Babel of voices

Every now and then, I try to acknowledge the letters sent to me by STAR readers, both from here and abroad, who have taken interest and monitoring the day-to-day happenings in our country. I do this as a gesture of appreciation for their time and effort spent in conveying their thoughts and comments on issues, both big and small, affecting our people. Hopefully, our fellowmen can be encouraged to keep constant watch over the nation’s affairs and make their voices heard.

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Let me begin with a letter sent through Internet by Dr. Conrad Javier, who wrote from Cleveland, Ohio, USA, where he has been leading Fil-Am medical practitioners during the past 30 years. He has an interesting report about the drastic drop in the number of rich patients from the Middle East.

Dr. Javier suggests that the Philippines take this great opportunity to market its many modern "state of the art hospitals," especially those in Metro-Manila, to these moneyed Middle Easterners. As of now, these patients opt for England, Germany, France and other European countries as the "preferred destinations" ever since the September terrorist attack took place in the US.

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According to Dr. Javier, these Middle Easterners fear being harassed by American authorities and by stricter US tourism regulations. The big US medical centers, for instance, are expected to lose up to 40 percent of their foreign patients. In Cleveland alone, he said, its two big centers – Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the University Hospital, where he serves as a member of their medical staff – are projected to lose about 200 million dollars in revenues. The same situation prevails in the states of Minnesota (Mayo clinic) and Maryland (Johns Hopkins Clinic).

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Ernie del Rosario of Ferrari St., Village East Cainta, Rizal, feels really sad over the "deepening mire" into which our leaders are sinking our nation. "Are they the modern Pied Pipers? Are they Filipinos?" he asked, even as he suggested the possibility of creating the Commission on Anti-Filipino Activities. According to del Rosario, he conducted a random survey on the ratio of front-page positive articles against negative ones in major newspapers, and he found out, to his dismay, that 70 percent are negative stories. "I am not pointing at media’s supposed hyping of the negatives. They are just a mirror, a reflection of how things really stand," he said.

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Civic leader Elvie Estabillo, a businesswoman who spends most of her time in charitable work and in composing Thoughts to Guide Us By as a means of inspiring the people, sent her Thoughts for the month of December. Let me share it with STAR readers:

A successful life, healthy body and sound mind are everyone’s ultimate goal. To achieve this goal, move away we must from the mistakes and failures committed along the way. Dump them into the dustbin of the past, and allow them not to weigh upon our minds and drain our emotions.

Forgetting is an indispensable tool – to enable us to focus confidently on the future, concentrate on the "hows", never on the "ifs" of life. The past is gone, over, finished. Yesterday is history!

As we go to bed each night, drop the mistakes, failures, regrets and disappointments of the day into the pool of the past, hopefully look for the new day that is coming, for God in his generosity gives us new and fresh opportunities each day.

In the same vein, let us put behind the terrifying experiences encountered – as the year 2001 draws to an end.

Have a "forgetting" abundant month ahead!

A blessed Christmas to one and all.

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Nick Mina, a retired American Navy serviceman, wrote to me from California, USA to pass on this interesting story.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jaguar’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jaguar back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry diver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting. "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That is a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"

The young boy was apologetic. "Please mister, please. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do," he pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop."

With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It’s my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive. "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me."

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger.

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door.

He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!

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PULSEBEAT: Thanks to Mary Eunice Cu and Michael Lazaro who donated one plastic bag and one box of toys to "Operations Christmas Joy." Part of the toys have already been distributed to the sick children confined at the charity wards of Pasig City General Hospital and other hospitals in Metro Manila. . . . Fr. James B. Reuter, S.J. asked me to extend thanks to "Penafrancia" who donated P50,000 to the Our Lady of Peace Mission’s hospital project for the poor. He said that the hospital has been built and is now complete, with six Catholic nuns already assigned there to oversee preparations for its formal opening. Equipment is being installed, with a 40-foot container awaiting release by the Bureau of Customs. The container contains hospital beds, a gift to the poor from the Saint Vincent de Paul Parish in Arlington, Virginia, USA . . . Emily Moller of Sofierovagen 8, Helsingborg, Sweden, a Filipina married to a foreigner, feels sad over what is happening in her land of birth. "The conflicts and quarrels in the Senate, and the rumors about Malacañang." she said, "saddens me, and makes me pray that our leaders become statesmen." Emily appealed to all, especially the politicians, to unite and help work for the recovery of the Philippines. "What breaks my heart are our poor countrymen, who have to bear the consequences of the depreciation and worsening of our country, she added. By the way, Emily used to work with the Department of Social Services and Development in helping out of school youth. She said she continues to do so, even from faraway Sweden . . . Ronald L. Magtoto of the Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, rues that Philippine media lacks a positive and developmental approach in presenting news. This is sad, because media is so powerful, he said.

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Thoughts For Today:
May God’s love walk before you,
troubles stay away from you,
true friends stand beside you,
and love surround you.
May God bless you today and always.

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Someone is loving you,
caring for you,
watching over you,
protecting you
Who?
Jesus who never fails.

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My e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]