Saturday, March 19, 2011

Technology: A Glazier from Man’s Core

By Raffy Lacsina Berina

“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.”-S. Milgram

Social Networking and text massaging are now making the town go crazy. Facebook and other social networking sites play an important role in our lives today. Some consider their day incomplete without texting and updating their status in facebook and following the tweets of their favorite icons. But amidst he goodness they bring, some people seem to abuse them sometimes.
According to a recent survey, in 2010, 29, 700, 000 people use the internet and even news and current affairs make us of the internet and gather reactions from the people online about their perspectives on a certain social issue---that makes citizen journalism where people were given the chance to do random acts and tell others about their opinion.

Actually, citizen involvement is not only limited to internet as a medium but also text and muli media sending were used. 2.5 Billion text messages are sent everyday and that makes texting significant. 40 Million subscribes to SMART, 25 Million from GLOBE and 12 Million from SUN CELLULAR. And recently, during the polls, people are given the chance to react and at least do something to inform others through texting, email, and social networks.

These are just few of the product of modern technology and sometimes people abuse it. Many lives and relationships were destroyed because of the misuse of these. Scandal videos are now just a click away.
It is really easy to access the site that you want by just typing the URL address but we should see to it that the things the we are viewing in the internet and the messages that we are receiving can really help to the growth of our personality. But on the brighter side, social networking can really do great things if and only if it is used properly and with full responsibility. They build freedom of expression and socialization.

These things are just few of man’s continuous search for knowledge and sometimes, it alter our attention to what is really essential---preserving life. They say that too much is no healthy and I is really evident even in the donkeys years when the tower of Babel collapsed because they aim to reach the heavens and recently, one of the most rich and wise country experienced how some things end including robots, inventions, fads and crazes. Man is really wise, there is the presence of discontentment…but we should always remember that we need to replenish the earth and all we have to do is to use properly the gift—the wisdom which bursts from the core of our intelligence.

Count Me In


 By Raffy Lacsina Berina


They call us “firecrackers”, maybe because we are always too loud enough when we talk. We were best of friends since elementary level and we decided to enroll in the same secondary school after we graduated from elementary.

I am Ren and together with my friends Jean, Grey and Xy, I enjoyed my life as a teenager and experience he things that are supposed to be felt by any other teens. I can really say that in my friends company, I found a home and love that I was not able to feel at home since my parents got separated.
The day came that we have to take the entrance examination at the school where we applied to study. It was the most silent school I had ever visited. People were so silent and they seem to just keep their mouth fully shut. After the results were obtained, we found out that we are all qualified and when we started studying in there, we are always the center of distraction every time we make some noise. And that made us basically different from our other schoolmates.
The freshmen life was quite tough maybe because we are all in our adjustment stage. But our eyes were caught by a beauty of our new classmate, Jasmine. She was I think the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life but sad to say, many boys in school admire her as well including my best friends. One day, we made a deal.
Since the four of us is madly in love with Jasmine, we promised to observe silence in just a week and the one who wins will have the support of the three to court her. The first, second and third days were tough and it seems that our mouth really missed to talk…but still, we continued to keep silent.
Unil one day, our teacher asked us if we could have a make-up class at 7:30 for Nuclear Physics in the evening and everyone agreed.we are about to begin with the discussion when a brownout occurred. Everyone in the room were at their adrenaline rush except for the four of us. “Ma’am are you all okay in there?” asked the janitor. But before our teacher answered, Jean impatiently shouted, “Hey, can you bring some lights in here?”. “We are not supposed to talk.” exclaimed Xy. “You two are stupid! Why did you talk?” Grey asked.
 Later that time, they found out that broke the deal and I was only me who is still silent. I smiled and they looked at me… the feeling was strange. And I asked, “What are you looking at? I’m the only one who has not talked.” Then I realized that it was just the fourth day and the deal will end at the fifth.