Lovers in the Battlefield

            “Hector goes to see his wife, Andromache, and their infant son, Astyanax. She pleads with him not to return to battle, explaining that all of her other relatives have been killed by the Greeks and he is all she has left. Even as she begs, Andromache knows that Hector will return to the battlefield. When Hector turns to his son to take him in his arms, the child is frightened by the plumes on his helmet. Showing his sensitive side, Hector removes the helmet and takes the baby into his arms. He then prays to Zeus that his son will be great. Then with a final farewell, Hector returns to the battle, accompanied by Paris.”

            This is the part of the story where Hector and Adromache was separated by the Trojan War itself. Hector was torn between his two personalities. A father and a leader, he must choose one. A father who would teach his son great things or  leader who would serve as the salvation of Trojans.The heart whelming scene between the lovers melted my heart  and made me remember something about Aeneas and Creusa.

            Both pairs was torn apart, both men have to choose between love and a promise. Aeneas and Creusa had the same faith as Hector and Andromache. A love that could never be pushed through because of a war. Same war that broke their hearts and ended the lives of their loved ones. The Trojan war caused a lot of death and tons of broken hearts. Hector decided to keep his promise and be a leader to his men. Creusa, sacrificed herself for the salvation of Aeneas and their comrades. Both lovers bounded by a promise of love that lead their fate.

Trojan War: A Legend

            The Trojan war was a mythological battle between the people of Greece and the people of the city of Troy. Prince Paris of Troy abducted the wife of Menelaus of Sparta (Helen), and refused to return her. Then, Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, gathered troops to attack the Trojans. Several Greek heroes led the army in the battle: Achilles, Ajax, Diomed, Nestor, Odysseus and Patroclus. The city of Troy was surrounded by tall walls, which the Greeks could not penetrate. The battle raged for nine years, and although the Greeks destroyed the surrounding Trojan territory, they could do little damage to the city.

            Many of the Greek gods were involved in the war. Athena, Hera and Poseidon frequently helped the Greeks, while Aphrodite and Ares defended the city of Troy.To end the battle, the Greeks constructed a large, hollow wooden horse, as a token. Sinon remained with the horse to deliver it to the Trojans, while the rest of the troops apparently sailed home. Sinon persuaded the Trojans to take the horse and bring it within their city. That night, several warriors emerged from within the horse and opened the city gates, allowing the Greeks, who had returned and been waiting, to enter the city of Troy and destroy it.

            This is the beginning of their end. The victory sided the Greeks. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, guided the Greeks to their victory. On the other hand, the Trojans helplessly died in the hands of the avenging soldiers. They had lost their home, and some of their brothers.

 Fragments of the Lost Rome

            Watching your home crumble to pieces is like enduring the pain when someone is tearing your soul out of your body. The thick walls of the barricade were not able to keep its strength. Trojans were fooled. Young heroes died one by one and some earned their courage to stand up and fight. All of their efforts went futile to the full-blown army of the Greeks.

            On the other hand, a young hero named Aeneas fought with all his might to save his home. A home that served as his sanctuary from when he was born, a home that served as their mother keeping them warm at night and aware from the eyes of avenging soldiers, was gone. Tears fill their eyelids and the dark of the night made him more miserable. Cries and scream roared symbolising their nearing death. Aeneas endured the pain of hearing his brothers wept in pain and anguish. The young hero fled to save his family leaving his destroyed home in the hands of the angry soldiers of the Greek.

            Losing his home was terrible, as it seems, for it was like destroying yourself together with your personality. Home resembles everything that made us human. Hardships, love and even pain, it made us experience it all. It trained us to face life with all our might and courage. Brick by brick it built our personality. Losing it was far more than destroying ourselves, our foundation of personality. All the memories will always be just a memory. A fragment that would resemble ourselves, it was sad to think that everything that we went through would just vanish, sad to think that everything will just exist in our minds. Aeneas lost his home and many of his brothers. He fled with his comrades keeping this tint of hope that keeps him alive and standing for his family and friends. A flame of courage burns inside him, he kept his home in his heart, his memories will linger not just in his mind but also in his heart. These memories will keep him fighting. This memories are the fragments of his home, fragments of the lost Rome.

