, there is a silent competition that has been going on for sometime now between the Catholic Church and the Born Again evangelicals with many Catholics moving away from their Mother Church and joining different Christian congregations. One might say it is a low- intensity conflict but it often erupts when fanatics on both sides try to argue their positions.
There has also been an ongoing very noisy war over the issue of reproductive health which has spilled not just in social media but also in the streets and even inside the church itself. The conservative elements of the society are predictably anti-RH while a great number of citizens and even the President himself are for the RH law. Issues relating to contraception and sex education continue to be fought as we speak. Recently, the anti-RH people filed a TRO against the holding of an international convention on reproductive health in Manila. The courts threw out their appeal.
I am sure even more battles will inevitably be fought over other issues like divorce, acceptance of gay rights including gay marriage, and I will not be surprised if sooner or later it will even extend to abortion rights.
It is interesting to note that within the conservative Philippine church, many sense a reluctance among our bishops to follow or fall in line with the pronouncements of the more liberal Pope Francis on various issues. Many in the clergy seem intractably entrenched in old dogmatic positions. Even the Pope’s austere lifestyle and his views criticizing careerism, materialism among the clergy seem to go directly against the lavish lifestyles and practices of many church leaders. After all, some of these Princes of the Church have not only been enjoying the material trappings brought about by their religious power and influence but have also gotten used to entitlements coming from government and some officials.
Another culture war is being fought over politics and the economy. These are big items where the busiest, most vicious battles are being fought everyday.
Although we are a professed democracy, our leaders have mostly come from within the elite. Dynasties have ruled the political landscape for ages now. But now more than ever, the move towards reform and full democratization is real and more citizen participation in governance is really gaining traction. This, of course, is a direct challenge to dynasties, the elite and the protectors of the status quo.
President Aquino’s reforms, which include decisive steps he has taken against corruption, are already adversely affecting some institutions and a few powerful people. These and other steps towards the leveling of the playing field in many areas of our economic and social life are popular with a majority of people. For the first time, the political status quo is being shaken in quite significant ways.
In the ’80s after EDSA 1, when changes were instituted, the status quo hit back by staging coup after coup against the government though always unsuccessfully. These days, there is definitely more political stability. The shooting war has become a culture war and is being fought between the reformists on the one hand who want a more open, inclusive, just and functioning society against those who continue to benefit from the old way of doing things amid a corrupt system we have been suffering under through the years.
Issues such as corruption, the delivery of justice, PDAF, DAP, FOI, the present anti-cybercrime law, economic reform, taxation inclusive growth, the peace process, etc. are just a few lines drawn on the sand. And even if the President is not always on stream with the more progressive sectors, he is generally seen as an ally of the reform constituency.
The pressures of climate change bearing down on everyone will soon eclipse many issues as storms, typhoons, etc. become more severe and more people are affected everywhere. After all, the weather affects everyone, rich and poor alike.
The culture wars in the Philippines are being fought in many fronts and in varying degrees. In the sexual arena, save for the topic of contraception, the conflicts are actually still relatively quite muted. That’s because we, as a people have already been quite accepting of LGBTs and so this is not as big a deal as it is in the US. We hardly hear of hate crimes committed against them.
By the measurement of the UN, Philippine society ranks high in women empowerment. And while we do not generally discuss sex as openly as say, the Americans, we have become more open and accepting of unwed mothers, pre-marital sex, separations, etc. in our society.
There are other potential issues that may erupt as full blown culture wars in the future and some of them may actually be about culture. They may seem small and insignificant but they can potential become big. There is the issue of OPM vs foreign music which will be fought in media, on stages and theaters across the country. The emergence of alternative cinema is a welcome addition to the cultural dreariness of commercial cinema. I sincerely hope the movement for better, truer, more commercially independent films becomes a dominant force in the near future.
The last culture war I wish to point out is the one that will dominate the scene in the coming years. It will be all about modernization of almost all aspects of our socio-political and economic lives; how much of it we want, what direction we want to go and how fast we want the pace to be.
PNoy’s Tuwid na Daan may still turn out to be a major impetus towards the start a real modernization movement. Try to imagine the pay-offs that K-12, the peace process, the taming of corruption, openness, transparency and greater citizen participation will have on our society. And the way we are easily adapting to social media and technology is certainly not a hindrance but a big component of modernization itself. Very soon, social media will make it very simple to get national consensus on issues much faster.
Even the tiny improvements on weather forecasting have started to pay some dividends even if we are far from state of the art in weather prediction. Our calamity preparedness and saving lives and property have greatly improved, if the UN is to be believed.
Culture wars release pent up energy and new imaginings of what a nation can be. I am hopeful that many times they result in good things .
I leave you with a quote from American writer Terrence McKenna which goes, “The imagination is the goal of history. I see culture as an effort to literally realize our collective dreams.”
By all means, let’s expound on our ideas and push for values we think will be good for the nation. Let the culture wars continue!
January 31, 2014
Thank you world
Thank you world Please click on this!
The new video of ‘Thank you world’, a song I made for to express my gratitude to everyone in the world who helped us out. Please watch and tick ‘like’ if you are moved by it.
Let’s make it go viral so everyone in the world knows how grateful we are.
Thanks to Jennifer David , Alekz Londos, Mio Paredes, Dorothy Chrizelle Baladjay, Andee Achacoso, Noel Cabangon, Ernesto Baladjay, jr.
If you want to help raise funds, you can purchase the song on Itunes. Type Jim Paredes on the Itunes store and it will appear as Thak you world-Single.
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