ALWAYS THE BEST MOM

by Earlie Doriman
In the UK, Mothering Sunday is celebrated every fourth Sunday of Lent. Traditionally, it is a time when children pay respect to their mothers by giving them gifts, cards, or flowers. Mothering Sunday is actually Mother’s Day in other countries. Although not celebrated at the same time around the world, Mother's day remembers the great courage and extraordinary love of all the mothers, from the moment they conceived a child to the painful experience of labour, their love never changed.

This year, here in England, this special day falls on April 3. The celebration is also known ‘Refreshment Sunday’ or Pudding Pie Sunday. To the devoted Christians, whilst the observance of fasting is religiously followed, Mothering Sunday provides a bit of a pause from the rule in respect to the ‘Feeding of the Five Thousand’, a familiar biblical account. To me, Mother’s Day is more than an ordinary celebration. It is remembering and expressing gratitude to all the moms in the world.  It is through them, through their care, through their own life and soul, through their unconditional love, that we too are able to celebrate life.

INSIDE MANNY PACQUIAO’s PUNCHES

by Earlie Doriman

Manny 'PACMAN' Pacquiao, considered the sports hero of the Philippines

Filipinos and the world have another big event to look forward to next Month. On May 7, 2011, Manny Pacquiao, the Philippines sports hero, will climb into the boxing arena again to prove his power against the much bigger opponent and highly regarded Shane Mosley. Manny Pacquiao or simply ‘PACMAN’ earned the admiration of boxing fans by collecting eight championship belts in eight divisions. His last battle against Antonio Margarito was the best fight to remember when he demonstrated in 12 exciting rounds why he deserves to be called the best pound-for-pound boxer of the world.

I used to know Manny Pacquiao as an ordinary person who aside from doing professional boxing, was also a very good billiard player. If my memory serves me right, it was between 1998-2004 when I could always spot him playing in one of Davao City’s ( Davao is a progressive city of southern Philippines) billiard halls along Bolton Street.

SUMMER AT SPRINGTIME

by Earlie Doriman

A very beautiful feel of summer at springtime in England

It is disappointing to find yourself so unable to think spontaneously, you would love to write but you just could not start a smart line. I mean, there are times when you feel so absorbed to engage in an interesting subject, you want to go deeper into the topic, yet found yourself jammed in a poorly organized first paragraph. The more you go over the sentences again and again, the more they become senseless and frustrating. But the good thing though, after leaving this piece for two days, I am able to collect the better bits of what I was supposed to share.

As they say, England has indeed a strange weather, unpredictable, frustrating, distracting, and simply different. When it is suppose to be bright and sunny, it would rain. There is no assurance of a summer too because if it would not rain, the sun might just be hiding in oblivion. To my recollection, in 2008 we snowed really hard at Easter Sunday which was a lot odd. The following years were fair. It used to snow in January, but last winter it started in November. There are good days though to be happy about.

CRIMES AND LETHAL INJECTION

by Earlie Doriman

Death GURNEY used in lethal injection.

 Barely two weeks ago, on 30^th March 2011, three of my countrymen were executed in China by Lethal Injection. The Crime: Drug Trafficking.  The felony was indeed a heinous offence that deserved an appropriate penalty. Many would surely agree to the extreme punishment the three people were unable to escape from the Chinese laws. But to me, death penalty was too much to end a human life. It is more disheartening to know that they were victims too of a worldwide drug syndicate that lured them, exploited them, and used them as drug mules against their innocence.
 To the criminal justice system of China, that implemented death penalty by lethal injection in 1997, justice has been served. To the Divine Law, three lives were wasted, wrongfully claimed, and mercilessly extinguished. I am not certain how many more people await their turn inside the cold cells, helplessly counting the tick of the clock as the time moves closer to their death. Waiting for the instruction to lie on the reproving bed and allow the needles to slowly and painfully seize away the sacred life that God has entrusted to each one of us.

ENGLISH TONGUE TEASERS

by Earlie Doriman

Many Filipinos learn the English language as early as when they learn to speak a single word. We learn to say words like dog, cat, moon, even before we understand what these words really mean. We even know how to say ‘apple’ and not bothered how it looked like and whether or not we grow them in our farm. English is not strange to us at least, and it doesn’t matter if we become at times too literal in translating Filipino terms to its English equivalent, as long as we are able to convey ourselves in this crazy language, that’s quite an achievement.


When the Spaniards sold the Philippine islands to the Americans during the early 1900’s, English was introduced and in fact enforced to be the official language spoken in the entire archipelago. There began the familiarity of Filipinos to the language of the ‘whites’, and eventually some learned to become good speakers and writers of it. Most of the daily newspapers in the Philippines nowadays are written in English, the constitution is in English, medium of instruction in schools is English, and business correspondence is English, amongst others. Practically, we hear English everyday.

I am not really confident with my English skills, I maybe able to write fairly well, but to speak the language is not simple for me. It appears these two faculties do not go along at the same wavelength. I honestly find writing easier because I own my time and I can chose a topic that suits my leaning. On the other hand, speaking requires quickness of thoughts and tongue that deliver phrases using appropriate terms.

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH SLEEP?

by Earlie Doriman


(Blogger’s NOTE: My brother Erwin just forwarded this article to me recently through my email, and I supposed this may also serve helpful to all who might have soaked themselves with so much doing and work that they forget to take some fresh air and relax. Our body is not a mechanical device that could probably be repaired when hitched, so be very careful and give yourself a nice healthy break. Read the article and start to re-organise. My apologies and thanks to the original author, I simply believe that this information could help and enlighten more people who are so obsessed with work and could not spare themselves with the right amount of sleep.)