Blog by Jedde

The waves of a sea are never the same the moment they crash to the shore. The sea, like human life, is constantly changing. But in spite of this, the sea does not worry about what it is meant to do, or why changes are happening to it, or what the meaning of its life is. Rather, it simply continues to be a sea; it moves, and it lives. Why couldn't we be more accepting of who we are, like the sea? Why then are we so hard on ourselves? Why do we find it as an almost impossible mission to make sense of the meaning of our lives, or find our own happiness, or be comfortable in our own voice? Why do we despise our existence so deeply sometimes just because we do not understand its mysteries? Our lives and the sea have similar characteristics. Both are unfathomable, deep, mysterious, and rich in motion and life. To illustrate, inside of us are trillions of live cells thriving; similarly, deep within the sea are trillions of live creatures - with each one being completely unique fr

A friend asked me a question the other day: "Jedde, you're well-focused on your work. How do you still find the time to read?". Many of us desire to pick up the habit of reading. When we were younger, I fondly recall a memory of me and my sister choosing to stay at a book shop inside the mall. While our mom does the grocery shopping, she and I would be deeply engrossed in books that kindled our interest. We would be thoroughly immersed in what we were reading, which were mostly books on display meant for preview, and somehow time passed by so quickly. The moment our mom came to pick us up, we would already have read a handful of literature! What a delightful memory to reminisce. Reading then was fun. We weren't forced to memorize anything nor take down notes in order to prepare for an examination. Instead, we read because we liked and enjoyed it; not to mention my love for books that added to the beautiful concoction - their nostalgic and sweet scent, t

Photo taken during the holiday season last year. Many people treat Valentine's Day as a special day for lovers and loved ones. There is a subtle expectation that something special - a grand gesture - must be given to one's partner to celebrate the day. Some book expensive restaurants in advance so the couple could enjoy a romantic dinner, others prepare and order bouquet of flowers along with a box of chocolates ready to be gifted to their significant other. In fact, modern display of affection now involves practicality. Interestingly, instead of flowers, a sack of rice is more yearned for, and instead of an expensive dinner date where the served food sometimes does not suffice, a bouquet of real paper bills is more preferred. While each person has their own style of celebrating Valentine's Day, there is but one, underrated practice that only a few people do which is proven to give anyone larger amounts of returns in terms of emotional satisfaction and well-being:

Do you recognize what this plant is? This is called a moringa oleifera , often known by many names like the drumstick tree, the miracle tree, or the horseradish. In my place, we call this kamunggay. In a moment, I'm going to take us through  three short stories from my childhood and with this lens, hopefully we will see the message behind how a simple plant is able to make us understand a very important lesson in life. Let's begin, shall we? -- A true test of patience when I was growing up involved a moringa plant or kamunggay. On weekends, my mama and papa would come home from the market with the grocery items. I remembered my sister and I would grumble heavily before we would move and rush to prepare a bowl to be placed on the table. Clearing anything unnecessary on top of it, we would take out the moringa from the grocery bag and start to pluck out its leaves. Carefully and ever so gently, as we didn't want to include the stalks, the leaves would be remove