In union, there is strength

REGARDING HENRY

By Henrylito D. Tacio



IN UNION, THERE IS STRENGTH



History records how Alexander the Great and his army were dying of thirst after marching eleven days. Suddenly, they came upon some local farmers who were fetching skins full of water from a hidden river. Seeing the famous general choked with thirst, they offered him a helmet filled with water.

Alexander asked them to whom they were carrying the water. "To our children," one of them answered. "But your life is more important than theirs. Even if they all perish, we can raise a new generation."



Then, Alexander took the helmet into his hands and looked around to see all his soldiers eyeing the water and licking their dry lips. He did not have the courage to drink, but gave back the water untouched to the farmer who gave it to him. "If only I would drink," he explained, "the rest of the soldiers would be out of heart."



Hearing those words from their general, the soldiers rallied around him as never before and defied their fatigue and their thirst. "To follow such a leader is a privilege," they chorused.



And to Alexander, to have such kind of soldiers under his command was also an honor. In any organization or group, the leader is just one part of the equation. The other part is the players. Both parts should work together as a team. Without unity, there would be no success at all.



Just like our body. If the leader is the brain, the rest of the body – heart, eyes, hands, feet, stomach, and others -- should also work. If one part is not functioning well, all other parts are affected.



That's what Andrew Carnegie calls as teamwork. "Teamwork," he explains, "is the ability to work together toward a common vision. (It is) the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."



Take the case of the dynamics of the performance of a symphony orchestra, according to Manny Villar. "Under the baton of a conductor, the orchestra comes to life in a synchronized fluidity," the Filipino senator explains. "Each orchestra member is important. Behind their great performance are discipline and passion for perfection. And there is an abundance of team spirit in all the members of the orchestra."



"No one can whistle a symphony," H.E. Luccock states. "It takes an orchestra to play it." American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants, answered, "If I could solve all the problems myself, I would."



Edison's desire is described effectively by poet Edward Everett Hale, who wrote: "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."



"I love to hear a choir," British singer and composer Paul McCartney said. "I love the humanity... to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that."



But when there is a great challenge to be faced, the team needs more than just cooperation. The essential quality the team players ought to have is collaboration. "Cooperation is working together agreeably," explains Dr. John C. Maxwell, America's leading authority on leadership. "Collaboration is working together aggressively." That's the difference of the two.



Maxwell further expounds: "Collaborative teammates do more than just work with one another. Each person brings something to the table that adds value to the relationship and synergy to the team. The sum of truly collaborative teamwork is always greater than its parts."



(By the way, synergy, according to Stephen Covey, "is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.")



Among American entrepreneurs, Henry Ford is one of my favorites (not because we have the same name). It's because he valued his subordinates. "Coming together is a beginning," he said. "Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."



In every team, there is always a conflict. Even among members of a family, conflict is always present. "All your strength is in union, all your danger is in discord," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once reminded.



Should there be conflict among team players, the words of Max DePree should be heeded: "The key elements in the art of working together are how to deal with change, how to deal with conflict, and how to reach our potential... the needs of the team are best met when we meet the needs of individuals persons."



It is easy to find the best people to be part of a team. But can that person be a team player or, to quote the words of Dennis Kinlaw, someone "who unites others toward a shared destiny through sharing information and ideas, empowering others and developing trust."



However talented a person is if he is not part of the team, the team will not go far. As basketball phenomenon Michael Jordan puts it: "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."



"In order to have a winner," Paul Bear Bryant suggests, "the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory."



And this is perhaps what Senator Villar has in mind when he wrote: "Team spirit which should lead to team play is present when there is a shared desire to work together. There is a unifying vision. There is a unity of purpose. There is a genuine concern among its members. Nobody takes exclusive credit for group accomplishment. The credit belongs to all."

OVERCOMING DYSLEXIA

By Henrylito D. Tacio

Consider the following four dead-end kids.


