The Christmas Tree

By Ralph Niere

I have come to know of a family that is almost perfect. The parents have a stable job. The kids, although they have obvious differences, are well-grown and are good at almost everything especially at school. The family is almost perfect - almost. The only thing is, the family is not that close. They seldom talk and they seldom go out together. Their family bond is not that tight, that is why frequent misunderstandings uproot.

One of those misunderstandings happened at the third Sunday of Advent. It was almost Christmas. The family was preparing their house for this once-in-a-year celebration. The mother, who is always talkative, said, " Let us buy a new Christmas tree, since our old one is a small and worn out. A bigger tree will be better. However, I don't have the time to go to the mall." She then asked her husband if he has time to go to the mall. The father, who is very thrifty, responsible and diligent said, "Maybe I can manage to go inside the mall for a few minutes before my appointment will start tomorrow."

And indeed, the father had time to buy a new Christmas Tree. However, it was a bit small, like the old one, because he doesn't have any more time to look for another one. So, he carried it until he came to his office.

When he got home and showed the Christmas Tree to his wife, his wife, apparently shocked at the size of the Tree, not thinking what she will do, exclaimed, " Why is this as short as the old one! I said to buy a bigger Tree!" " Do you know how much burden is that tree when I carried it from that mall to my office!", the father replied in a loud, cold voice. " And do you stop to think at how much money will it cost us to buy that big Tree? You don't stop to think first, that's your problem! You always talk ill to me whenever I made a mistake. It's like I'm not part of the family! Do you want me to get out of this house!"

The mother apologized to his husband who stormed into the room. However, the husband would not talk. So, the mother unwrapped the Christmas Tree, let it stand and decorated it. She later came back to her husband and said in a soft, gentle voice that seemed impossible for her to utter, " I decorated the Tree. It is very nice now." " Do you think I will like that Tree now? That tree symbolizes how you made me feel like a servant.", the father said while walking to his son's room and slept there.

It was indeed a very sad situation. The parents were quarelling. And what's worse? It is only about a tiny Christmas Tree. Where would the spirit of Christmas wander after that dispute? Christmas is the season for giving and forgiving. If the parents would forgive each other, their Christmas will be the most beautiful Christmas ever because Christmas is all about forgiving. The gift of peace and acceptance would be the nicest gift you could give. And the Christmas Tree? It will not be a symbol of dispute but a symbol of forgiveness which is what it really symbolizes - God's forgiving heart. Shiny balls, dazzling mistletoes and large gifts wrapped with silver and gold do not make a great and grand Christmas Tree! Being a witness of how forgiveness prevails in a home makes it a one-of-a-kind Christmas Tree.

I think the parents' misunderstanding is an opportunity. An oppotunity for them to be closer. An opportunity for the almost-perfect family to tighten their bond. A chance to make their family perfect at the yuletide season. God really grants wishes, but what he gives us are not always what we ask for. If we pray for bravery, do you think God will give us bravery there and then? Or if we pray for patience, do you think God will magically make us patient? No, He gives us the opportunity to be brave or to be patient. If we pray for our families to be closer, do you think God will give us that crazy feeling all of the sudden? No, he gives us trials, problems and obstacles as opportunities to tighten the family bond - to make our families closer. Merry Christmas!
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The Beauty of Life

By Ralph Niere

(This is my reaction on the movie "La Vita e Bella" (Life is Beautiful) which was shown for our Social Studies subject.)



The peculiarity of life is the real beauty of it. The further we reminisce in life, the more we don’t understand it. The deeper we plunge into the vast, unknown abyss of life, the more mysterious it gets; the more questions we have to answer. Why do we, humans, have different races? Why are we not the same? Why do we strive to be happy? Why do we love? Life is very mysterious, isn’t it?

This mysterious quality of life is portrayed in the film, “Life is Beautiful”. The movie shows how a person strives to live, yet, he chose to die. It portrays happiness behind grief. It also shows love among the hands of death. These paradoxical ideas are clearly pictured in this film.

The movie was about a Jewish man who lived in Italy just before the holocaust happened. The man’s name was Guido. Because of his unique way of romancing, he found a wife who bore a son named Giosue. At Giosue’s birthday, Guido and his son were taken by Nazi soldiers to the concentration camps. Theodora, Guido’s wife, followed them and was also taken to the camp. In the camp, they were separated. It was also there where they experienced pain, agony and all the sufferings they have never dreamed of even in their wildest nightmares. They were forced to stay there where many things, unfortunately most of them are the worst, happened. When the war was almost over, all Jews were meant to be executed. So, Guido hid his son and went looking for his wife. While he is running and shouting looking for her, he was killed by a Nazi soldier. The story is maybe whimsical in the first part, but it is sad and lonely in the second. Or, is it?

