*Do you have 25 pesos to spare?

I was on my way home when a boy in uniform holding a thick book in one hand approached me. “Do you have 25 pesos?” he said. “Please, I need fare to go home.” Now this boy is not the usual beggar that we see in the streets. In fact he looks decent, although he was all sweaty and he really looked as if he was afraid and lost and desperate to go home.

Being used to beggars, my initial impression of the boy is that, he’s a fake. And so I just ignored him. I did not give the 25 pesos that he was asking. So I continued to walk. And then it got me thinking, what if that boy was actually telling the truth? What if, it took all his guts to approach a stranger like me to ask fare money? What if he’s a victim of hold up and somebody took all his possessions away and he desperately just wanted to go back to his family?

Suddenly I felt pity for the boy. I wanted to help him and give him money but he was nowhere in sight anymore. At that time thoughts flooded into my mind. What if, this same situation happens to my youngest brother who’s also a student. In fact, what if this happens to me personally? And I asked myself, why did I initially ignore that boy? So I thought, maybe that is because I see children who beg for money everyday in the streets. I also figured that this scenario has become a normal setting in the Philippines.

Honestly, I do not have an idea on who’s to blame for this – the government, or the parents of these children. How about you – do you have an answer for this?

*Why Smoke?

One day as I was walking along Quezon Avenue, I saw this group of young girls in school uniforms. They were about 14 years of age. And, they were holding cigarettes. I was a bit shocked and I wondered why they were doing this. As I recall during my time, I haven’t seen girls at that age who smoke. How come this has become a practice even amongst the youngsters? What is really the reason why people start to smoke?

According to the people I’ve met who smoke, one reason why they started doing it is, out of curiosity. They want to find out for themselves what it feels like to smoke. As soon as that curiosity is satisfied, then they can either decide if it’s for them or not. Most of the time though, that one trial time is the start of a habit that’s hard to break. They may start to get curious as early as during elementary school days, especially among boys. Others start to try it out in college amidst their exams to pass, requirements to finish or celebrations to enjoy. The age when people start to smoke is actually varied and is a case to case basis.

Another reason why we see yosi people is, for a cool image. When going out on gimiks or when spending time with friends, some think of themselves as cool when they smoke, to show off to their friends that they can carry on with smoking, in style. Media plays a big role in this by indirectly promoting it through movies, ads and the likes.

Others smoke to release stress. After long hours spent at work, some must have yosi breaks, in order to have a change of setting and a fresh mind to start or continue the tasks at hand.
And just after eating, some prefer to smoke. This is done out of habit. It’s as if it is a need to smoke after a heavy meal. Just like the need to drink water or eat dessert after eating.

And so as I glanced back at those teens in school uniforms, I hope our government does something to prevent minors from smoking. We’re warned that cigarette smoking is dangerous to our health, and we all know it will eventually lead to lung cancer and other diseases. I wonder if minors are well informed about this effect on them.

*Harmful Effects Of Smoking

DepEd to teach students hazards of cigarette smoking
MANILA, Philippines -- Information about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking will be integrated into the basic education curriculum, the Department of Education (DepEd) has announced.
DepEd Order 62 tasks the department to include the environmental and economic implications of smoking in the elementary and high school curricula.
"The entry points in the existing curriculum in both levels shall be identified by the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education to ensure integration into the different subjects," the DepEd order said.
It directs the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Special Projects to monitor strict compliance with the order.
Undersecretary Teodosio Sangil Jr. said the move was in line with government policy to "inform the public about the health risks of smoking and protect the youth from being initiated to cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products."

Harmful Effects Of Smoking

Effects of Tobacco Smoke

*Smoking KILLS

*Every year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from diseases caused by smoking.

*One in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age.

*Tobacco smoke also contributes to a number of cancers.

*The mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide in each cigarette you smoke temporarily increases your heart rate and blood pressure, straining your heart and blood vessels.

*This can cause heart attacks and stroke. It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands. Some smokers end up having their limbs amputated.

*Tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney and causes cancer. A 20-a-day smoker breathes in up to a full cup (210 g) of tar in a year.

*Changing to low-tar cigarettes does not help because smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs.

*Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and body tissue of oxygen, making your whole body and especially your heart work harder. Over time, your airways swell up and let less air into your lungs.

*Smoking causes disease and is a slow way to die. The strain put on your body by smoking often causes years of suffering. Emphysema is an illness that slowly rots your lungs. People with emphysema often get bronchitis again and again, and suffer lung and heart failure.

*Lung cancer from smoking is caused by the tar in tobacco smoke. Men who smoke are ten times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers.

*Heart disease and strokes are also more common among smokers than non-smokers.

*Smoking causes fat deposits to narrow and block blood vessels which leads to heart attack.

*Smoking causes around one in five deaths from heart disease.

*In younger people, three out of four deaths from heart disease are due to smoking.

*Filipino - A Dynamic Language

Filipino has indeed evolved into a dynamic language. Well, it has always been dynamic and colorful anyway. We Pinoys take pride in being inventive. We adapt to foreign words and customize them to make our own. Spanish words has a big contribution to our vocabulary. Dialects from different regions provide us with our rich our culture has become.

*WISDOM

Music is a big part of Pinoy Culture. We usually express ouselves with the songs we listen to. Though we have an evolving music industy in the country, we can't help but think of great influencers that shape our taste of good music. One of these icons composed the following song...



WISDOM

The lips of the righteous teach many,But fools die for want of wisdom.The rich man wealth is in his city;Do you hear, do you hear, can you understa-and?!Destruction of the poor, is poverty;Destruction of the soul, is vanity.The righteous' wealth is in his Holy Pla-ace.do you hear?Those who have eyes, to see will see![ Lyrics provided by http://www.mp3lyrics.org/ ]/break/The rich man wealth is in his city;do you hear, do you believe, do you understand?!Destruction of the poor is poverty.Destruction of the soul is vanity,well hear me children!The righteous' wealth is in his Holy Pla-ace!

By: Bob Marley