My Son Bertie's Memory Work at the Age of 5

As a father to my son, I thought it is my responsibility to play a role in the education of my son in school. Here are some of the poems, songs, and great quotations that Bertie memorized as we walked together daily to his Kumon Math Sacred Heart school in Lorenzo Village and walking back home after school for lunch:--- Why is it that everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die?--- Life is a sexually-transmitted disease with a mortality rate of 100 per cent.--- Why bother to be born again, when you can just grow up?--- "If you tell a child that God made the world," he will usually ask: "then who made God?" If we reply, as the catechism states, "no one made God. He always was! Then why couldn't we just say about the world in the first place?"--- "They came with the bible, and their religion, stole our land, crushed our spirit, and now tell us we should be thankful to the Lord for being saved." Pontiac--- One bright day in the middle of the night, Two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. A deaf policeman heard the noise and came to kill the two dead boys. --- When we are born we cry, that we are come to this great stage of fools.---Shakespeare To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. - Shakespeare --- The trouble with the rat race, even if you win, you are still a rat.--- I would like the Filipinos to be brilliant, enlightened, intelligent, ad progressive. - Jose Rizal--- SMILE Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through for you Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear may be ever so near That's the time you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile If you just smile That's the time you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile If you just smile. (written by Charlie Chaplin)--- "What A Difference A Day Makes" What a difference a day makes Twenty-four little hours Brought the sun and the flowers Where there used to be rain My yesterday was blue, dear Today I'm a part of you, dear My lonely nights are through, dear Since you said you were mine What a difference a day makes There's a rainbow before me Skies above can't be stormy Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss It's heaven when you find romance on your menu What a difference a day made And the difference is you What a difference a day makes There's a rainbow before me Skies above can't be stormy Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss It's heaven when you find romance on your menu What a difference a day made And the difference is you --- I'll BE SEEING YOU I'll be seeing you In all the old familiar places That this heart of mine embraces All day through In the small cafe, the park across the way The children's carousel The chestnut trees, the wishing well And I'll be seeing you In every lovely, summer's day And everything that's light and gay I'll always think of you that way I'll find you in the morning sun And when the night is new I'll be looking at the moon But I'll be seeing you I will find you in the morning sun And when the night is new I'll be looking at the moon But I'll be seeing you.--- Bertrand Russell Introductory Remarks of his Autobiography Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy – ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness – that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what – at last – I have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.--- ON THE USES OF PHILOSOPHY "There is a pleasure in philosophy and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every student feels until the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife and gain. Most of us have known some golden days in the June of life when philosophy was in fact what Plato calls it, "that dear delight;" when the love of a modestly elusive truth seemed more glorious – incomparably -- than the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world. And there is always some wistful remnant in us of that early wooing of wisdom. "Life has meaning," we feel with Browning. "To find its meaning is my meat and drink." So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-canceling vacillation and futility. We strive with the chaos about and within, but we should believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want to understand. "Life means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all that we are or meet with!" We are like Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov -- "one of those who don't want millions, but an answer to their questions." We want to seize the value and perspective of passing things and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the things big, before it is too late. We want to see things now as they will seem forever -- "in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by harmonizing our desires, for coordinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics -- and perhaps in logic and metaphysics, too. "To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, or even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust." We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. "Seek ye first the good things of the mind," Bacon admonishes us, "and the rest will either be supplied, or its loss will not be felt." Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.--- The Greatest Men Have Not been "Serene."--- "No, the greatest men have not been “serene.” They have had, it is true, an ultimate courage, a power of creating beauty where nature has put only horror, which may, to a petty mind, appear like serenity. But their courage has had to surpass that of common men, because they have seen deeper into the indifference of nature and the cruelty of man. To cover up these things with comfortable lies is the business of cowards; the business of great men is to see them with inflexible clarity, and yet to think and feel nobly. And in the degree in which we can all be great, this is the business of each one of us." Bertrand Russell--- READ, READ, and READ What we need in this country is not MORE faith, but more reason for the sake of spiritual growth. It means abandoning outworn beliefs and the welcoming of new and fresh ideas. We need to develop a deeper vision, to be willing to forsake our obsolete and shallow vision. The road to spiritual growth lies in distrusting what we already believe by deliberately challenging the validity of what we have been traditionally taught to hold dear and holy. We must learn to question everything. It is the basis of spiritual growth and intellectual maturity.--- We must therefore develop the habit of reading avidly and judiciously. I therefore say: read, read, and read. To begin to discover not only the beauty of rationality, but also the harmony of veracity. As we develop the habit of reading, especially books on the scientific way of thinking, we will never, ever again, be the foolish victims of mediocrity, or worse still – be the promoters of a sick society. However the case may be, those of us who refuse to read are no better off than those who can’t read at all. Poch Suzara

