How do you walk a mile in one’s shoes when that person doesn’t even have one to begin with?

Simple. You walk a mile barefoot. Or maybe, not really a mile. :)

Question: What part of our body is usually taken for granted and is one of the (if not ‘the’) most underrated when it
comes to efficiency?
Answer: Our feet.

It supports our entire weight (bones, muscles and all), takes us to places, and more.

And yet, not many people talk about it and even less people talk about how many of our brothers and sisters go through life without even one decent and functional pair of slippers, much less, shoes.

It is uncomfortable to not have shoes. But it’s more uncomfortable to have more than one pair for a single ‘purpose’ while seeing our unfortunate brethren walking barefoot in the hot sand, cracked or cold soil.

I would like to ask for a little birthday present. Join me as I go barefoot for a day on April 8, 2010 Thursday, just to feel what it’s like to tread the earth without foot protection or support.

But, more than the experience, it’s about raising awareness. And more than raising awareness, it’s about taking action in our littlest of ways by supporting organizations who have the means to carry out large-scale efforts to deliver shoes to people in remote areas — where it is most needed.

You can choose to go barefoot all day, part of the day or an hour or a few minutes. Your choice. If you can’t go barefoot on April 8 but would like to participate in another way, it would be lovely if you could spread the news to your social networks to promote the cause and the event itself.

To know more about this cause, please visit One Day Without Shoes and find out how you can help kids without shoes today. ODWS is organized by Toms.com. Learn about their “One for One” (For every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need.) mission and how it is helping children with Podoconiosis.

There is one event I have located here, happening at  the Bonifacio High Street around 3:45 – 6:00pm. If you’re within the area around that time, you might want to check it out.

Thank you for your time. And thank you for your birthday present. :)

Has it really been a year since I last wrote about International Women’s Day in 2009? It seems only yesterday.

If I have to,
I can do anything.
I am strong.
I am invincible.
I am woman.

Every year, we go through this process when we pause for a moment and think about how our lives have been touched one way or another by a woman. It may range from a simple, comforting smile to an entire life changed forever by one woman’s courage or strength or love.

Photo by *Zara

Everyday, we see them walk among us — women just being themselves, doing what they do best — serving and protecting, nurturing and loving, giving and inspiring…

Their selfless acts have become as natural to them as breathing, their show of support as ubiquitous as a tap on one’s shoulder just when you need it.

It’s an overwhelming experience — to be loved selflessly and tirelessly by someone so strong yet so fragile, so sweet yet so dangerous, so innocent yet so knowledgeable. So sensitive yet so strong.

It is precisely these very same contradictions that make women so unique. Whether it’s a mother’s touch, a friend’s embrace or a lover’s kiss — a woman’s inexplicable capacity to take in so much and give the same without losing anything in the process but instead gaining more and giving more is almost magical if not unbelievable.

The love of a woman is fierce — like a double-edged sword too dangerous for the faint of heart and too pure for the opportunistic soul.

Oftentimes, a woman’s capacity for great love is downplayed as nothing more than a dutiful fulfillment of her mission, as if everything she does must have a reason, otherwise she is but a lost soul, whose existence becomes devoid of meaning and purpose.

In truth, she needs no validation nor recognition. She seeks none of those. For to her, everything she does is a labor of love, born of her immense drive to put the other person’s happiness above her own — always. To her, that is reason enough. That is reason itself.

It’s a pity that while we claim that the world has become more tolerant and accepting of women, the exact opposite is true for most of them in many countries.

With the exception of a few Western countries, more and more women in the East suffer in silence in the face of maltreatment and abuse — most times through no fault of their own.

In stark contrast with men, society finds it hard to separate a woman’s achievements and contributions from the personal life she leads. This is probably one of — if not the biggest discrimination women face. When a male political figure commits blunders and unthinkable sins for example, the world easily downplays, forgives and forgets.

But when a woman of the same stature does the same, she is eternally doomed and haunted by past mistakes — never to fully recover from her foibles. It is as if she is not at all allowed to be human.

(Case in point: Bill Clinton vs. Sarah Palin; Tiger Woods vs. Northern Ireland’s Iris Robinson)

I’d like to think that the world, after years of struggling with feminism has changed. But the glaring truth is that it hasn’t changed a bit. It just wants us to believe it has just so we’d stop whining and complaining about it.

