Tonight, my uncle and cousins encountered a taxi driver sidelining as a linguist (or is it the other way around?). His name is Vicente (just like my uncle) and he speaks several languages including English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, even Japanese. He seemed to be a smart, learned guy. I wonder which language he uses to teach his kids. Experts say that the best language for teaching is the child’s first language. I expect it would. Of course, the educational material, e.g. books, would also need to be on that first language. It’s easy to say there’s no reason why we can’t develop material for a particular language since the Japanese, Chinese, etc were able to do it. But those languages have millions of users with a huge pool of domain experts. If you are to take that concept here, you’re talking a dozen languages with a few million users each with a smaller percentage of domain experts much more those capable of developing educational material. I say instead of changing the language used at school, change the first language to the one used at school be it primary, secondary, tertiary, or beyond.
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Michelle and Jeanne came home last night. Thanks be to God. Thanks to Michelle for giving me this chance. Thanks also to my family and friends for their prayers and support. Now for the harder part, to live each day as a husband and father as God intends it.
It was uncanny, the similarity to my situation. You could change the names and certain details and it would be like it is about Michelle and me. There are many things to learn from the movie. But the top three for me are:
- Change begins with us. If we must wait for others to change before we do, then we can’t answer the question: When will they change? And maybe we never will. But if we take it upon ourselves to change, we can, we can do so now.
- Love is unconditional. We should not look for reciprocation. We should not stop loving because of rejection, or perceived rejection. The love of Jesus is for everyone, he gave his life for everyone, for those who accepts Him and those who rejects Him. So must we. I love Jeanne unconditionally but I was blind to the fact that I should love Michelle the same way.
- Marriage is a covenant. During the wedding, I vowed to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love her and honor her all the days of my life. It is how God intended it to be. And by making my vow, I made a commitment to her and to God. As soon as I saw this, I put back my wedding ring on and I resolved that though I have stumbled, I will pick myself up and I will strive towards how He intends it to be.
Fireproof is highly-recommended watch for everyone. Through it, God provided me guidance. I’m sure it will do the same for others, too.
Surprisingly, it was actually way easier to watch. It was almost mainstream. But Refn’s touch is quite visible: novel camera angles, tense periods of silence and motionlessness, short and quick (but very bloody) fights. The car scenes are not stylized like in say Fast Five but they are nevertheless very kinetic and adrenaline-pumping.
Gosling is simple the driver: He’s a stunt driver and getaway driver. He also works as a mechanic at a garage. He befriended a neighbor and her kid and later became close. The neighbor’s husband returns from prison but soon got into trouble with some people that he owes money to. To help, the driver acted as a getaway driver for the husband in a heist that went awry.
As the driver puzzled out the pieces, it turned out that the heist was a setup by none other than the partner of the friend and new partner of the employer of the driver. Complicated huh? This is definitely not a no-brainer action movie. So more people got offed in the most brutal manner, until finally the driver wrapped things up by killing off the last villain and leaving everything behind.