One was thrown out of school when he was 12. He was noted to be terrible at mathematics, unable to focus, and had difficulty with words and speech. Another did not do very well in school getting mainly C's and D's. The third grew up being called dumb and stupid because she had a lot of problems reading. The last finally learned to read in third grade, devouring Marvel comics, whose pictures provided clues to help him untangle the words.



The four losers are, respectively, Thomas Edison, Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, and David Boies.



Over the course of his career, Edison patented 1,093 inventions. Edison believed in hard work, sometimes working twenty hours a day. He has been quoted as saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."



Despite his poor grades, Leno was determined to attend Emerson College in Boston. While told by the admissions officer that he was not a good candidate, he had his heart set on attending the University and sat outside the admission officers' office 12 hours a day 5 days a week until he was accepted into the University.



Goldberg had a lot of difficulty in school, but it was clear to her teachers and family that she was neither slow nor dumb, but had some problem that had not yet been well defined. The Oscar-winning actress of 'Ghost' was already an adult when she learned what she was suffering from.



Boies is a celebrated trial attorney in the United States. He is best known as the guy who beat Microsoft.



These four people have one thing in common, though; they are all dyslexic. So is Nobel Prize winner Baruj Benaceraft, brain surgeon Fred Epstein, singer Cher, comedian Robin Williams, Olympic gold medalist Steve Redgrave, philanthropist Nelson Rockefeller, film producer Brian Gazer, television chef Jamie Oliver, and playwright Wendy Wasserstein.



What exactly is dyslexia? Hav ingdys lexiac anmake it hardtoread! Translation: Having dyslexia can make it hard to read! Writing that looks just fine to you might look like this to someone who has dyslexia.



Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language, particularly with reading and spelling. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction.



To most dyslexics, going to school is not a pleasant experience. "I never read in school. I got really bad grades – D's and F's and C's in some classes, and A's and B's in other classes," recalls the Oscar-winning singer-actress Cher. "In the second week of the 11th grade, I just quit. When I was in school, it was really difficult. Almost everything I learned, I had to learn by listening. My report cards always said that I was not living up to my potential."





Evidence suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and/or verbal language. Dyslexia occurs at all levels of intelligence, average, above average, and highly gifted. There is also a change in judging speed and distance.



Stupid, dumb, and retard – these are the words most dyslexic kids hear from their classmates or teachers. A poll conducted in the United States showed that almost two-thirds of the people still associate learning disabilities with mental retardation. That's probably because dyslexics find it so difficult to learn through conventional methods. "It is a disability in learning," points out Boies. "It is not an intelligence disability. It doesn't mean you can't think."



He's right. Dyslexia has nothing to do with IQ. In fact, many smart, accomplished people have it, or are thought to have had it, including Sir Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, General George S. Patton, American president Woodrow Wilson, and W.B. Yeats.



Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a leading dyslexia neuroscientist at Yale University, believes the disorder can carry surprising talents along with its well-known disadvantages. "Dyslexics are overrepresented in the top ranks of people who are unusually insightful, who bring a new perspective, who think out of the box," she says.



"Being dyslexic does not make life easy, although there are one or two advantages," says well-known British swimmer Duncan Goodhew, who was called 'illiterate moron' when she was a kid attending school. "Dyslexics tend to think laterally because the creative side of the brain is more dominant than the logistical side, which is good for problem-solving."


Dyslexia comes from the Greek word which means "difficulty with words." It was first suspected in 1896, when Dr. Pringle Morgan published an article in the British Medical Journal on "A Case of Congenital Word Blindness." But the word "dyslexia" didn't become commonly used in the United States for more than five decades.


In the Philippines, it has taken even longer. This was the reason why it took several years before Jonathan knew he was suffering from dyslexia. He was like many other kids. He enjoyed playing, talking, and singing. But there's one problem about him: He didn't like writing and reading.



"When my son first started school at the age of five his writing was appalling," the mother recalled. "You could hardly read a thing he wrote. He went from being a happy child to being very unhappy, miserable, tearful, because he just couldn't understand why all those children around him could pick up this business of reading and writing."



