Quiet Endings

Tomorrow, it will be December. Today, an important part of my life ends; I say goodbye quietly to November. 

Dylan Thomas wrote, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” The opposite is what I feel. I feel the grace of quiet endings.  

I had written about how I left the workplace (What, Me Retire?) where my advertising career lasted for over 20 years. I left without a huff for a complex reason. And today, I am leaving my teaching career of about the same number of years—gently into the night, again without a huff—for another complex reason. 

As I jokingly tell family and close friends, I have reached my point of irrelevance. Students have morphed into aliens I cannot recognize. Try as I might, I could no longer engage them, not with the tools of life I have learned through hard knocks.  

And then there’s AI. I teach critical writing, but in checking papers, I could not distinguish which part is  from some bot out there and which part is the student’s.    

Teaching has been just a few hours of my time during the week because I spend most of my days  writing books on grace. But I enjoyed interacting with young people and passing on everything  I know about the subject; I looked forward to either a Tuesday or whatever day I was assigned a class or two. 

Alas, the interaction is gone. Last  semester, I performed all magic tricks—soliloquy, song-and-dance, standing on my head, fire eating, etc.—before a stoic audience totally tuned off. And the saddest part is, some brazenly challenged comments on their work or questioned their grades. 

The last nail in the coffin was a gentle nudge from management for teachers to be careful in cracking jokes as some may get offended--through a memo. 

So a week ago, I chose not to go to the graduation rites, which I never failed to attend year after year. My presence would not have altered anything, neither would my absence. A silent exit it was.  

Coincidentally, the repairs and renovation of our 48-year-old house, which had begun in June, is finally finished.  By tomorrow, I should be relishing quiet peace. 

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven . . . A time to be silent and a time to speak; A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace."  Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7-8 (NLT)  

Locked Up for 28 Months

This post is more than two years too late. Photos popped up on my screen and all along I thought had already documented that amazing surprise. It turned out it was recorded only in my mind. 

Twenty eight months—that’s how long Filipinos in Metro Manila were incarcerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. By any standard, it was a mighty long time. 

Those times made my sons and I extremely vigilant about being infected, not so much for ourselves but for Tony who had comorbidity. Our home had to be sanitized with every turn, because according to his doctor, comorbidity is dangerous during a pandemic. 

Having pre-existing conditions made it more likely for him to experience severe outcomes from a viral infection. “A virus can affect multiple organ systems, and a compromised immune system or organ function from a comorbidity makes the body less able to fight off the infection, leading to a higher risk of complications, hospitalization, and death.” 

That was scary!  

(By God’s protective grace, Tony survived the pandemic, but he had to leave on the Lord’s scheduled day, two years later.)    

The lockdown was imposed on March 15, 2020 and lifted on July 21, 2023, a day after my 4th birthday in home confinement. 

At church after our women’s Sunday school, I was surprised with an impromptu, festive birthday song, in contrast to the quiet celebrations at home. My students (classmates, rather) handed me a makeshift birthday cake (frozen ham decorated with colorful thingamajigs borrowed from the children’s bulletin board and a birthday note) and made like a grand party. 

A little girl, who seemed to have me all figured out---including my pandemic hairdo--sent me this to cap the occasion.

 

That birthday two years ago was meant to to be celebrated. Every milestone (or every day) on earth is a time for thanksgiving.  

“O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” Psalm 144:3-4 ESV 

Year 19: Untold Colors of Grace

“Can you tell me all about the blog leavesofgrace.blogspot.com?” I asked AI. 

AI: “It has been in existence since November 24, 2006. The blog owner celebrated its 18th anniversary on November 24, 2024, stating, ‘And just like that, Leaves of Grace is 18 years old! On this same day, I posted my very first blog.’ The owner also mentions in another post that they [the politically correct pronoun AI uses for genders] haven't missed a beat since starting the page in 2006. As of November 2025, the blog has been in existence for approximately 19 years.” 

AI explained this blog’s history for me. It got all the facts right, but it could not possibly begin to know what it took me to write every single blog (total of 1976 to date). And by coincidence, the visitors’ number this November is 1.9 million. 

All my posts, in laughter or in pain, feeling broken or whole, have been about this verse, "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." John 1:16 (KJV) 

Through 19 years, untold grace has come in all colors, like leaves that vary through seasons and life stages.  I’ve written and continue to write about the seemingly mundane things that many people ignore. I’ve also written about epic events that people celebrate in a big way. 

In all, as I skim through every-three-to-four-day posts on my 19th year, I see big changes in my family, circles, clan, community, country, and the world as a whole. But what’s amazing is, the Source of it all, whose love and grace I can never write enough about, remains unchanging,   

Surround Sound

To audio enthusiasts, this term refers to a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction through the use of multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener. 

I am not into sounds. A hearing impaired senior shuts out audio from her daily repertoire. But sounds have forced their way into my ears—everyday, except Sunday, since repairs/renovations of our 48-year-old house started in June. This is my version of surround sound. 

Imagine a cacophony of different grating sounds from power tools such as drills, saws, routers, nail guns, air compressors, planers, sanders, grinders, and scrapers!

The mess does not affect me as much as the sounds do. I could always ignore, skip, jump, walk on and around heaps of mishmash. 

But the surround sounds? Well, I guess that’s why they are called such.  They besiege, encircle, assail, and hem your ears in. 

The good news is, there will be an end to it all. The contractor promised  “Before Christmas,” when grace was birthed for man and therefore celebrated. What’s two more months of surround sound?  