If you would say that the second part was sad, full of grief that not a single smile was etched at everyone’s faces, well, I beg to disagree. As a matter of fact, there is a single smile left carved in his face – Guido’s smile. And, that radiant smile made some, if not all, relieved and comfortable especially his son. If you would say that Guido is a fool or a clown, I also disagree. The second half of the story was not sad, not lonely and not grievous, it is what life is. Yes! They suffered, yes, they were in pain, but one mighty force shielded them from grief, it is because of Guido, Theodora and Giosue's love. While they were struggling in every burden, they knew how much they loved each other. The mere knowledge that somebody loves you is the best shield you can get that not even death could ruin and overcome it and not even death could affect your feelings as a human.

It is always a characteristic of a human to choose to look at the negative side rather than the positive side. It is a magnet that automatically attracts our minds and hearts. We are pessimists. And, I daresay that we should not be pessimistic, we should incline to optimism, like Guido. In that way, when we look at where we are going, we can see that it is for the best, rather than for the worst. In that way, we can reach a better end.

The story ended brutally, inhumanely, no. It ended beautifully. Why? Answer these questions that follow. Did Guido choose the wrong decision? Would you choose the other choice? Was his sacrifice for nothing? Would you sacrifice yourself for something? Was the family he left unlucky because he is gone? Did death conquer love? Please try for some remorse and answer it again. You might answer the other way around.

The ending was neither brutal nor sad; it fits to the theme of the story – the beauty of life. Guido was right to choose what he chose. If he didn’t go, would her wife know what would happen? Could she stop something that she didn’t know it is coming? His sacrifice was “something”; it is needed. Life is a chess game; you need to sacrifice something, even your own life. Theodora and Giosue, therefore, are indeed very lucky. They have a husband or father who died for them because he loved them. Death did not conquer love. Love conquered death! These simple facts touched me, one way or another.

Do you understand now? If you understood, I’m afraid maybe you did not because no one really can. Life is very mysterious. Every second of it is a mystery. You may be able to unserstand pieces and parts of your life but you cannot understand its entirety. We do not even know when, where, why and who started life! And, I think this is the true beauty of life. Life maybe something, but it is also everything. Every second of it is a mystery and all we can do is not study life, not ignore life but embrace life as it is. Who knows? Maybe, we can understand it sometime.
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Dreams Are Reality

By Ralph Niere

One book that I think I could never forget is the book entitled "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. It tells about gratitude, sufferings and social mobility. The story shows how can we be grateful to those who are gentle to us and understands us. However, there may be others who are the otherway around, thus making our lives difficult. It also shows how eager are we to climb up higher on the social ladder. This book is like a mirror to what is almost forgotten nowadays. That is why I will always remember what this book told me.

The book tells a story of a boy who has "great expectations" in life. First, when he was young he wanted to get out of his noisy, chaotic home. When he was older, he fell in love with a pretty but haughty girl who is the adopted daughter of a wealthy woman, Miss Havisham, the one who hired him as her companion. From that time on, he aspired to be a gentleman, which he certainly is in the end.

After reading this book, I understood that there is nothing wrong about dreaming, especially if we have that determination to reach that dream. Once a poor, starving boy, Pip dreamed and became a successful gentleman because he wanted to be like a gentleman. What we dream, whatever our ambitions are, we can get it, we can grasp it if we know we can reach it. Therefore, dream the impossible, and make sure you have that determination to grab it, and in the end, you will get it. Aim higher! It is better to aim high and miss that to aim low an hit.
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Milestones of the Atom

By Ralph Niere

If I were to ask you, are there any similarities between a grain of sand and a blue whale, what will you answer? You cannot answer color nor texture nor parts nor size. Do you have an answer yet? My answer is that both has atoms.

An atom is the smallest particle that is present in every matter. Since sand is solid and blue whale, obviously, is also solid, both have atoms. But what is really the form of atom? Is it a cube, a sphere, a prism or no definite shape at all? Through the course of history, scientists have been studying carefully the characteristics of an atom.

