Those Angry Birds

Have you heard of Angry Birds? If you have not, then you lost touch of the kid’s world. A little boy was crying last week because his mama had enough of angry birds stuff. When the concept of angry bird was created in 2009 by a Finnish computer game developer, they decided that these wingless birds without visible legs should have an enemy. The time of swine flu epidemic made the hungry green pigs as the reasonable opponent to steal the eggs of these birds. The game was a hit. It generated millions of downloads in short times. Angry birds can be a clock, stickers, school bags, stuff toys, you name it, its success is all over the world. The game is so exciting and available anywhere or in anything even with your handheld phones. It became an obsession to kids and adults alike. These hungry green pigs has ice, wood and stones as their hideouts where the angry birds chase them with special powers according to their colors. The blue ones can split into three birds, the black is the suicide bomber and the white bird can drop explosive eggs. And the war goes on as addicted players go higher in each level. Like these video games, some of us want to create excitement in this mundane life by creating opponents. Those who are blessed with health, wealth, faithful spouses and good children like to venture into higher level of excitement like looking at the other side of the fence for greener pastures. To some people, good life can be boring. A little taste here and there isn’t bad enough until one morning, these little wingless creatures become so angry and all hell breaks loose. Many kids and even adults like this game not only because it is fun, but because of what these creatures represent philosophically. Annihilating those pigs is a form of emotional release that one can’t do physically. Whether we like it or not there are many hungry green pigs in our lives. Some people create them for us or we have created them ourselves. Avoiding these pigs is not an option for these angry birds, they hunt them, even if it will cost them their own lives to retrieve those eggs. As a gamer, the game should not be over. The hunt is insatiable. The excitement is mounting until dawn. But unlike those angry birds we can’t remain angry forever. For married people, marriage is a union of two forgivers. To be angry is like hoarding poison inside us, that finally corrodes our system. Annihilating our enemies will only create more enemies. There will always be hungry green pigs in our lives, but we can’t drop bombs like those angry birds all the time.

Keep it Up!

Every morning as I tend my garden, I always find a spider web. The rain pours and wash down my tiny friend. But moments later the spider comes up and weaves another. These tiny creatures defy all kinds of obstacles like natural calamities or human interventions. The male machos go through elaborate ritual dances with exact web vibrations to win their ladies even if it meant that they will become their succulent meal. Spiders can be patient and cruel. Spiders were here before you and I were born. They are relentless builders. Nothing seems to stop them in starting all over again. Their web building must have been done millions of times. Most garden spiders are harmless to people. Other types are poisonous. Most of them have eight eyes and eight legs. Unlike many other living things, spiders have no ears, but the apparent lack of hearing is being compensated by the hairs in their legs that feels the lightest vibration in their webs. They wait patiently for their unsuspecting prey to touch their sticky silken prison cell. They have no formal jaws, so the poor trapped fly is being liquified by an enzyme to suit their taste. These true blue-blooded areneae, of the arachnid order have elaborate courtship to prevent the male from being eaten by the ladies before fertilization. The male dances to create a precise pattern of vibrations in the web as part of the ritual. Finally as the male wins the female and the mating starts, few males survived after the mating process. Oddly enough, some male spiders co-operate in being eaten by impaling themselves in the females' fangs. Sad as it seems to us humans, the spiders continue to proliferate this way. Today even their venom which are poisonous to humans are under study if they can be used as non-pollutant pesticide. Spider silk genes have been inserted into mammals and plants for purposes of creating a silk factory. Spider silk has the lightness and strength of elasticity that is highly regarded as superior silk. Spiderman may come to reality one day. But I'm not sure if he will come as a superhero or a producer of spider silk. If spiders can start all over again and again, we humans have many more chances than the spiders. We are gifted with five senses. Unlike most spiders that has a short life span of one to two years, except for the tarantulas that can live up to 25 years, we humans have more years to live. Our only problem is how to live those years.

Unwanted

Unwanted His mother didn't want him to be born. His father deserted him. He could have stomped his feet, wailed, and be mad at the whole world. But this man carries around a smiling face, a singing heart, and a guitar that chases your blues away. He strums his guitar with incomplete fingers, and praise God with his music. He said he has all the reasons to be joyful. Despite being an unwanted baby, he knows that Jesus loves him so much that He died for his sake. This truth makes him see the world through a kaleidoscope of colors. He preaches God's goodness in his life and give others love that he had missed. Meeting this man made cancer so puny. Are you lonely? Do you feel that you have been set aside from all the rest to suffer a terrible fate? You are not alone. There are more lonely people today than ever before. Despite modern technology and gadgets as play toys, there is still a deep void within humans that only God can fill. Life is a series of stages that mold us. How we respond to certain situation depends on how strong our foundation within. Psychologists say that an infant who was abandoned by the very people who should have given him care and love will have difficulty in trusting the world. But this man turned his misfortune into a blessing,knowing that he was unwanted as a baby, all he wished was to love others.

ART AT THE PLAZA

Art at the Plaza, a summer art workshop will start on April 17 to May 17 at Hotel Florentina Rovira, Road, Dumaguete city. The diversity of this workshop is unique in itself as students are allowed to explore art in different mediums. Three visual artists, Wing del Prado, Sharon Dadang and Muffet Villegas will teach sketching, drawing, painting, pottery, sculpting and Fun art in different forms to interested students with ages from 8 to adult. Beginners and advance lessons will be offered in respective categories. The art workshop is a combined talents of Wing del Prado, who is a painting major from the College of Holy Spirit and had further studies in Parsons School of Design in New York . She had a one man show on miniature paintings at Peninsula Hotel. Wing has worked in Advertising Agency at Ace Compton Manila and had apprentice at Ace Compton New York. She will teach fun art in different forms. Sharon Dadang, is a painter, sculptor, teacher, facilitator and organizer of various events which include art exhibits, church based community teambuilding and a staunch peace advocate among others. Sharon has participated in various art exhibitions in 1993 up to the present. She was also a part time faculty of Silliman University College of Performing Arts. The team includes Muffet Villegas, a painter ,illustrator, writer and teacher who has been exhibiting her paintings for more than three decades now, locally and abroad. She recently held her 8th solo art exhibit with the theme “ Light and Shadows” at the Spanish Heritage in Dumaguete City. Art at the Plaza accepts registration on a first come first serve basis. Please call tel. no. 422-0827 for inquiries.