Caerberu

I’m recalling the words from one of my personal heroes, Murlidhar Devidas Amte from India. He established communities for lepers, orphans, and differently-abled individuals. But these communities were not for charity, because in these communities the people each have their own work to do and everyone is given a chance to contribute to society. Charity will only lead to self-pity, but work will lead to a sense of purpose, belongingness, and self-respect. This is what Amte believed.

Although I’m not really against charity, I believe that Amte’s words are just. My stand on charity and the idea that we shouldn’t give the man fish, but teach him how to fish, is that not everyone of us has the capacitty to “teach a man how to fish”, that is, to give him work. Charity is okay, because until that time that we can provide the man work and teach him how to fish, we have to help keep him alive. What’s the point of rambling about “teaching him how to fish” and thus withholding from him a couple of coins when he might not survive tomorrow if everyone of us did that?

Anyway, I felt quite good that despite not being paid yet for the work that we do, we are helping to employ people in our job. That’s one of the things that gives me strength amidst the challenges that come in the business.

People feel good sharing about themselves, their dreams, aspirations, and thoughts. This is why I try to begin sessions of training seminars or classes by allowing the students or participants to introduce themselves and share something about themselves. This helps to lift the mood in the room and it allows them to be less stiff and less self-conscious. This works both ways, not only for them, but for me. It’s easier to talk to people once you realize that they, too, are living, feeling, breathing humans.

Though, honestly, today the participants are quite young–in the high school and elementary school level. It’s a totally different atmosphere from when working with adults and teens. There is more laughter, more surprise, and it’s refreshing to teach them!

After a week’s worth of work, it’s important to spend a day or two for rest and relaxation. Turn off your celphone, spend time away from your computer or any electronic device, and let your life slow down into the natural rhythm of life. Spend it with friends, family, and just enjoy the time.

Rest and relaxation are very important because these will keep you fresh and recharge your energy for next week’s work. It’s hard, if not impossible, to think of work all the time. That would be very draining. Change your pace and do something other than what you do everyday to refresh your mind.

I read a chain email regarding Rachel Arlington, a young girl who supposedly has brain cancer. Forwarding the email claims to help Rachel–for every three friends you forward it to, AOL and ZDnet pays them 32 cents for the treatment of Rachel.

As I searched the internet regarding this matter, I learned that the chain mail–like many other chainmails–was another hoax. It turns out that emails that claims to provide charity if you pass them around are hoax, since there is no reliable way to track the emails in the first place.

I was also a bit angry at the people who participated in passing around this chainmail. The picture was of a deformed child. It felt like people were just making fun and taking lightly the condition of the child in the photo. It felt ironic that the last words on the email said something like “If you don’t forward this, then you don’t have a heart”. I think that if you forward that message, then you don’t have a heart either. Whoever that child in the picture is, I hope things will get better for him or her soon.

If you receive such mails, I suggest you don’t send them to other people, as is suggested by the email itself.

November 14, 2008. Garden Oasis, Davao City. Today, I’m thankful for being able to attend a seminar, for the several things I learned about being an employer, and for being given the opportunity to develop my skills in public communication by presenting to many people. We were invited in this seminar entitled “Conference Forum on Self-Assessment Approach in Order to Create a Culture of Voluntary Compliance and Advocacy on DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program” to speak about opportunities on the internet that can help augment family income, as well as to present the project that we proposed to the Department of Labor and Employment, Region XI.

Sitting at the back–since I came a bit late–I studied my audience, assessing their age, asking the hosts of the seminar regarding who they were, and planning how best to present our topic to them. I realized that I was going to speak to an audience that would be older, and much more experienced than me. Previously, I had several opportunities where I presented the same topics I would be covering now, and yet this was the first time that all of listeners would be older. So I guess, this made me feel a bit nervous.

But I was in a good mood.

Although I felt a bit nervous, I was also excited. To be able to present in this kind of setting was an opportunity I wanted to take. I was also in such a mood, because I was able to wake up so early in the morning–usually, morning is the time that I would be going to sleep.

Ah, I thought to myself, I have successfully restored my biological clock.

The first topics of the seminar covered laws and regulations regarding employment. I was a bit interested in the topic because I wanted to learn a few basic things before we would start putting the employment project we proposed into action. We would be employing people by then, so it was best to listen to some of those laws and regulations now. I wasn’t really the type who would be interested in such, I found the words too formal, but that’s just the way laws are made to sound. But I knew that this knowledge would be useful, so I half-listened.

My mind would shift focus from taking a few mental notes about the topic, and then scanning and reassessing the audience based on their reactions from the topic. For a moment, I imagined myself presenting such a boring topic as laws and regulations, and pondered how, if I had the chance, I could turn it into something that would capture their attention. Quirk them into a more awakened state. A few solutions came to mind.

The first half of the day passed, with my thoughts wandering. I jotted down a few notes for the 8th chapter of a fantasy novel I’m working on. Occassionally I would look up at the powerpoint slides to keep track of what the speaker was talking about.

In the afternoon, we were first in line of the project presentors. I was able to present the topic as I had planned, and I was quite proud of myself for being able to do it. Speak slowly, you will never run out of words or ideas this way. Pause at regular intervals for them to be able to take things in, and use proper stressing of words so you can pull back their focus to you. These were some of the guidelines I followed, some things that I learned from listening to audio seminars. No matter how good your ideas are, people in general never listened if you spoke too fast. Speaking without stress and good tonality would bore the audience. And finally, never read from the powerpoint presentation unless you have to. Something I learned from a teacher in college. That teacher said, “It’s so easy to read. A 6 year old can do it.”

Instead of reading, a more intelligent way would be to just use the powerpoint presentation as a guide. Place the heading of the topic, one slide each. Then discuss. It’s pretty much a waste of time to have someone present and just read right off from the presentation. Unless you’re quoting something long, or presenting some facts–like laws and regulations.

Our presentation ended well. The seminar proceeded to a topic that I found quite of interest.

The speaker talked of the advantages and disadvantages of growing rubber trees. I was interested in the way this man presented his topics. He followed the guidelines I mentioned beforehand. The facts he presented were also quite interesting. By the end of his lecture, I was convinced I would buy a few hectares of land and plant rubber trees in it, if I had the capital.