The crisis that is making waves in the European Union (EU) is, and should be, a cautionary tale. The majority of the United Kingdom voted to cut its ties from the EU, thus, Brexit. For anyone still trying to wrap their heads around Brexit, here is something that might help.
The bottomline is this: This is what happens when fear, greed, selfishness, and the stubborn desire for “change” without even thinking of the implications and complications take over a nation and its people. After Duterte and this European rejection, Trump winning the future US elections would probably be the proverbial final nail in the coffin. That link above should be required reading for the young and the old. This must be everyone’s priority. This, again, is a cautionary tale.
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Many are inclined to prefer the unreal because many fear and loathe facts, the searing sting of truth. Which is why, it seems to me, many still shrug off literature in the Philippines. Which is astoundingly ironic, with its national hero being a writer. Many still mistake literature as a lie, a bottle of time-killers one resorts to when nothing tickles his fancy. It’s as if it has never been treated to inform and to heal, to uplift and to unveil. If we go this route, this lie, well then literature does fabricate, but it is a fabrication that tells a greater truth. Far greater and immense than anyone could ever imagine. But, at least, we tried. The fictionists tried. The essayists tried. The poets tried. It is all about the trying.
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For several years I’ve been searching for the first (or early) edition, short novel version of F.H. Batacan’s “Smaller and Smaller Circles”, a work that is widely regarded as the Philippines’ first crime and detective literature. I have searched for it in Manila, in Dumaguete, in Cebu, in my home province Bohol. None. It is initially printed way, way back in 2002 with limited copies, and learning that it would be translated into a movie soon is making me want it all the more. Its themes, its political miasma, to me are a timely companion to what the Philippines is experiencing right now. In a few days’ time, Digong will officially take charge of this country. So I badly needed this book. And last Thursday, something arrived in the mail. The book! With three other books! What a wonderful surprise. I am really grateful for people who understand the workings of my priorities. Thank you, dear friend.
The bottomline is this: This is what happens when fear, greed, selfishness, and the stubborn desire for “change” without even thinking of the implications and complications take over a nation and its people. After Duterte and this European rejection, Trump winning the future US elections would probably be the proverbial final nail in the coffin. That link above should be required reading for the young and the old. This must be everyone’s priority. This, again, is a cautionary tale.
*
Many are inclined to prefer the unreal because many fear and loathe facts, the searing sting of truth. Which is why, it seems to me, many still shrug off literature in the Philippines. Which is astoundingly ironic, with its national hero being a writer. Many still mistake literature as a lie, a bottle of time-killers one resorts to when nothing tickles his fancy. It’s as if it has never been treated to inform and to heal, to uplift and to unveil. If we go this route, this lie, well then literature does fabricate, but it is a fabrication that tells a greater truth. Far greater and immense than anyone could ever imagine. But, at least, we tried. The fictionists tried. The essayists tried. The poets tried. It is all about the trying.
*
For several years I’ve been searching for the first (or early) edition, short novel version of F.H. Batacan’s “Smaller and Smaller Circles”, a work that is widely regarded as the Philippines’ first crime and detective literature. I have searched for it in Manila, in Dumaguete, in Cebu, in my home province Bohol. None. It is initially printed way, way back in 2002 with limited copies, and learning that it would be translated into a movie soon is making me want it all the more. Its themes, its political miasma, to me are a timely companion to what the Philippines is experiencing right now. In a few days’ time, Digong will officially take charge of this country. So I badly needed this book. And last Thursday, something arrived in the mail. The book! With three other books! What a wonderful surprise. I am really grateful for people who understand the workings of my priorities. Thank you, dear friend.
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