It was another ordinary moment of celebrating the sacred in our ordinary HEdCen way of life. One might ask, what is ordinary in our culture?
Here's my minute list:
punctuality - birds have to wake up early to be there where the food is, where life throbs, and where love is. We come to our appointments on time. We are in school ready for learning and we want to get the first slice of action by being punctual. On the dot like ! ? .
honesty and truthfulness - nothing beats the lizards and related creatures when they bask in the sun. Light exposes the beauty of nakedness. We tell the truth. It was a child who said that the "Emperor has no clothes on". And even in a community gathering like the Monday assembly, when asked if they have bullied someone, brave souls stood up to tell the truth! I guess that one has to be brave to be honest and true.
respect - we live in an organic environment where ants paint murals on the classroom walls. I told the children not to kill ants for they too have a mission to accomplish. We arm ourselves with repellant against the deadly, long-legged, blood-sucking muscas and we leave the ants alone together with all the other bugs.
We work hard like the ants and carry loads that may even be bigger than us. We work to full capacity or at least we try not to be fazed with what others perceive as "hard" or "heavy".
It is ordinary to play, sing or make beautiful creations with our hands.
It is ordinary to abstain from junk food and soft drink and to make a hard choice of eating corn on the cob, rice cakes cooked in coco milk or tamarind juice and tea extracted from camote leaves among other things when the lure of chips and soda can be irresistible.
While the world is under the spell and influence of Lady Gaga, Anime and the like - it is our way of life here in HEdCen, to wear "Ethnic" for special occassions or on ordinary school day.
These and a lot more are ordinary in our school.
These ordinary things are what is SACRED here. That's why, we don't take ordinary things for granted.
So ordinary for our children's parents to look up to their children as their everyday heroes because there are times when their children parent their parents or in other words - when adults learn from their children.
It is with great resolve that we practice these ordinary things on ordinary days and even on special occasions and if we just won't give up, our success on moment to moment, is just a strife away.
It is my wish and prayer that heroism becomes ordinary, that true love becomes ordinary, that kindness and goodness are ordinary and that laughter becomes as ordinary as music.
Let's all grow several notches from where we are this moment.
...remembering the sacred in the ordinary...