I stand on the Shoulders of Giants

It is with much pride and happiness for me to declare the debt I owe men and women of genius. Such as Bertrand Russell, Will Durant, Robert G. Ingersoll, George H. Smith, Tom Paine, Carl Sagan, M.H. Mencken, Clarence Darrow, Alvin Toffler, Howard Zinn, Joseph McCabe, Jean Meslier, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Jose Rizal, and Ruth Benedict, Madalyn Murray O"hair - the Founder of the American Atheist Association... If I am able to see higher, wider, longer, and deeper it is simply due to, if not the result of, the great writings of these great men and women of genius... In the meantime, I am ask: if I have been in charge of creation, what would I have created differently?... Well, firstly, after having created man and woman I would encourage them to enjoy not the freedom OF religion, but the freedom FROM religion... Secondly, I would make diseases not catching; instead, I would make health contagious... Thirdly, I would make not stupid BELIEVERS, but intelligent THINKERS as the main result of education in schools, colleges, and universities... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

There Is Nothing Definite as Everything is Tentative in Science

Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one. - - - Konrad Lorenz . . Indeed, Carl Sagan, put it this way: "The sacred truth of science is that there are no sacred truths."

Isn't It Time for Us Filipinos to Wake Up

Let your life tell the story of Christ's love and mercy to the world around you. . . Phil Star, Aug. 25, 2015 . . . Ever since Christianity arrived in the 16th century to conquer the Philippines, we Filipinos have done virtually nothing but pray daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly for Christ's love and mercy. Today in this already 21st century, look at us Filipinos so poor and backward as a people, and so sick and corrupt and insane a nation. . . we are still stuck and praying harder daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly for Christ's love and mercy... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Lowly-Paid Employees as Teachers and Professors in the Philippines

My teachers in La Salle grade school and high school were not real teachers. They were lowly-paid employees of the Christians Brothers - the filthy-rich owners of De la Salle college. Indeed, like most schools, colleges, and universities own and operated by the catholic church... Education in our poor and backward country has nothing to do with acquiring knowledge and wisdom... It is mostly about learning how to be at home with faith in lies, deceptions, illusions, delusions, not to mention faith in human degradation; especially by ignoring the importance of the growth and development of civilization... I was so glad and happy that I got expelled out of La Salle high school. It was, in this way, that I managed, somehow, via self-education, to save not my sick soul; but to save instead my precious mind and heart to be useful in this world. Our world. . . Poch Suzara twitter# Facebook# Google#

We Are A Nation of 5th graders

What is the current state of Philippine education? . . . “A nation of ‘fifth graders,’” the late Dr. Josefina R. Cortes, former dean of University of the East College of Education, said of our country that has long suffered from poor learning outcomes. . . Evidence of this is aplenty: Please see Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aug. 24, 2015. . . All these form part of the apoy sa ilalim and apoy sa ibabaw solutions that will help this country leapfrog from being a nation of fifth graders to a country of achievers and high-skilled professionals in the foreseeable future. . . . (Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco, PhD., is a faculty member of the Department of Linguistics of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.). . . For my part, as a high school expelled student of some 65 years ago, I said it before, I say it again: our sick system of education does not only reflect who are as a sick people, but also what we are as a sick nation. In this already 21st century, we are the only people in all of Asia who are still hoping, waiting, and praying for a Savior to save us from the horrors of our own sick values and sick beliefs; also to save us away from daily graft and corruption - while we are proud of our sick population explosion as inspired via our rejection of civilization! Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Bertrand Russell is my Maker

Bertrand is my religion. Russell is my bible. Bertrand Russell is my Maker. Sadly, most men, like Angel Arando, are still stuck trying to understand the works of PEPE and PILAR, if not the works of JACK and JILL. . . Poch Suzara twitter# Facebook# Google#

Bertrand Russell Introductory Remarks of his Autobiography

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy – ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness – that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what – at last – I have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