***

International Women’s Day is also a celebration of women achievements. And for this year, I choose to honor a great woman writer, Lualhati Bautista who embodies the strong and stubborn woman who refuses to sit down and take it. Her strength shines through in her writing and her life and works serve as an inspiration to aspiring women writers. Lualhati Bautista — all talent, all woman.

Today, as we celebrate the many ways a woman loves and the many wonderful ways we have benefited from such love, let us not forget the many forgotten women all over the world — unrecognized, abandoned and unloved.

On this day, may God touch them in the night as they fall asleep weeping, may they wake up to a more caring world the next day. May they walk without fear among the crowd. May they speak without reservations of their feelings and fears. May they find comfort in the thought that they are remembered every year.

This is for all the faceless women of the world. One day, all will be rectified. One day, they will get what’s due to them. One day soon.

Today is International Women’s Day. Remember all the wonderful women in your lives. Let them know they are appreciated. Let them know they are loved.

There are things in this life bigger than all of us– bigger than our daily personal struggles, bigger than our economic woes and even bigger than the upcoming 2010 presidential elections. My friends, it is the universal desire for the well-being and safety of our brothers and sisters around the world. Yes, that much-ridiculed and overly-used, Ms. Universe-like wish of “world peace”. Along with that is our ardent prayer that people be safe from harm.

Sometimes, in the rush and chaos of everyday existence and occupations, we forget that whatever differences, goals and priorities we have, there is one thing common to all of us — a shared appreciation to the one thread woven in all of humankind — that kind of strength to which any other strength — be it economic or military pales in comparison — it is the fortitude of the human heart — the enduring resilience of the human spirit.

Photo by lille abe

The world, as I write this watch in shock at what now appears to be a patch of hell on earth as Haiti grieves for their dead — with the death toll feared to go as high as 500,000. Millions of people are needing help, most of the survivors decided to live on the streets for fear of aftershocks. What happened to Haiti last  Tuesday, January 12, 2010 must shake us up out of complacency. If it can happen to them, it can happen to us.

There are two (2) things we share with Haiti — poverty and corruption. These two always go together — one resulting to the other, in an endless cycle of misery.

Haiti was unprepared for that 7.0 magnitude earthquake that is to come for a whole lot of reasons similar to us — corruption which resulted to structurally-flawed and unsafe buildings, poor delivery of basic services, poor disaster-preparedness and more.

We, like Haitians, are no strangers to disasters — political, economic and natural. And given our similarities with their current state, we can only cower in fear and pray earnestly that we do not suffer the same fate as theirs. most specially because compared to Haiti whose last experience with an earthquake was 200 years ago, the Philippines’ most devastating earthquake experience is still fresh in our minds some 20 years ago in 1990. We were unprepared then and I sure as hell can bet that two decades after, we remain unprepared.

My heart goes out to the people of Haiti who lost what little they have. To bear witness to such a tragedy, to be able to walk among the dead seem like a curse far worse than subsistence. While it can’t be argued that this 7.0 magnitude earthquake is a natural calamity, the number of casualties may have been limited if not totally avoided had there been early warning of an impending disaster which should have facilitated swift and orderly security of the residents. But then, maybe there’s no stopping nature. There is a reason for everything.

Whatever it is, only God knows.

If you have money to spare, please donate. No amount is so small to not make a difference, and no amount is too big for our Haitian brothers and sisters.

The easiest way to donate to Haiti online (through credit card) to the American Red Cross is through this Google checkout link on the Youtube video, right side. For the technophobes out there, don’t worry, it’s safe, tried it myself.

You can also opt to donate through the American Red Cross website or to Doctors Without Borders.

***

On Pat Robertson’s Haiti “pact with the devil” blunder

For the record, I would like to express disappointment over what longtime TV evangelist Pat Robertson of the 700 Club said on air claiming that the Haitians made a “pact with the devil” hundreds of years ago, hence the curse and the earthquake. He further claims that Haitians did this to gain their freedom from the French. I think such a statement is not characteristic of an evangelist. This statement spits at the honor of Haitians who hold the distinction as the only country in the Western Hemisphere to undergo a successful slave revolution. If there was such a “pact”, who can attest to its authenticity? Who can judge? Such a statement only adds insult to injury. It is clearly judgmental and uncalled for.