Posts

Profile of a Filipino Hotel

Surprisingly, the author has not had any chance to stay in a proper hotel in the Philippines before this weekend ( the first few days stay in Manila in a converted condo does not count as there were not properly hotel amenities involved) So weirdly enough, the author was more or less really looking forward to staying in a rather posh (-looking, at least) place for his first overnight trip in the Philippines, coincidentally in Baguio, one of the long-time tourist capitals of the country.  As much as it is one hotel for one night, perhaps some observations about Filipino hotels can be made.

Learned Cynicism to Combat Learned Helplessness?

After experiencing both man-made and natural disasters year after year personally for the past few years (from earthquake in Japan to mudslide in Korea to rioting in the UK), the author has been growing more and more desensitized to the devastation brought out by these unfortunate turns of events .  But some observations of the Filipinos' reactions to the ongoing floods in and near their homes and workplaces, and the author is ashamed to say that his sense of cynicism to disasters from the past is not even close to being at the same level as the ones seen among the populace here in the past days.

Comparing Countries after Disasters Revisited: the Filipino Flood and the Japanese Quake

An old Chinese saying to wish newlyweds longevity in their marriages is "同享共福,同甘共苦," roughly meaning "enjoying all the fortunes together, suffering all the bitterness together."  Centuries of experiences show that while the first comes pretty for most, the latter almost inevitably lead to some sort to schism between the two halves of the couple, especially when the "bitterness" occurs after "fortunes."  People are fundamentally selfish, too willing to put the interests of others and the collective on the line so that they themselves can enjoy just a bit more .  The increases in divorces in recent years attest very much to this.

Learning to stare up from a Four-Inch Screen

Modern human beings live in the cyberspace, getting all the stimulation to get on with our lives, both desired and unwarranted, the needed and the unwanted, from the electronically led-up screens all around us.  Disseminating information to a broad audience no longer involved physically traveling to distant corners, seeking out like-minded individuals to preach novel ideologies, hoping that the few minutes of attention span may completely reorient a person’s dispositions on a certain topic.