Diletante Escritor

–also posted on Hit-or-Miss

Philippines was “sold” by the Spaniards to the Americans many years back and then and there the Filipinos have learned and became fluent in the English language.

The English language is known as the universal language. It is the common language which every single earthling should know to be able to communicate to the entire world. But there are still plenty of countries that are not knowledgeable about the English language. It’s evident in the Miss Universe pageants. The representative from Japan needed a translator to be able to understand the judge’s question.

English speaking countries are very lucky to have their national language as a standard for communication in the entire globe. In our case, we might consider such skill to be a blessing. Most non-English speaking foreigners come to our shores to learn the English language. For this year and last year, I have seen a significant number of Koreans in all four corners of the world I move in. At first, it was a shock for me. But eventually, I got so used to seeing at least five Koreans every school day.

Our capability to speak in English also lures Americans and other English speaking nationalities. I really don’t know what they are all doing in the Philippines. Perhaps they have started a new family here with a Filipino or are just on a vacation. Seeing Philippines as a paradise, $1 is equivalent to P40+ plus they won’t have a problem communicating with us. The foreigners contribute a bit to our economy, which if you ask me doesn’t completely make me happy. I am earning dollars online and if the exchange rate between the dollar and peso goes down, my earnings also go down. But, just ignore my sentiments. I am but one Filipino only, part of the public, a group of people who the government here does not give a damn sh*t about. Ok, please totally ignore what I just said.

Anyway, I had always wondered if being fluent in English really did any good to us and if the process of learning English before (as if the Philippines had a choice) was all worth the time. Such skill gave some Filipinos an opportunity to work abroad and leave their families behind. But some of them don’t always get a fairy tale ending. Some end up having their families broken simply because of the distance, just to be able to survive or to improve their financial status.

I was once proud of myself for being fluent in English at such a young age. You see, when my father conversed to me back then, he would often speak to me in English. In effect, I learned the language easier and faster. But the drawback was I sucked in my own national language. I hardly ever understood Filipino. I knew the basics but my grammar was bad and I can’t speak Tagalog well. I felt the disadvantage when my grades in the Filipino subject were unsatisfactory and when I played a major role in a Filipino play we did in high school. It was hard to memorize and speak something I hardly understood.

It is a fact that everything always has advantages and disadvantages. In my case, I have seen both sides. If you ask me, I’m happy to be able to write this post in English but would be afraid to translate this into Filipino. It’s a shame not to know a lot about my own national language. Overall, I’m not proud of myself because I can’t converse well in Tagalog. Don’t get me wrong. I learned English because I was more exposed to it than to any other language. But if I were to choose, I would have preferred learning Filipino and English at the same time.

So is being fluent in English a blessing or not?

I have heard of global warming before not knowing what it really meant. I only had to care about myself and if I do not understand something, then I do not bother about it. But one time in our Biology class, our teacher required us to pass a reaction paper of a film called: An Inconvenient Truth. Obviously, I had to focus on the film for me to have something to pass. Then and there, the truth shocked me. How could I not care about this? What was I thinking?

Global warming is the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth’s lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are actually essential for the Earth to be inhabitable. But ever since the Industrial Revolution began, there has been an increase emission of these greenhouse gases, creating now what we call as global warming.

Greenhouse gases make the Earth warm enough to be inhabited. Without these gases, the mean temperature of the earth would have been −19 °C. But it is now leading us to our own destruction. The shocking fact is that these gases, aside coming from natural sources, is also produced by our very own activities.

We should have seen this coming. Everything in this world is connected to each other. Many slight mistakes can result into a huge disaster. We should all act before everything gets out of hand.

Think of it this way, we all need to save money. That is enough motivation for you to be able to make a difference. Believe it or not, but by being thrifty can equally mean combating global warming.

As a student, use less paper. Recycle them, use the back parts. If you are running for elections, use other means (e.g., email, radio and television) to expose yourself. And if you plan to give someone a gift, use newspapers instead of gift wrappers for the gift. The person will have to rip the wrapper off anyway. Not only you can save money by using less paper, but you are actually saving more trees. Saving more trees means lesser pollution and an increase in the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere!

In your homes, replace incandescence light bulbs with fluorescence light bulbs. You are able to save money because fluorescence light bulbs convert almost all the power used into usable light, and thus release very less heat. The incandescence light bulbs do the opposite, most of the power it uses is turned into heat. If you live near the equator, this is a good thing. You do not have to turn on the electric fan or the air conditioner and thus you are able to save some money and electricity.

As much as possible, use electricity only when you need it. Unplug all electronics from the wall when they are not in use. Wait until you have a lot of clothes to wash before using the washing machine. Turn off the TV, read books, walk, run, bike, surf, and play tennis. Just spend your time on anything that does not consume energy. Not only you are saving some hard earned cash, you are also saving electricity. Electricity is mostly from nonrenewable resources which release large amounts of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of global warming. Cutting off the production of carbon dioxide (i.e., using renewable resources for the production of electricity) is the best thing to solve global warming.

Another way to lessen carbon dioxide is by planting the very specimens that need them, trees. Trees “inhale” carbon dioxide for their food production and “exhales” oxygen for our use. If you like, plant fruit bearing trees. Not only you can enjoy the shade they bring, you can also get free fruits. Or better yet, sow flower bearing plants or trees. You won’t have to spend too much on air fresheners again!

Lastly, although this does not make you save money, but it is essential. Schools and the media should join forces in spreading the issue. We may not know it, but some people might still be not knowledgeable of the globe’s situation. For this worldwide problem, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of people, or better yet, everyone to fight back and save Mother Earth from destruction.

We need all the help and knowledge we can get to combat global warming. Global warming is not a joke. It is the real thing. Do not make your grandchildren blame you for what you should have done, but did not do. Let us all act now and save the only planet that we call home.

“This is my entry to the Blog Awards Challenge No. 2: Blogging for Global Warming”

Sources: Wikipedia and Reference.com

1. Make money.
2. Share things that I know.
3. Rant about things.
4. Improve writing skills.
5. Make some friends.
6. Sick of Friendster and Multiply.
7. Make the most out of our internet connection.
8. Have nothing else to do this summer.
9. Distract myself from problems and heart ache.
10. Try something new.
11. Challenge myself (i.e. gain constant readers and maintain my blogs’ existence).
12. Pour out my frustrations and opinion on things.
13. Make the most out of my brain cells.
14. Try to be productive.
15. Learn what other people think about my posts (i.e. comments).
16. It’s something my friends are not into yet. I sometimes dare to be different.
17. Establish a possible source of income.
18. Share things that I’m interested in.
19. Improve my typing skills.
20. Distract myself from my own imperfections.
21. Because my kuya (older brother) told me so. And I’m glad he did.