Acronyms: IMHO

In My Humble (and Honest) Opinion, acronyms do not speed up communication among those who do not understand them. On the contrary, they hinder communication by causing confusion and excluding people unfamiliar with the terms. Their overall effect is a mixed bag.  

Before you think I am ranting, let me explain where I am coming from.

One, in our family business, a Medical Transcription Training School, it is a strict rule that the letters in an acronym need to be spelled out. Medical transcriptions are documents to be read by various sectors in society and therefore, they should be crystal clear, leaving no doubt in the reader’s mind about their meaning. 

Two, I worked for two decades in an adveretising agency. Clarity of message was our core goal,  In 30 seconds or less, the audience must know what exactly were we selling in concrete words. 

Three, as an author, I need to spell out the big idea creatively but clearly. Acronyms have to be explained, especially because there is a wave of internet-born acronyms—created by Gen Z’s (born 1997–2012)—like OTOH, GOAT, OTW, IICYMI, etc.These are a form of "in-group" communication that help sustain online communities, indicating a shared culture and identity. 

In sum, clarity is key in communication. 

People like me and my senior friends, who are technologically challenged and therefore not part of a specific subculture or online community, do not understand the acronyms, causing barriers in professional or inter-generational conversations.

While acronyms save time for the person typing, they require the reader to invest extra mental energy to decipher the meaning. Goodbye clarity.  

Again, IMHO, to ensure that acronyms help rather than hinder communication, context and audience are crucial. To those using acronyms, if I may, please make sure your reader is familiar with them, or use them sparingly. 

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:6 NIV 

Have You been to Paradise?

I have—a few times—in the company of BFFs. This paradise is in the middle of nowhere, somewhere out there.  But it’s close enough to everywhere. 

It’s aptly called Paradiso, the Italian word for paradise or heaven, originating from ancient Greek that means a place of great beauty, peace, and joy. 

It is owned by a former colleague, who, after we parted ways, went on to head more organizations and made them grow. Yes, he has a green thumb—skill in making anything he lays his hands on to flourish. 

We fondly call him BoyP. He has recently decided to leave the rat race and concentrate on his bonsai hobby in a place he set up just for this purpose. And what a hobby it is! 

His exquisite bonsai collection is strewn all over Paradiso, on which sits a huge manor, a swimming pool, a life-size cauldron, plus all other amenities one can find in plush resorts, except that this paradise is warmer, more personal, and allows for intimate fellowships with friends now separated by time and space.  

Our most recent trip to Paradiso was another grace-filled day. It was organized by another former colleague, Bing, who had wanted long-time, scattered friends to re-connect, meet again, bond again, catch up, and reminisce about those precious ancient days, even if it was just for a few hours. 

Paradiso, a place of great beauty, peace, and joy, more than lived up to its name all over again.  

 

A Small-Large Family

Ours is a very small family: Three sons. 

Only son #2 is married and added two to our small number: a daughter-in-love and one grandson. But they live abroad. Now with Tony no longer in the count, our unit has become even smaller. 

To celebrate a milestone, son#2 and his family never fail to send us party food. This year, on son #3’s birthday, all three of us (son#1 and son#3) shared the yum. That is now our new version of celebration, which has nothing to do with numbers.  Special days are blessings from above and so we thank the giver of grace who keeps us grounded.  

Ours is a very large family: A church-full of fellow believers, with whom we share our Sundays and other days of the week to pray and study the Word. There, I have dozens and dozens of nieces and nephews, rooms full of grandkids, who "mano" every time they see me. 

On son #3’s birthday, he was greeted by about 300+ of all church mates—of all ages. What a celebration it was! 

He was gifted with a cake, while the crowd sang the birthday song before he blew the candles. Then they flooded him with words of joy, tributes they are called.  I was asked by our pastor to say my piece before he led the prayer for my youngest son, now the chairman of the church board, but who was not even an idea when my family became a member of this faithful church—now celebrating its 50th year.  

All of these are recorded on videos and in my heart and mind (for as long as the Lord allows it to hold them). 

For now, I have these two photos to keep and treasure. 

A small-large family is more than enough reason to keep celebrating life.  

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."  Psalm 16:11 ESV 

Spot and Stop a Bully

Bullying as a form of childhood aggression is as old as the hills. However, with technology (the Net, social media, and smartphones), it has birthed a new, 24/7, fiercer version: 

Cyberbullying. Its reach and anonymity have increased in alarming numbers.  

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (US), every five (19.2%) students report being bullied. 

If you think that number is huge, let’s look at the Philippines’.  Over 40% of learners aged 13-17 report being bullied in a year.  An OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) research found that twice as many students in the Philippines were bullied compared to the global average. 

In its 2022 report, 43% of girls and 53% of boys experienced bullying. Schools in Manila saw a 10% increase in bullying during the 2024/2025 academic year. 

The encouraging news is that the government (PNP, DSWD. DILG) and NGOs (Save the Children Philippines) have implemented programs in addressing the problem. Our very own Barangay has been conducting lectures among educators and parents on how to spot and stop bullies.   

One of the main reasons, as found in research, why kids bully is difficult home life (dysfunctional family environments, parental neglect, or exposure to conflict at home.)  

To believers in Biblical principles, God’s Words serve as core values in building a happy home—parents modeling Christ-like character for the children. 

That’s why in the “Happy Home” series, “Bully versus Bully” (published by Hiyas of OMFLit and illustrated by Leo Kempis Ang), a happy home life is demonstrated to help prevent bullying. 

Told in simple and lighthearted language, the book is about a happy and supportive home environment. By grace, it will help lower the risk of children becoming involved in bullying as perpetrators. 

 

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Proverbs 24:3-4