The Look

The Look
Strephon kissed me in the spring,Robin in the fall,But Colin only looked at meAnd never kissed at all.
Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,Robin's lost in play,But the kiss in Colin's eyesHaunts me night and day.
-- Sara Teasdale

Interpreting poems has always been a struggle for me. No matter how hard I try to force myself to like it, I just simply find no interest in it. But I know it doesn’t have to be like that because by simply doing it could already help me in many ways.

Honestly speaking, the poem “The Look” gave me a long time reading it over and over again. This is to be able to completely understand what it was suppose to mean. Though I am not sure if I have really completely understood the poem, this is how I interpret it anyway…

In the poem, we could see that the writer mentioned three names – Strephon, Robin and Colin. I do not really know if these names are just mere creations or these had really historical meaning or something. I just presume that these men are admirers or suitors of the writer.
The writer started the poem by telling us that Strephon and Robin kissed her in different seasons, particularly in the spring and in the fall, and that it was only Colin who did not kiss her but instead gave a look. She suddenly confesses that the kiss of Strephon was lost in jest. Meaning, it was just done in a playful joking manner. She also admitted that the kiss of Robin was lost in play. What she meant here was that it was just done for fun, not earnestly.
We could observe that even if Colin did not give her a kiss, the kiss in his eyes is the one that haunts her night and day.

What I thought about this poem is that it talks about sincerity in loving. This is what people who are in love lack. It is very easy for us to say “I love you” when we do not even mean it in the first place. It could also be very easy to show a person how we love them. We oftentimes do this by giving a person a hug or even a kiss. But the big question is, is there really sincerity in doing this?

Love could actually be expressed in many ways. It could be through the words that come out of our mouth or through the actions that we show. I could even remember a quote saying that “Works, not words, are the proof of love.” Probably, the writer associates this with “Actions speak louder than words.” True it may seem, we could express by using non-verbal communication. One type of non-verbal communication is the eye behavior. The way we look a person could actually mean something.

One of the things that I have learned during our retreat was that we could actually show love by just looking at a person. Now I know what the poem was really trying to tell. That Colin’s love was the most sincere among the others basing on how the writer said it. And that he also had respect for the lady because he did give a kiss just for the sake of giving it unlike the other guys.
We should always remember that we do not really need to do such big things just to impress a person because the person that we are trying to communicate could just get it through the way we look.

Behind my eyes.. (Required - Original Poem)

I wonder if you really see
The burden that is within me
Carrying it all this time
Can you see it all behind my eyes?

I wonder if you really know
What my eyes are trying to show
The feelings I have deep inside
Can you see it all behind my eyes?

I wonder if you really feel
The love I have for you is real
I’m afraid to show what it’s like
But can you see it all behind my eyes?

Loneliness

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Based on the book that I have read, I found out that a poem is fundamentally a thought or a feeling expressed in rhythmic and colorful language. It can actually be about anything. It can be about a plant or about a pet. It can also be about love, hatred, loyalty and other things.

Giving your own reaction to a poem is not that easy but following certain guidelines in understanding poems could be of great help just like rephrasing the poem into your own words. Ironically, given these guidelines to help me interpret the poem above did not help at all. Being asked to interpret and react to this poem is absolutely that hard. I really had no idea on how to interpret it and even rephrasing it using my own words. One of the many possible factors is its structure. Another possible factor is that the poem contains only 22 characters. To be honest, this poem is the weirdest poem I have ever read in my entire life. It takes time to analyze and think what the poem is all about and what it is trying to tell us.

If we would just observe the poem carefully, we could see the word loneliness and the phrase a leaf falls after the first L in the word loneliness.

What do we mean by loneliness? It is actually the state of being unfrequented by man; deserted; and not having others near; being apart from fellows or companions; being sad from want of companionship or sympathy; characterized by sadness, desolation, or the feeling of emptiness.

I bet a lot have been experiencing loneliness. Indeed being lonely is not a joke and is it not even something to brag about. Being lonely makes you feel sad that it could even lead you to depression. Probably, being alone is one of the saddest and darkest days a person could ever experience.

By carefully analyzing the poem, it seems that the writer is trying to associate loneliness with the falling of a leaf. Yes, it could actually be related. When a leaf falls from a tree or a plant, it seems like it is leaving the tree. The tree now is left alone or empty. Thus, making it alone or making it experience loneliness.

The writer seems to be experiencing loneliness when he or she wrote this. Through this, the writer was able to express what he or she truly feels.

Indeed, it is not easy to be alone or to experience loneliness. It is hard to have no one and just being by yourself.

“Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.”

-Paul Tillich (1886-1965)
German-born U.S. theologian and philosopher.

"Love: An Act of the Will, Not of the Heart"

As defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, love is the unselfish and benevolent concern for others. Almost everybody, if not all, know how to show love. We show this through our family, friends and lovers. But the question is, is love really an act of will or an act of the heart?

Before I give my point of view, let me give you first a definition of will and heart as well. Will is a power of controlling one’s own actions or emotions or a wish or desire after combined with determination. The heart is the whole personality, the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature.

Learning these definitions from the dictionary, it is now time to analyze if it is really an act of will or an act of the heart.