Jonathan's teachers simply thought he was taking a little longer than the other children and that he could catch up with them later on. Unfortunately, he didn't. It wasn't until three years later that they realized Jonathan is dyslexic. Now, the 18-year-old Michael has the reading age of a 12-year-old and the spelling ability of a 10-year-old.



Experts say that a child who has dyslexia might start out doing fine in school. But gradually, it can become a struggle, especially when reading becomes an important part of schoolwork. A teacher might say that the kid is smart, but doesn't seem to be able to get the hang of reading. If a teacher or parent notices this, the best thing to do is to go to a specialist who can help figure out what's wrong.



Dyslexia can only be formally diagnosed through a comprehensive evaluation by a reading specialist or psychologist. Pediatricians often know the signs of dyslexia and can guide families to proper help. It is important to make sure that the person who evaluates your child has training and experience with dyslexia.



"A specialist in learning disabilities knows a lot about learning problems that children have - and what to do about them," says Dr. Laura Bailet. During a visit with a specialist, a child might take some tests. But the idea isn't to get a good grade; it's to spot problems. Discovering a learning disability is the first step toward getting help that will make it easier for the child to learn.



Last year, Indian director Aamir Khan made the "Taare Zameen Par" (Stars on Earth), about a dyslexic child. The film portrays the child's world, his difficulty in comprehending letters and the people around him including his parents labeling him as lazy and idiotic. One of his teachers eventually discovers that his problem is dyslexia and successfully helps him to overcome it.



"Parents, who recognize their child as a dyslexic, should find a skill the child does well and build on it, encourage it – whether it's art or athletics. That will help the child to believe in himself, the most important element in helping a dyslexic to become successful in society," says Dr. Allan R. Magie, an American doctor who specializes on children's behavior. -- ###

THE POWER OF DETERMINATION

REGARDING HENRY
By Henrylito D. Tacio


"I spent my childhood in Cebu where my father owned a chain of movie houses, including the first air-conditioned one outside Manila," bared the 81-year-old John Gokongwei, Jr. in a speech delivered before an ad congress in November last year. "I was the eldest of six children and lived in a big house in Cebu's Forbes Park."

A chauffeur drove this son of a wealthy businessman to school everyday as he went to top-notch San Carlos University. "I topped my classes and had many friends," he recalled. "I would bring them to watch movies for free at my father's movie houses."

Then everything changed when his father died suddenly of complications due to typhoid. He was only 13 and the family lost everything. Their big house, cars, and business were all taken by the banks.

"I felt angry at the world for taking away my father, and for taking away all that I enjoyed before," he admitted. "When the free movies disappeared, I also lost half my friends. On the day I had to walk two miles to school for the very first time, I cried to my mother."

His mother, a widow at 32, told him: "You should feel lucky. Some people have no shoes to walk to school. What can you do? Your father died with 10 centavos in his pocket."

The family started from scratch all over gain. "My mother sent my siblings to China where living standards were lower. She and I stayed in Cebu to work, and we sent them money regularly. My mother sold her jewelry. When that ran out, we sold roasted peanuts in the backyard of our much-smaller home."

When that wasn't enough, the young John opened a small stall in a public market ('palengke'). He chose one among several public market a few miles outside the city "because there were fewer goods available for the people there," he said. "I woke up at five o'clock every morning for the long bicycle ride to the 'palengke' with my basket of goods."

At the 'palengke' he had chosen, he set up a table about three feet by two feet in size. He laid out his various goods -- soap, candles, and thread – and kept selling until everything was bought. Why these goods? Because these were hard times and this was a poor place, so people wanted and needed the basics --- soap to keep them clean, candles to light the night, and thread to sew their clothes."

Being young, at age 15, had its advantages. "I did not tire as easily, and I moved more quickly. I was also more aggressive. After each day, I would make about 20 pesos in profit! There was enough to feed my siblings and still enough to pour back into the business. The pesos I made in the 'palengke' were the pesos that went into building the business I have today."

"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were not limitations to overcome," said Helen Keller, who was not only deaf but blind as well. "The hilltop would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse."

