Passionately M

To truly live the meaning behind the celebration of 2019 as the Year of Tolerance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), some practical initiatives are swiftly acted on. For one, as published in Gulf News on 23 February 2019, AED361M loans of 3,310 Emiratis were waived, in cooperation with some local banks . According to general-director of the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the Supreme Committee of the Debt Settlement Fund Jaber Mohammed Ganem Al Suwaidi,  "it aims to make tolerance a sustainable institutional work expressed through practical initiatives". I respect the government led by the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan more for this. I just wish that the local banks will embrace more practical initiatives in handling the loans of people of other nationalities, in observance of the Year of Tolerance. If you watch "Heal" on Netflix , you will understand that stress is the root cause of most illnesses these days. Im

My caring flatmate knocked on my door and gave me a 'brunch' -- some pieces of Filipino bread pandesal with fried salami and luncheon meat. It left me a good feeling. As long as I live and my memory lane will not fade away, this simple act of kindness I will remember.  I feel good about everything and about myself when I see people like her. When do you feel good? Sometimes we need to take a break and focus on things that make us feel good. There are eight (8) things that make me feel good -- When I feel healthy in body, mind, and spirit; When I know that my family members and those close to my heart are all well and in a safe condition; When I am productive and do things creatively; When people love, respect and care for me regardless of who and what I am; When I can manage to completely tolerate difficult people's actions towards me, but with a boundary; When I see God's wonderful creations in the form of nature; When I meditate and mentally fe

I best understood the importance of drinking water after giving birth to my first child by Caesarian section. My mother had to put a little water on the cotton and wet my lips with it. I was very thirsty and the view of plain water in the glass appeared different to me on that day. It was very precious. True, water is life, and water is therapeutic. My mother always told me to drink eight (8) glasses of water a day, but I could not consume that much. I do not know what is wrong with me.  Ideally, we must take two (2) liters of water every day. I think my sickly mother's love of water helps treat some of her illnesses. W. H. Auden said, "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water." True, yes? Water is very important. My friend's friend was right when she decided to put up a drinking water business. She asked me to think of the brand name and design the logo plus the first advertising material for the signboard and banner that will be placed in

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, president of the Philippines, signed into law the Universal Health Care Act (UHCA) yesterday. The law provides automatic enrolment of Filipinos to the National Health Insurance Program and expands Philhealth coverage to include free medical consultations and laboratory tests. I remember when my uncle said that my paternal grandmother died due to lack of medicines to treat her hypertension. I never saw her face, but another uncle told me she looked like me. If there was a law like this in the past, perhaps she would have lived longer. Many people died because they are poor and do not have access to healthcare services. Health is wealth and wealth is health. If you are sick, you are not fit to work and if you cannot work, who will pay the bills for you and your family (if you are the breadwinner), to survive? With this very timely signing of the said healthcare act, every Filipino will be given equitable access to quality and affordable healthcare

Long time back we saw robots and automated things only in movies. These days we see many things being done through machines via artificial intelligence (AI). Soon many more jobs will be unmanned. How do you feel if a robot will greet you at the reception area of a building? Or if a robot will take your order when you go to a restaurant? Will you feel safe if you ride in a driverless car, boat or airplane? How does food cooked by a robot taste? Will you be happy if you have a robot mate or electronic lover? Will you trust a robot to perform surgery on you? For many companies, this will save a lot of costs as government-mandated benefits will not be extended to them. There will also be no issue on disciplinary actions as they will serve their purposes as programs, and there will be fewer labor disputes. What will people whose jobs are to be taken by automation, do then? If many will lose jobs then the consumption of goods and services will be lesser so it will affect the econom

Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has good and bad stories. And everyone has an inner story teller. When I was young, I loved to read book and comics. I admired authors the way they organized their thoughts from their vast imagination. Words fascinated me and I wanted to play with them. When I wrote stories I left the characters playing with each other when I took a break in authoring something. When we read stories, we learn indirectly from the experiences and wisdom of the writer. Before a writer can write his own book, he must have read hundreds if not thousands of books, from which he learned the best words that would match his thoughts. If you talk to a writer, you can imagine things as if they were really happening before your very eyes at the time of narration, as they choose the descriptive words that will leave your mind something: a meaning behind a story. It is very important that at a young age a person is trained on how to hone his storytelling skills. I r

Pope Francis in his papal homily  in Abu Dhabi, UAE, last 4 February 2019, touched the hearts of many people living away from their families. The following paragraphs are taken from that -- It is most certainly not easy for you to live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones, and perhaps also feeling uncertainty about the future. But the Lord is faithful and does not abandon his people.  A story from the lives (life) of Saint Anthony, the Abbot, the great founder of monasticism in the desert, may be helpful to us. He left everything for the Lord and found himself in the desert. There, for a time, he was immersed in a bitter spiritual struggle that gave him no peace; he was assaulted by doubt and darkness and even by temptation to give in to nostalgia and regrets about his earlier life.  But then, after all this torment the Lord consoled him and Saint Anthony asked him: "Where were you? Why did you not appear before to free me from my suffering?" But

I am very, very happy that in my lifetime the historic event, the first visit of the Pope in the Arabian peninsula, happened in the country where I am based, the United Arab Emirates, last 3-5 February 2019. It is with great admiration that I deeply thank the UAE government for inviting Pope Francis to come and pave way for another milestone -- the International Interfaith Meeting at the Founders Memorial in Abu Dhabi. He visited the Grand Mosque on the date of his arrival. More or less 180,000 people of different nationalities physically witnessed that iconic papal mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium on 4 February 2019. I was not there, but I was one in spirit as I watched it online. I had those goosebumps when I viewed how our dearest His Holiness Pope Francis was welcomed with grand ceremonies, by the UAE leaders led by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country president. I could not explain it -- but I got teary-eyed when I saw our Pope of Hope with the