going away

i oftentimes dreamed i was going away, but after receiving a txt msg from a friend one morning, i found myself in deep realization that no, i am not going away, and that i am now left alone.

the txt read: she has now tendered her resignation effective in one month. she will soon leave for the states (or txt to this effect).

i was speechless for a moment. why now? why her? other than her, all have now left to the other side of the pasture. and literally, yes, i am now left alone. the speechlessness was more because i am left alone than of them going away.

why are they going away? answers could vary from the simple to the complicated. now it dawned on me there must be something here that pushes them away. each one has his own reason of leaving. simple or complicated, that doesn't matter anymore. the fact is they have left, and are leaving.

so this boils down to me being left alone. shall i hold on to my dear philippines? shall i blind myself from the clamor of the greener pastures on the other side of the fence? but what if where i am now is greener than i thought? what if their stories, untold, speak of struggles in the rat race?

ambot. mauli la anay ako ha balay.

NEO Journey

i have watched the matrix trilogy, but never really had an understanding of it. except for the few days past when a video clip - part of the matrix movie - was used as a visual aid in the discussion on paradigm shift and transformational leadership during our national coaches training on the orientation course for the newly elected officials in los banos. a day after this training, i became part of the training management conducting the same thing to our provincial coaches from regions 6, 7 and 8 in cebu. this sort of echo training made me understood more the essence of that particular video clip. came the training for our field officers in our respective regions where we used again this material. the clip was all the more getting appreciated as we played it from one venue to another. now, my hands are full as most of our field offices invite me to be their resource person on this particular module on the conduct of the real orientation course. my hands are full in giving meaning to this clip, each discussion paved way for a deeper understanding of the message of that video clip.



and what is the video clip all about? and why, of all clips, this clip? first, here is a backgrounder to answer the why. we will tackle the dialogue of the clip, second.



NEO stands for newly elected officials. the term, perhaps an afterthought, refers also to the name of the main protagonist of the matrix movie. the framework of the orientation course for NEO (which the character in the movie exactly describes the general apprehension of our newly elected officials) focuses on the 4 S's (written down as 4's), and forms part of the ladder from from 2007-2010, one term for the elected officials, aptly termed as the NEO Journey. one s is one module about knowing the State of local governance. this module presents the situation of the local government unit, the jurisdiction of the NEO, i mean, officials. right after this, the discussion on knowing one self which tackles the leadership skills of the officials. the journey steps up to discuss the strategies or the future roadmap for development of the local government. and finally, (i forgot na).

(i can't finish. i will just publish this to remind me that i had once attempted to write about my insights of the work i handle... tinamad na, nakalimutan...bahala na si batman.)