Some of the world's most famous personalities have limitations to conquer before they hit the big time! American basketball superstar Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. James Whistler, one of America's painters, was expelled from West Point for failing chemistry.

In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation as being irrelevant and fanciful. The young physics student who wrote the dissertation was Albert Einstein, who was disappointed but not defeated.

Sir Winston Churchill suffered financial ruin more than once while his political career was seemingly aborted on several occasions. Perhaps it was Churchill's numerous failures that led him to define success as "going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

The life of Harry S Truman, before he became the president of the United States, was full of setbacks. He and his father both suffered bankruptcy. West Point rejected his application. In fact, he experienced so many failures as a young man that he once wrote to his sweetheart, Bess, "I can't possibly lose forever." He was his party's fourth choice for senator. He was the underdog in every election he fought. He was so poor that even after he was elected senator, he was forced to use a public health dentist and to sleep occasionally in his car while on the campaign trail.

Before they became well-known authors, they have to beg publishers to print their books. Dr. Seuss's first children book, 'And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected by 27 publishers. William Kennedy had written several manuscripts, all of them turned down by numerous publishers, before his "sudden success" with his novel 'Ironweed,' which was rejected by 13 publishers before it was finally accepted for publication.

DON'T GET THROUGH LIFE FAST

REGARDING HENRY
By Henrylito D. Tacio


What do these words have one thing in common: quick, speedy, sudden, fleeting, rapid, swift, hasty, high-speed, prompt, expeditious, and immediate. They all mean the same thing.



Those words came into my mind while I was reading a story forwarded to me by a friend via e-mail. It happened I presumed in the United States but it can also happen here. Please read it slowly (at a snail's pace, so to speak) and contemplate:



A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!



He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"



The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister, please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," he pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." Now, with tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."



Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.



"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!"



Today, we live in a world that everything seems to happen in a wink of an eye. We want things to be done quickly. We want our food instant. We like our meeting to end immediately. Movies have to be short and fast. Speeches have to be prompt and also entertaining. Matthew Arnold was right when he said, "This strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims."



Perhaps the words of George Eliot should remind us all: "The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone." Robert Updegraff also recommends, "To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute."



This haste thing is a creation of man. As one Irish proverb puts it, "God made time, but man made haste." Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu echoed the same sentiment: "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." A.A. Milne agrees too: "Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday."



Saint Francis de Sales advices: "Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset."



When was the last time you talked with your loved ones? When was the last time you had a heart-to-heart talk with your children? When was the last time you hear the pleadings of your inner self? If you can't recall it now, it's because you were always busy and in a hurry?



Why in a hurry, anyway? I was reminded by the words of C.EM. Joad, who said, "It has been left to our generation to discover that you can move heaven and earth to save five minutes and then not have the faintest idea what to do with them when you have saved them."



Today, God whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us (just what happened to young executive). It's your choice to listen or not.



God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way. Read these final words very slowly and let it sink in: If God brings you to it; He will bring you through it.

DEALING WITH THE NEGATIVE SIDE

REGARDING HENRY
By Henrylito D. Tacio


"We have met the enemy and it is us." So said Pogo, the legendary
American comic strip created by Walt Kelly.

Pogo's statement came into my mind as I ponder about what is happening
to our world these days. We have forgotten the power of positive
thinking. Instead we give more emphasis on negativism. As Thich
Nhat Hanh puts it, "People deal too much with the negative, with what
is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those
things and make them bloom?"

Media has played a bigger role on this recent attitude. "Say what you
want, but I blame it on the media," wrote American television host Jay
Leno in an e-mail circulated letter. "If it bleeds, it leads; and
they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with
blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the
corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit
corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to
defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another."

Deepak Chopra agrees, "The current perception I get from the evening
news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime,
catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how
the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the
opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly."

