The God of Fury

Somewhere in the realm of Olympus, there is a god of fury. Though there is much focus and stories expended on the exploits of Zeus, Athena, Loki or even Mercury, there is a god that is seldom mentioned and whispered only when necessary, among trusted friends.

He is the god of fury. Now this god doesn’t even have a proper name but all of the named and famous Greek gods have played host and most assuredly played second fiddle to his ploys, whims and exploits. Behind every godly tantrum, his signature is always found and established. In fact, only a handful is aware that the first Great War in Olympus that eventually banished the titans bears the signature of this unknown god.

Yes, there is a god of intrigue, a god of deception and even a god of lies. The god of fury however is very subtle. He doesn’t take the credit but his creation is there to see for those who are willing to see and appreciate his tapestry of creation.

And now, in this era, time and age. The age principally dedicated to the advancement of science, pleasure and comfort. This god lives amongst us. He is unknown, he is seldom noticed, but he is always lurking within the fringe of our psyche.

Crimes of passion are his usual handiworks, but the more subtle art of bearing grudges is his masterpiece.

Humans have committed crimes in his name. Death, injury and chaos are the usual derivative of his work. Sometimes, people wake up angry – sometimes, people sleep with anger in their hearts. But regardless whether one is sleeping or waking up, one’s anger always lead to something regrettable later on.

So how do we control and contained this destructive god? An effective mantra was devised to counter his influence. “It is not right to be angry, if you are right – you do not have to, if you are wrong – you cannot afford to”.

We really have to control our fury, because if we don’t? We will always be under the influence of this crafty god.

There is a battle for supremacy that is being waged in his name. We really ought to triumph over this challenge or we will be forever under his rule and whims. He who controls his anger wins. He may gnash his teeth, beat his chest or even shout inside your mind – but if you don’t give in to his impulse and influence, one is usually able to tame him. And he might leave you alone. But such is no guarantee that he wouldn’t be back later.

If you listen hard enough, you might even hear the whisper of his name… He goes by the name of Temper…

Gravity bends light

Einstein postulated that gravity bends light. The ramifications of this thought are mindboggling. Up to this date, science is still reaping the dividends of such an assumption. Looking back, the more significant thing here is that Einstein did his experiments in his head, without any aid from any computer. I could just imagine how much more productive he could have been if he have a computer to assist him in his thought experiments.

Last night, I watched the film Green Lantern. And from the film, it was pointed out that the ring is limited only by the imagination of the ringbearer. Simply put, the ring does the bidding of the ringbearer. The ring is only as good as the will, the imagination, the determination, and the knowledge of the ringbearer.

From the above mentioned conditions, we could extrapolate that though the ring is powerful; the direction from which power is exerted is dependent on the one who wields the ring.

Humans are gifted with life. The ring is the symbol of life. Life is what we make it. We point the direction and the ring has no other option but to obey the will of the ringbearer. Our life is only as good, as beautiful, as rich and as fulfilling as we determined it to be.

The secret lesson here is that all of us are Green Lanterns.

Theory of Exceptionalism

There really must be something wrong with the spending priorities of the government, yesterday; a privilege speech was given in the House of the Representatives about the government spending about the budget for the prisoners of this republic. Barring any distortion and misinterpretation of facts it seems that the average government budget for the prisoners is 68,000 php as opposed to the government budget for students in the elementary and secondary level which is 8,800 php.

I am not asking for the lowering of the national budget for prisoners, but I am for the increase of budget and subsidy of students in the elementary and secondary level.

The similar irony here is that for this week, the MMDA have been accosting pedestrians who are smoking in public places. The bigger threat is even issued that next time; there would be a bigger penalty. The question now is that if smoking in public places is prohibited then why is the president allowed to smoke in the palace which is not privately owned but owned by the public hence, could also be considered as a public place.

The president is a known smoker and this campaign against smoker should also cover him.

The trouble here is that Filipinos tend to subscribe to “exceptionalism” where there is a general feeling that rules and regulations cover everyone else except themselves. This is apparently true for the president and generally true for majority of the Filipinos.