Personally, I certainly believe in the statement “Love: An Act of the Will, Not of the Heart.” What made me say so? I could often associate will with our mind. Meaning, you use your brain in loving and you really think about it. When it is your will that you use, it simply means that it is your own decision and you are definitely aware of the actions that you are making. When you love someone using your will, it therefore means that you really love the person. It is because when you use your mind, it follows that you have analyzed and already thought about the effects of loving that person. When you also love a person using your will, it means that you love that you love that person whole-heartedly regardless of who the person is. Whether the person is good or bad, you will not cease loving that person.

When you use your heart above your mind, you easily get carried away with your emotions. The decisions that you make would depend on how you feel and not with what is the right thing to do. When you use your heart without thinking about it, it could even lead in making things complicated. So if you would only depend on your feelings, what kind of future lies ahead? When you use your heart, it is possible that you could love a person today and forget your feelings when you’ll find out the negative characteristics of that person.

Love is such a dangerous thing because it can actually lead us to many things. That is why we have to be very careful in whatever actions that we take. We always have to think twice and use our brain when it comes in loving a person. We have to remember that love is an act of the will and not of the heart.

How I Want to Be Remembered After I Leave High School

How do I want to be remembered after I leave high school? Honestly, I find this question very difficult to answer. It took me some time to really think, reflect and brainstorm in searching an answer to this very big question at hand.

During the times I brainstormed, I could not help it but imagine all the proud moments and the memorable achievements I had starting from my first year at UP high. I think this is mostly the basis of many people on how they want to be remembered. This is also mostly the basis of people remembering the person. Well, some of these so-called achievements I have were winning the declamation contest when I was in first year, being declared as the Best Newscaster and Best in Advertisement Delivery in our Public Speaking class, being proclaimed as Prom Queen during the JS Prom and being awarded as Best Actress during the Dramafest.

Honestly speaking, it feels good to be able to experience having those kinds of achievements; it makes you feel proud as a person. But as I deeply think about it, I realized that it is not how I want to be remembered at all. I do not want people to remember me based on what I was able to achieve. Besides, what I’ve got right now is just like a dot in a map compared to the achievements of others. It seems like those things were just nothing. I don’t even want to be remembered as the 5’7” lady who is pretty, kind-hearted, friendly, quiet, shy, bla-bla-bla…

I don’t want to be remembered based on my physical appearance or the achievements I have got. Instead, I want to be remembered based on how I was able to affect the lives of people based on my actions. With all these things in mind, I realized that I want to be remembered as a modest lady.

What do you mean by modest in the first place? As defined in the Encarta Dictionary Tools, being modest pertains to not having or expressing a high opinion of your own achievements or abilities. It could also mean not showy, elaborate, or pretentious.

The definition is very self-explanatory right? It simply means that we should not underestimate and overestimate ourselves especially our achievements or abiitites, we have to remain humble no matter what and that we still have to stick to our principles of right and wrong.

I am not saying that I am a perfect example of a modest person. But I could proudly say that I could qualify to be one. Why? I simply base it from my self-evaluation. I do this, most of the time. This is what I do to be able to assess if my actions were proper or improper.

I believe that modest people is also what we need today. We really lack people who are modest. People who could remain humble despite how far he or she was able to reach compared to others. Many people who had great achievements really brag about what they have done. Others even brag about their abilities and never cared to share it with other people at all. Yet it is still good to know that some managed to remain humble in spite of the achievements they have got.

I hope people, just like me would also want to be remembered this way, showing to the world that it is better to estimate oneself moderately and that we could enhance our charm by not being aware of it.

House of Peanuts (Research Article)

Have you ever heard of a house made of peanuts? It sounds so impossible right? Amazingly, a study was done to make this seemingly impossible idea become possible.

One of the many industries that we have right now is the construction industry. Part of this industry is the concrete hollow block making. A concrete hollow block is primarily made up of cement, water and sand. However, sand nowadays seems to be more expensive. In fact, a sack of sand is estimated to cost Php 50.00. To solve this dilemma, a cheaper substitute of sand in concrete hollow block was thought of. This is by using peanut pod ashes which could be obtained after burning the peanut pods.

Why peanut pod ashes? It is because it was found out that peanut pod ashes consists principally of sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and silica. Based on studies, sand is mostly composed of quartz and quartz is mainly made up of silica which is responsible for the hardening of the concrete mixture. So, if peanut pod ashes contained silica, then it could possibly be a good substitute of sand in making a concrete hollow block.

Five kinds of concrete hollow blocks were made to be able to know if using peanut pod ashes as a partial sand substitute would be feasible. Each hollow block contained cement, water and different ratios of sand to peanut pod ashes. The compressive strengths for each hollow block were then acquired.

Based on the results obtained, the three different concrete hollow block samples had different compressive strengths. The other two concrete hollow block samples which had 25% sand and 75% peanut pod ashes and 0% sand and 100% peanut pod ashes were not formed. It was found out that the concrete hollow block which had 75% sand and 25% peanut pod ashes was the strongest sample having a compressive strength of 785 psi. It was actually stronger than the commercial hollow block.

Peanut pod ashes indeed may be a good substitute of sand in making concrete hollow blocks. It was found out that peanut pod ashes would occupy the spaces that sand cannot due to the sizes of its particles. However, the ratio of peanut pod ashes to sand should be controlled. The silica content of peanut pod ashes may not be that great to hold all the different particles of the mixture together.

With the help of science and technology, it is definitely possible to be seeing houses built from peanut pods.