Flickering Smile

        The portrait was painted by Leonardo da Vinci about 500 years ago. It was originally called La Gioconda. This is thought to be the family name of the woman in the portrait, although no one is quite sure who the mystery woman is; the name Mona Lisa came later. It's also said that once he'd finished painting it, da Vinci was even more captivated by the portrait than by the lady herself. Leonardo apparently took the portrait with him on his travels to Milan, Rome and France. Now the Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre art gallery in France. Every year the picture attracts millions of visitors who love to stand and ponder the lady's beguiling expression. Is she smiling at us or not? Looks can sometimes be deceiving.
            What’s the deal with Mona Lisa’s smile? Harvard neuroscientist Margaret Livingstone is pretty sure she’s solved the puzzle. Presuming nothing, Livingstone reasoned that the famous portrait’s flickering smile is caused by the way we see. Our eyes use two separate regions to see. One is the fovea, a central area used to see colors and pick out details such as fine print. The area around the fovea is better at detecting motion, shadows, and stark, black and white contrasts.When we look at a person’s face, according to Livingstone, we usually focus centrally on the eyes. Gazing at Mona Lisa’s eyes, our less accurate peripheral vision notices the mouth, picking up shadows from the cheekbones. The shadows play visual tricks, hinting at the curve of a smile. But when we look directly at the mouth, our central vision doesn’t see the shadows, and so the smile suddenly disappears. As our eyes scan different parts of the portrait, Mona’s smile seems to fade in and out.            Did da Vinci intend to create this flickering smile effect? Perhaps, In any case, he was genius enough to paint shadows subtle enough to astound viewers for half a millennium. Meanwhile, Mona Lisa will keep smiling. Moreover, not.

Yellow Ribbon of the Past

                How do we define a hero? Some might define hero as the one who defends the lives of the innocent, uphold truth and justice. Some define hero as the one who died saving others, while others define a hero as the one who is willing to sacrifice everything to the good of others, a man or a woman who has the gutts and the will to defy the authority, defend the weak, retrieve our independence, and other heros who brought Pride and Glory to our country. The presence of a woman in the past changed everything and directed our country to its turnabouts.

            August 1, 2009 we will always be remember the life of Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. Corazon Aquino is a simple woman, a mother, a wife to the great Senator Ninoy, she is one of the women at that time who had to endure the hardships, the tribulations during Martial Law rule, we all know that Ninoy was a political prisoner back in the days of Marcos, she had to endure the years without his husband's warmth and embrace, during their last years together they shared awesome memories in the States . Everything ended when Ninoy Aquino was killed by an assassin, everything fell apart.

            She came back in the Philippines as a grieving wife, and garnered the sympathy of the whole nation, this is the moment where our ancestors, our parents, those who are older than us are awakened by Marcos' oppression. During the wake, Cory was a picture of strength, the yellow ribbon that time was hope for everyone. The whole nation rallied behind her and the opposition in years leading to People Power 1, with her 'power' and help she brought back democracy to the country, released our political prisoners, and for once we did something that will surely last in each and everyone’s heart , to unite, to care not only for ourselves and others. During her Presidency, even though it was haunted by coup attempts she was able to weather the storm, and finish her reign and of course re-establishing what was lost during the Marcos Era democracy.

            How could one not call her a “Hero”? A wilful muse that was able to conquer the reign of violence to the Filipinos. A woman who sacrificed a lot to stand for her countrymen and country. Everyone knows her story, everyone values her presence. Thank you for everything you’ve done. The Yellow Ribbon will continue to reign its power in our country especially in our hearts.

