This afternoon, I was reading a book while my TV is on. Then I heard my favorite song. I looked up and I saw the victims of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita receiving assistance from the American Red Cross people while the song BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER was being played in the background. The ARC is the bridge but the bridge will not be there without the people contributing to its mission. So many have exploited these tragedies that the FBI had to issue a warning for hurricane Katrina Relief Scams. So this is the song of Simon and Garfunkel.

Bridge Over Troubled Water
When you’re weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes,
I will dry them all;
I’m on your side.
when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you’re down and out,
When you’re on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I’ll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.

If you need a friend I’m sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

Come to think of it, why that song is dear to my heart. I remember, dad, putting me on his shoulder while crossing a wooden bridge during a tempest.In your life, was there also one that you can call your bridge?

 

 

Hurricane,Rita,TEXAS,LOUISIANA,NEW ORLEANS
‘MSNBC,American Red Cross

Are you kidding? If they are perfect, then they are not mothers. They are saints. The relationship between a daughter and a mother can be loving or malevolent; harmonious or hostile and sweet or contentious. Let’s accept it. Who can be like her, but the daughter and who can be like the mother but her own daughter? There is a little bit of our mother in us, daughter or son. If you feel that it is not easy to to bring up a mother, try looking into these:

1. your mother’s purpose

If your mother is anxious and controlling, it could be that during your age, she committed a mistake that almost ruined her life. She does not want you to suffer the same fate.

2. don’t think that your mother is all-powerful A strong-willed mother may put a facade that may be necessary in order to impress invulnerability during family crises. It would help to know the difficulties that she is experiencing in order to understand that sometimes her short temper has very little to do with you. That inside her bedroom, she is not really the strong woman that you think her to be. Did you remember the time when you notice that it seems you hardly exist to her. This must be the time when her emotional burden was the heaviest.

3. Look for similarities between you and your mother

What are her values,fears, political ideas, types of friends, mannerisms, gestures, physical features? Now that you are mother, do you feel the same way when your daughter comes late in the evening or is around with some friends you do not approve?

4. A mother is always a mother Do not think that she feels her responsibility ends when you have a family of your own. Even if she believes that you have your own lives to live, she thinks that it would not hurt if from time to time, she would offer some advice. It is not mother’s day but 24 hours is a mother’s unpaid workshift.

Some parents think that they are encouraging their children by challenging them to excel better than their friends, classmates and neighbors. Their favorite expressions are: Why can’t you be…How come your sister/cousin/friend….? Some are challenged and they strive to make their parents happy. Some don’t bother. Some rebel.

With other people as a yardstick for the people’s accomplishment or well-being, the foundation of life becomes weak. Take for example these people:

1. The Friends’ Friend-The individual evaluates his entire world based on what others think about him. He has to gain approval no matter if he buys the friends with gifts or … favors. There is nothing more important in life than being accepted by what he thinks as the right group of friends. Mostly teenagers fall in this category. Adults who join this category may need reassessment of their views of life.

2. The Achiever- The person’s gauge for her success is a function of what she has accomplished . The obsession to get good grades, recognitions, distinctions gives little room for character. Did she step on someone on her way up? Did she cheat to get the good grades?

3. Love is my Life-It’s worse than number one, since the measure of the person’s self worth is a function of whether someone is in love with her/him or not.

4.The What is your agenda-The person who thinks that there are enemies out to get him. He thinks there is always a hidden agenda for every good thing that he receives from other people.

5. The Guess Who I dined with:

The person is focused on relating to people with authority. The more popular the person is, the greater is the feeling that one has “arrived”.

6.Life is not fair-

Person thinks that he is worthless not because of his fault but because life is not fair.

7. The Non-Risk Taker- The person who would not take a licensing exam for fear that he might not pass. The person who would not make his feelings known to the object of his love for fear of being rejected. Take the mirror and ask yourself.

She occupied the smallest cubicle in that office and yet, her surroundings were always aglow with beauty and harmony no matter how simple the office decors were.

People come by to greet and chat with her even for a few minutes. Unconsciously, they wanted her radiance good to rubbed off on them.

She was the employee that a boss can rely on especially during stressful project launching and implementation.

She was the employee that everyone can run to when they are pressured to beat the deadline.

No, she is not a superwoman. She has also her fits and disruptions that come from within (work stress) and without (family pressures, social world, relationships).

She recognizes the fact that many fall on the wayside because physical and mental healthwise, they do not have the stamina to stay in the life’s constant running.

She may not have eliminated stressfull situations but she counteracted these with her positive outlook. Gaining self-confidence on the thought that people seek her, her appreciative thoughts reflect on her simple office furnishings and sustain them in a state of loveliness.

A year after, when I visited the company, she was no longer there. The husband petitioned her to go to Australia.

There is a new employee occupying her desk. She merely glanced and proceeded with her work.

The furnishings and the cubicle looked sad and shabby, not because they were dilapidated but because the glowing harmony

and pleasantness are no longer there. The source is no longer there.

The current Miss International, Precious Lara Quigaman when asked, HOW DO YOU STAY BEAUTIFUL? said:

By exuding a kind and warm personality and attitude to everyone.

In this way, I can be beautiful to them because they’ll like me. After all, being beautiful is not just about looking good in the outside, its also about showing our goodness in the inside.

Some people are not aware that they are using the law of radiation and attraction by merely maintaining a sunny disposition. A friend of mine is not pretty but she got a lot of male admirers that when we attended gatherings, men swarmed like bees wherever she went. She radiated with optimism and contentment that if you do not know the life’s trials she went thru, you would say she is a good actress. But she is not. Her positivism is infectious. Her self-confidence can just lift you to higher levels of expectations.

As expected when you climb the ladder of success or popularity, detractors come by the dozen. But affected, she is not. She likened herself to a moon which continues shining in the dark while dogs continue howling all night.

Cathy