Unfortunately, negativism brings in unhappiness. In the United
States, a recent 'Newsweek' poll found out that 67 percent of
Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69
percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of their
president, Mr. George W. Bush. In essence, two-thirds of the
citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

"What are we so unhappy about?" Jay Leno wondered. In a satirical
mode, he tried to ask some questions: "Is it that we have electricity
and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness
the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the
winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a
job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any
time, and see more food in moments? Or possibly the hundreds of clean
and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary
shelter?"

Here are more "reasons" why most Americans are unhappy these days,
according to Mr. Leno: "I guess having thousands of restaurants with
varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or
could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and
provide services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you
to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You
may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a
group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch
equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and
your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat
screen televisions, a burglar or prowler intrudes , an officer
equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you
and your family against attack or loss. How about the complete
religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of
everyone in the world?"

Don't worry; be happy, so goes a line of a song. "Avoid destructive
thinking. Improper negative thoughts sink people," Alfred A. Montapert
suggests. "A ship can sail around the world many, many times, but
just let enough water get into the ship and it will sink -- just so
with the human mind. Let enough negative thoughts or improper
thoughts get into the human mind and the person sinks just like a
ship."

Forget negativism! Hollywood actress once commented, "Dwelling on the
negative simply contributes to its power." This is the reason why
some people don't believe on the negative side. Business mogul Donald
Trump is one of them. "The worst things in history have happened when
people stop thinking for themselves, especially when they allow
themselves to be influenced by negative people," he said. "That's
what gives rise to dictators. Avoid that at all costs. Stop it first
on a personal level, and you will have contributed to world sanity as
well as your own."

This reminds me of the story related by German mystic Tauler on
himself. One day, he met a beggar and said, "God give you a good day,
my friend." The beggar said, "I thank God I've never had a bad one."
Tauler answered, "Then may God give you a happy life."

"Thank God, I am never unhappy," the beggar said. Tauler asked, "What
do you mean?"

"Well," the beggar explained, "when it is fine, I thank God. When it
rains, I thank God. When I have plenty, I thank God. When I am
hungry, I thank God. And since what God wills is what I want, how can
I say that I am unhappy when I am not?"

Tauler looked at the man in astonishment, and asked, "Who are you?"
The beggar answered, "I am a king." "And where is your kingdom,"
Tauler asked. The beggar answered quietly, "Here in my heart."

Yes, don't deal on the negative aspects of life. Perhaps you can
learn a lesson or two from Henry Kissinger. "There can't be a crisis
next week," he told reporters. "My schedule is already full."

In other words, throw those negative thoughts. You have enough of
them already.

GETTING YOUR OWN PASSPORT

REGARDING HENRY
By Henrylito D. Tacio

Of course, all of us are very familiar with identification card (ID). Before entering a school, you have to wear an ID. If someone sends you cash from abroad, you have to show two valid IDs to get the money which belongs to you in the first place. Even, when applying for a loan or something, one of the prerequisites is your ID.



Now, if you're traveling abroad, ID is not the document that you present to enter another country. It's the passport, a travel document issued by a national government that identifies the bearer as a national of the issuing country and requests that the bearer be permitted to enter and pass through other countries.



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia notes: "Passports are usually required for international travel, though this is not always the case; they serve only as an internationally-recognized means of identification of the traveler. This requirement may be waived (the terminology may vary in different countries) in individual cases or for classes of travelers."



Perhaps, one of the earliest references to passports is found in the Bible. Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes of ancient Persia, asked permission to travel to Judah. The King agreed and gave Nehemiah a letter "to the governors beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands (Nehemiah 2:7-9).



The term 'passport' most probably originates not from sea ports, but from medieval documents required to pass through the gate ("porte") of city walls. In medieval Europe, such documents could be issued to any traveler by local authorities and generally contained a list of towns and cities through which the holder was permitted to pass. This system continued in France, for example, until the 1860s.



During that time, passports were often not required for travel to seaports, which were considered open trading points, but were required to travel from them to inland cities. Early passports often, but not always, contained a physical description of the holder, with photographs being added only in the early decades of the 20th century, as photography became cheaper and more widespread.