“I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.”

-Corazon Cojuangco Aquino 

The Depth of Inferno

            We all feature hell as something so terrible, freaky and most of all scary. Did you ever wonder what’s in it? Is it just an empire of fire, home for demons, and shelter for sinners? If we look further to it we will notice that it is a world of REPENTION. Sinners with their punishments given a chance to repent their sins and correct their mistakes. Brutal punishments that corresponds to every sin. According to  “Dante’s Inferno” hell was divided in circles. Each circle correspond a sin of a person. Every sin was arranged  and leads to the depth of Inferno, Satan. A burning fire that will surely burn through the soul of a sinner.

          

               Circle1 Short tempered. Students nowadays were easily angered. A single flaw of their classmate or any person around them, they will burst out and brag about the simplest things. Sometimes because of this, they utter things, which can easily hurt a person. This attitude may lead to insensitivity of the student to the person around him/her. The punishment for this sin is a person must be hanging in a rope with their mouth sealed by their own hands. To prevent this sin, one must learn to be sensitive to the feelings of other people.

            Circle 2 Sloth. Students often postpone required readings and assigned preparations, making it hard for them to understand their classes the next day. Gradually, lectures and discussions that were once interesting start to seem boring and irrelevant, and the temptation to skip classes becomes greater and greater, especially when the classes are in the morning. The punishment to this sin is lying on the ground face down and will be surrounded by raging fire. To prevent this sin you must find a motivation to enhance your ability to focus.

                     Circle 3 Greed. Greed drives us further apart; it creates a caste system with the industrialized nations at the top, and the second, third and fourth world nations occupying the lesser orders. In short, a system destroys the very values we pretend to donor, if not fully observe. Greed is one of the few forces strong enough to tear apart such a highly developed society as ours. The punishment for this is, the sinner will be whipped by demon while they are lying on the ground facedown. To prevent this sin, one must think straight and learn to give and share to the persons around him.

            Circle 4 Envy. It is a fact of life that when someone succeeds, other people and become envious. For every successful person on the planet, there are hundreds or thousands who are not and who say, "He doesn't deserve to succeed. It should have been me. I deserve it more." It starts very small and then grows something bigger. As it grows it becomes very powerful and can be very damaging, as a whole people should know that life is only what we make it.

            Circle 5 Violence. What is violence? By most authoritative accounts, violence, including school violence, is the use of physical force to cause harm.  Survey discovered that one out of 12 students stayed home from school for fear that someone would hurt or harass them . Violence also hinders the learning process. Students cannot concentrate on learning and the educator cannot focus on teaching if they have fears for their own safety or have to spend most of their time disciplining.

            Circle 6 Gossiping. Gossip undoubtedly destroys friendships, marriages, business, and sometimes causes people to kill themselves and others. That chatty talk about other people's intimate matters is now a favourite pastime around every school and workplace. If asked, most of us would say gossip is a bad habit, yet our culture treats it lightly. 

            Circle 7 Pride .  Pride is the confidence to stay true to the person you are no matter the circumstances. Some say that pride is the feeling they get when they do something for someone else, or when they achieve a well fought for accomplishment. It's like the feeling a person would get when they cross the finish line first, or when one would be rewarded a trophy for academic excellence.

            Circle 8 Dishonesty. Dishonesty in academics is very common from grade school through college. The desire for students to cheat seems to increase as they get older and progress in grades. Some students do not understand what cheating consists of. Fraternities, Sororities, Athletes and students who consume alcohol are more likely to cheat than other students are. Dishonesty in academics is and has been a problem for decades. 

            Circle 9 Lying.  Lying could hurt a person more than what you think. Not only would someone feel bad about himself, but others would start to dislike him/her. He would  blame himself for what happened to his life. What I mean is, if someone had never lied, then he’ll feel that his  family and  friends would still trust him and talk to him like they used to. Lying would gave someone a very bad reputation.