It was Leucippus and Democritus that first proposed that every matter is made up tiny, indivisible particles which they called "atomos". After them, John Dalton made the atomic theory which he derived from Leucippus and Democritus' proposal. After him, J. J. Thompson discovered that a tiny atom is even made up much smaller subatomic particles. He named one of them electrons, the negatively charged particle inside the atom. His model is most popularly known as the "plum-pudding model". After Thompson, Ernest Rutherford conducted the alpha scattering experiment. In his experiment, he observed that when alpha particles hit a thin gold foil, majority of the particles passed through the foil. Some of these particles had made an angle of deflection while a few have been deflected. Through his experiment, he concluded that every atom has a nucleus in its center that when alpha particles hit these nucleus, it will bounce back. Some of the particles that did not bounce back slightly hit the side of the nucleus or did not hit it at all. Rutherford's model is also called the nuclear model.

After the discovery of the nucleus, a Danish Physicist, Neils Bohr, came up with another model of the atom. He said that an atom is made up of the nucleus and sorrounding this nucleus are circular orbits. Each orbit contains electrons. Even after Bohr, several more scientists study the characteristics of the atom.

Of all the conributions and models of the atom, I think Bohr's model fits the characteristics of the atom. It explains the experiment made by Ernest Rutherford and it shows the subatomic particle electron. It even explained a great number of facts in his time. On the other hand, I also think that man has not yet found the real face of the atom. I think man has still a long way to fully understand a tiny particle that is present in every matter.
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The Wise

By Ralph Niere
"The intellect of the wise is like glass, it admits the light of heaven and reflects it."

Each one of us can think; whether right or wrong, we can decide. As human beings, we are knowledgeable. However, some of us do not have the same knowledge as the others. Some of us know things that others do not. Some of us understand what others do not understand. Some of us agree what others disagree. All of us can think, but still, the uniqueness of every individual is there.


Inspite of all those differences, only a few are wise enough to share what they have learned. Only a few will share his knowledge so that others can enjoy it. Only a few can make others understand what he has already understood. Lastly, only a few can convince others. It is because only a few of us are wise.

These rare persons understand that genuine knowledge come from God and this knowledge is called wisdom. They got their wisdom from the words and deeds of God. Because they got it from God himself, they know that this kind knowledge must be shared, understood and convinced by their fellowmen. Wise people do not keep knowledge for themselves, they let others absorb it and live with it. They are like glass, they admit the wisdom of God and reflects this wisdom towards others who did not know and understand it, and also for those who are lost in their own knowledge.
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What We Can Do

By Ralph Niere
"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything; "I will try" has performed wonders.

Every one of us has our own capabilities and skills. These capabilities sometimes go out naturally. But, some are for us to discover. In order for us to discover those capabilities we have to go out of our comfort zone and try something new. By trying something new, we help change the situation of the people and the environment surrounding us. All of these come from our very own capabilities.

We people are afraid to show our skills and capabilities. We fear the discovery of our skills because we hate holding responsibility. If we continue to do this, what else can we do? We can do nothing. Let us stand and try something new. Only then, we can discover something new. Furthermore, after we discover something new, we can develop what we have discovered. Along with that development is the improvement of the situation of our fellowmen and our environment. If we just try, we can do wonders.

Through our skills and capabilities, we can do big things. These big things include helping those in need. We should not feel shame in helping others. Every one of us, young or old, rich or poor, needs help. No very rich person that has wealth greater than the treasures of the Earth that does not need help from a poor person. Also, no very poor person, poorer than a scavenging rat, that has nothing to do in order to help a wealthy man.
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A Junior Me

By Ralph Niere

After a very enjoying summer vacation, a new school year began. I am not anymore a sophomore but I am now a junior student in this new school year. I have never imagined that there are great differences between a sophomore and a junior. Such differences makes so many changes on my educational life.

They say that the only permanent thing on Earth is change. Well, on my first two months as a junior, I have already experienced changes. The subjects are much more complicated now. The projects on each subject becomes more difficult to do. Furthermore, new teachers are introduced. On my first two months as a junior, there were already many changes.

In spite of all those changes, some things remained the same. To all our surprise, our classmates last school year is still the same as this year! It was the very first surprise that we got from St. Mary's Academy on the new school year. Furthermore, Some of the traditions of the school are still being followed. We attended Holy Spirit Mass, first Friday Masses and the activities each month. Even though there are many changes, one very important thing remains the same. It is good to be back !
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