Among Filipinos, a Philippine passport is issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Philippine diplomatic missions abroad. "The (Philippine) passport is a popular target for counterfeiters, due largely to the relatively liberal visa requirements accorded to Philippine travelers to destinations such as Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and other APEC and ASEAN countries," notes Wikipedia. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation while ASEAN means Association of Southeast Asian Nations.



Due to the counterfeiting problem, the DFA issued machine-readable passports starting September 17, 2007 with a maroon colored cover. The green colored cover non-electronic passport is still acceptable until they expire.



If you are from Manila and you have to get a passport, here's a word of caution from my journalist friend, Alan C. Robles: "You see, in this country, the method of getting a passport quickly and painlessly is a closely guarded national secret, restricted to only a few people. The instant anybody stumbles on the secret, his documents are immediately confiscated and he's ordered to fall in line at Counter 45A, without being told that Counter 45A doesn't exist."



In a satirical article he wrote for "Filipino Globe" entitled, 'Quest for Identity,' Robles wrote: "Last year, I went to get a new passport and I'm pleased to report the DFA has worked hard to keep its traditional standards of passport processing intact. Old-timers who go there will see a new generation of confused-looking people milling around, not knowing what to do next, while DFA officials periodically tell them that they don't have the right documents (the DFA's first rule of passport processing: 'You never have the right documents').



Here's the rest of story: "I was fortunate enough to have a DFA friend put me on a 'courtesy list,' which meant it only took me four and a half hours to convince them to accept my application. The highlight was stepping into a room adjoining the cafeteria, where I had to wait for my number to be called. There was one man interviewing applicant number 108. I looked at my number: 192. The six rows of benches were full of people, many of whom were staring into space; some didn't seem to be alive. I think some had spiders spinning cobwebs on their faces, but I couldn't be sure.



"The official was relieved by a young woman who decided to call applicants by simply holding up their forms. If people seated at the back didn't have the foresight to bring binoculars so they could spot their papers, the woman snorted exasperatedly and held up the next applicant's form. Perhaps, she didn't want to call out the number because she didn't want to disturb the sleeping people. This led to applicants crowding the front row, leaning forward and squinting anxiously.



"Anyway, after surviving that step (during which I was, of course, told I didn't have the right documents) I was finally cleared to pay the fee, which only involved going down an unmarked corridor, turning right, ducking into an emergency stairway, going down one level, turning right and then finding your way to the payment area. Luckily the years I'd spent going through Dungeons and Dragons mazes in college helped.



"With the new biometric passports coming into use, you can be sure that, even now, DFA officials are busy thinking of more ways to fine-tune the process ('I know what! Let's make them do the tinikling! No, the pandango sa ilaw!')."



By the way, passports usually contain the holder's photograph, signature, date of birth, nationality, and sometimes other means of individual identification. According to Wikipedia, many countries these days are in the process of developing biometric properties for their passports in order to further confirm that the person presenting the passport is the legitimate holder.

SO, YOU'RE FEELING SO TIRED?

ot alone. "Fatigue is second only to pain as the most common symptom doctors see in patients," says Dr. David S. Bell, a chronic fatigue researcher at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts.



The word "fatigue" is used in everyday life to describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work-induced burning sensation within your muscles. It can be both physical and mental. It is not the same as drowsiness, but the desire to sleep may accompany fatigue.



Fatigue can have many causes. "The most common energy eaters are usually related to a person's lifestyle," says Dr. D.W. Edington, director of the Fitness Research Center at the University of Michigan. "Poor eating habits, obesity, crash diets, lack of rest and exercise, smoking, drinking – all take heavy tolls on the body."



Stress, job pressures and depression can all build up until they simply wear you down. Even something like not drinking enough water can be a factor. Some medications, including beta blockers and antihistamines, can cause fatigue.