LET'S GIVE AMERICA BACK TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNERS -THE NATIVE INDIANS

He assured the crowd, “Don’t worry, we’ll take our country back.” - Donald Trump. . .As an American citizen, I sure hope that you can take back AMERICA and give it back to the native American Indians - the original owners - the people we stole AMERICA from and justified our crime against humanity by singing out loud: GOD BLESS AMERICA. THE LAND OF THE FREE. THE HOME OF THE BRAVE. In the meantime, during these past three centuries, to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time... James A.Baldwin . . . One can imagine how the Native Indians feel as the original owners of a continent now called - the United States of America... They are even more in a rage all the time... Indeed, what the White Christians did to the native Indians and then bring in tens of thousands of Black African slaves yearly to the USA is the greatest crime against humanity... No other country has been guilty of such barbarism. Such savagery! It is today asked: how does one begin to repair the emotional, psychological, and physical damage inflicted by kidnapping millions of members of Africa families, transporting them in chains across the Atlantic as they lay in their excrement, and for those who survived the trip to the New World, subjecting them to unimaginable horrors: scattering their family members, never to be rejoined again; persistently raping their women, such that almost all of their descendants are tainted with the blood of their captors and then lynching, torturing, and castrating their men, who dared to defy their brutal treatment... Legalized slavery occurred in the United States 1619 to 1865 or some (250) years and was followed by another century of legalized racial discrimination... In the meantime, slavery was not romantic; it was cruel,ferocious, brutal, and corrupting in all of its aspects. It was developed in its greatest degree of degradation in GOD BLESS AMERICA - land of the free and the home of the brave. . Raymond A, Winbush, Ph.D in his great book "SHOULD AMERICA PAY"(slavery and the raging debate on REPARATIONS) summarized the American horror: "Until America's white ruling class accepts the fact that the book never closes on massive unredressed social wrongs, America can have no future as one people."... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Our Sick Prayers As Inspired by our Sick Theology

"In the Middle Ages, when pestilence appeared in a country, holy men advised the population to assemble in churches and pray for deliverance; the result was that the infection spread with extraordinary rapidity among the crowded masses of supplicants. This was an example of love without knowledge. The late war afforded an example of knowledge without love. In each case, the result was death on a large scale." - - - Bertrand Russell 

In the Philippines, in this already 21st century, instead of taking advantage of the beauty behind science, and the power behind technology that's been elevating other Asian nations into higher growth, better development, and general prosperity, - we Filipinos are still with our sick prayer under a sick theology inside churches and cathedrals. The result thus far is that we Filipinos are only enjoying the greatest of miracles: we Filipinos are getting more and more famous throughout the world as the SICK MAN OF ASIA down here for the greater glory of Jesus up there! - Poch Suzara twitter# Facebook# Google#

It's the Devil who Manages this World for God

God created the world, but it is the devil who keeps it going. . . Tristan Bernard. . . And if I may add, it is the devil together with the apostles, disciples, and followers of Christ who keep this world going. . . After all, there is always BIG MONEY to be made in the religion business. . . Poch Suzara twitter# Facebook# Google#

WE NEED MORE HOUSING TENEMENTS THAN CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated. - - - Madalyn Murray O'Hair. . . In the Philippines, an atheist like me, would like to see more HOUSING TENEMENTS creatively established around the country than see more churches and cathedrals established in the already God-forsaken, poor, and backward country. - - - In fact, I would like to see such HOUSES OF GOD converted to HOUSING facilities for the millions of poor Filipinos are who homeless living in the streets of our major cities... Indeed, transform those churches and cathodrals - monuments to human stupidity into monuments to human sanity. . .Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Jesus is Coming

"Jesus is Coming. - Perhaps Today." Philippine Star, Aug. 16, 2015. . . Well, after more than 2,000 years of coming, what will it matter whether Jesus is coming or just passing through going to be reunited once again with His Jewish people - the CHOSEN PEOPLE OF GOD? Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

The Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom

Difference Between Wisdom and Knowledge . . . Wisdom vs Knowledge . . . research by: Poch Suzara Wisdom and knowledge are common words in English language. We equate knowledge with books and teachings, and at classrooms, teachers tell us a lot about knowledge. But wisdom is much more than knowledge as it is an abstract attribute that is not found in every man who is knowledgeable. Are you not convinced still? Continue reading, as this article attempts to highlight the differences between knowledge and wisdom. We are not born with all the facts and information that we assimilate into our brain as we grow up. We are taught many concepts at school, and our teachers make us understand things that expand our knowledge base. The knowledge that hydrogen and oxygen molecules add up to make water is knowledge. The fact that the water in our oceans and rivers is the same that comes back in the form of rainfall is again knowledge. We can be made to know everything about water, including its properties and features, but we never know it in its entirety unless we drink and know its taste. Knowledge All the facts and information about things, people, places and cultures of the world constitute a knowledge base that we build up as we learn a lot first from our parents and later at school from our teachers. We learn how to behave without elders and react in different situations as per societal norms. All this is referred to as the knowledge that we gain in our life. Wisdom Wisdom is the application of knowledge in real life situations to obtain desired results. Thus, the ability to apply knowledge in easy to tough situations refers to knowledge. Wisdom comes from experience. You may know how to open the lock of a car. This is certainly knowledge though one that is not desirable. However, wisdom says never to apply this knowledge or else you may have to serve in prison. Wisdom comes from wise, and so wise men have wisdom. But wisdom is a trait that does not come with knowledge alone. It comes with a mixture of knowledge and experience. What is the difference between Wisdom and Knowledge? • Wisdom is a quality or an attribute while knowledge is the state of knowing. • One gains knowledge by knowing facts and information while the ability to apply such knowledge for the benefit of all is wisdom. • Wisdom comes with age and experience it is said; this is the reason upper chamber of legislature consists of older men. • Knowing how to steal a car is knowledge but not applying this knowledge is wisdom. In the meantime, we atheists have no knowledge of God. We only have wisdom when it comes to God. We do not, we will not, and we will never believe in the existence of a God or Gods because we have the knowledge of nothing about God. We do not even know whether God is a HE, a SHE, or an IT! Or, if God created the universe some 14 Billion years ago, is such a God still alive today already 14 Billion years old?. . . Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

I love Thinking. I hate Believing

"At this present day, religion, as embodied in the Churches, discourages honest thinking, in the main, and gives importance to things that are not important." --- Bertrand Russell - - - For my part, as an atheist, I love thinking. I hate believing. My standing up for humanity is far more important to me than believing and kneeling down to a silly divinity... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

FREE WILL versus FREE MIND

“It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a god would choose for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey.” - - - Robert G. Ingersoll- - - Well, what is even more absurd is that God gifted you with a free will to do just that... For my part, I treasure more my free mind than I do my free will. . . a Free mind has more to do with the growth and development of one's sanity. Free will has only to do with the growth and development of one's insanity... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

The Evils of Americans in God Bless America

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time... James A.Baldwin . . . One can imagine how the Native Indians feel as the original owners of a continent now called - the United States of America... They are even more in a rage all the time... Indeed, what the White Christians did to the native Indians and then bring in tens of thousands of Black African slaves yearly to the USA is the greatest crime against humanity... No other country has been guilty of such barbarism. Such savagery! It is today asked: how does one begin to repair the emotional, psychological, and physical damage inflicted by kidnapping millions of members of Africa families, transporting them in chains across the Atlantic as they lay in their excrement, and for those who survived the trip to the New World, subjecting them to unimaginable horrors: scattering their family members, never to be rejoined again; persistently raping their women, such that almost all of their descendants are tainted with the blood of their captors and then lynching, torturing, and castrating their men, who dared to defy their brutal treatment... Legalized slavery occurred in the United States 1619 to 1865 or some (250) years and was followed by another century of legalized racial discrimination... In the meantime, slavery was not romantic; it was cruel,ferocious, brutal, and corrupting in all of its aspects. It was developed in its greatest degree of degradation in GOD BLESS AMERICA - land of the free and the home of the brave. . Raymond A, Winbush, Ph.D in his great book "SHOULD AMERICA PAY"(slavery and the raging debate on REPARATIONS) summarized the American horror: "Until America's white ruling class accepts the fact that the book never closes on massive unredressed social wrongs, America can have no future as one people."... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

I too Have a Dream

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." . . . Martin Luther King, Jr... For my part, I too have a dream: that all but all of the children in this world will grow up with the power of knowledge and wisdom that have absolutely nothing to do with the insanity behind God's kingdom... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

WHY AM I HAPPY

"Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed." . . . Bertrand Russell . . . With me, I am happy because I hate with a passion the sick system of education in the Philippines. The evil, historically, keeps us spiritually frightened as a people, and culturally unenlightened as a nation. Indeed, we are all born ignorant, not stupid. We are made stupid via a stupid system of education! Look at us Filipinos as a people in this day and age, in this already 21st century: we only know how to love God up there by hating one another and by hating our own country down here!... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

We Need To be civilized, Not Terrorized as a People

"Men become civilized not in proportion to their willingness to believe but in proportion to their readiness to doubt." ... H.L. Mencken . . . Sadly, under our sick system of education, catholic schools, colleges, and universities in the Philippines teach Filipinos not how to doubt, but only what to believe. Thus, we are hardly civilized as a nation; only religiously terrorized as a people.. . . Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#