Sudden or persistent fatigue, despite adequate rest, may mean it's time for you to consult your doctor. Unrelenting exhaustion may be a sign of an underlying medical problem. In general, talk to your doctor if you're extremely tired or unable to regain your energy after several weeks of increased rest. Medical causes of fatigue can include:



Hypotension . The exact opposite of hypertension, it is a condition in which the blood pressure is so low that the flow of blood to the organs of the body is inadequate. "When the flow of blood is too low to deliver enough oxygen and nutrients to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and kidney," explains Dr. John Cunha, an attending physician in the emergency department of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, "the organs do not function normally and may be permanently damaged."



Low pressure alone, without symptoms or signs, usually is not unhealthy. The symptoms include lightheadedness, dizziness, and fainting. These symptoms are most prominent when you go from the lying or sitting position to the standing position.



Low blood pressure can cause strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure. It's most severe form is shock, a life-threatening condition where persistently low pressure causes organs to fail rapidly. Common causes of hypotension include a reduced volume of blood, heart disease, and medications. The cause of low blood pressure can be determined with blood tests, radiologic studies, and cardiac testing to look for arrhythmias. Treatment is determined by the cause of the low pressure.



Hypothyroidism . The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland found just below the Adam's apple. When it fails to make enough thyroid hormone to maintain the body's metabolism, the body starts slowing down. Sufferers gain weight, feel tired and can experience memory lapses – the symptoms are myriad and confusing.



Women are five times more likely to develop hypothyroidism than men. "The disease tends to manifest itself as the person ages," sys Professor Mafauzy Mohamed, consultant endocrinologist at Universiti Sains Malaysia.



Aside from fatigue, a diagnosis of hypothyroidism can be suspected in patients with cold intolerance, constipation, swelling of legs, muscle cramps, dry and flaky skin, sleep difficulties, and hair loss. A blood test is needed to confirm the diagnosis.



Properly diagnosed, hypothyroidism can be easily and completely treated with thyroid hormone replacement. On the other hand, untreated hypothyroidism can lead to an enlarged, worsening heart failure, and an accumulation of fluid around the lungs.



Sleep apnea . Cartoons have long poked fun at thunderous snoring, but experts are realizing the noise is serious. Snoring may indicate sleep apnea, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and strokes.



A collapsing airway triggers the snoring, and it can interrupt breathing for as long as a minute. "People who have sleep apnea stop breathing for 10 to 30 seconds at a time while they are sleeping," says Dr. Adrian Siew Ming Saurajen, a consultant at the Ear, Nose, Throat and Snoring Center of the Mount Elizabeth Medical Center in Singapore. These short stops in breathing can happen up to 400 times every night.



It was once thought to affect only men who smoked, drank or were obese, but post-menopausal women and children also suffer from it. Snoring is the most ubiquitous symptom. Also, daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, inability to concentrate, depression, decreased sex drive, and fatigue.



Those with mild cases are urged to stop use of alcohol and sleep medicines and quit smoking. Sleeping on the side can also help. For more severe cases, patients find relief by using a machine that forces air through the nasal passages during sleep.



Chronic fatigue syndrome . Sometimes called the "yuppie flu," chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disorder that leaves you immobile and inactive for months, even years. "It doesn't have a single cause but is a combination of viral infections, an altered immune system and other factors," says Dr. Nelson Gantz, chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of the Infectious Disease Division at the Polyclinic Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.



The early sign is a strong and noticeable fatigue that comes on suddenly and often comes and goes or never stops. You feel too tired to do normal activities or are easily exhausted with no apparent reason. The fatigue does not go away with a few good nights of sleep. Instead, it slyly steals your energy and vigor.



Although the cause of CFS is still unknown, doctors can diagnose it by ruling out other possible causes of fatigue. Aside from fatigue, other symptoms include headache, tender lymph nodes, muscle and joint aches, and inability to concentrate.



Some experts consider CFS a sleep disorder, since its victims often sleep twice as long as other people yet still feel severely fatigued. Others think it results from stress, since CFS often strikes young high achievers who lead stressful lives but otherwise are in good health. And researchers wonder why 80 percent of CFS patients are women, most of them between the ages of 25 and 45.



CFS has no cure, but eventually it runs its course and some people who have it recover fully. Others have persistent symptoms that wax and wane. -- ###