From the sides of the world to the Pinoy Expats/OFWs Blog Awards 2010

It’s been more than a month already since I scribbled a post for this blog. It’s not that I had nothing to write about or I had no time to do it. Shaking off a topic to write is such an understatement as my euphoric wits and spirits normally make sense of anything and everything in between – even the things not worth thinking about. The truth of the matter is, my psyche was too preoccupied with a bundle of things worth writing and again, I failed to put first things first. I did not fail to think but I failed to do.

Recently, I had thoughts of writing about my recent experiences in my new job as I went in contact with our client’s customers. They were really overwhelming that I thought I should not mind writing about it anymore for they would only cause misery in my mind. But before that, I wanted to write about the glorious and gentle victory of Manny Pacquiao in his recent bout with Margarito but I thought it’s been the talk of the town and my additional comments would only be a cliché.

The boycotting of the Philippine government to this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Award in Norway as a gesture of support to the Chinese government also caught my attention. However, I wanted to spare myself from the issue although I would not deny that I was dismayed for such decision of the Aquino administration. Whatever their reason is, the mean would never justify the end and vice versa.

With all the happenings in the world, what was very frustrating was the fact that there were lots of children who became victims of the transgressions of the adults. The recent celebration on the awareness of violence against children which hopefully opened the eyes of every waking man was a great reminder. I hope that we did not just change our profile pictures for the sake of doing it but we would also live with the essence of doing it. With that, all I hope is we could hand this world out to the next generations for them to enjoy and not to suffer. That one day, birth would still be a joy of humanity and not a pain that every newborn would have to endure.

In the brighter side of the world, beyond those happenings, I was so glad that I was invited to judge this year’s entries for the Pinoy Expats/OFWs Blog Awards wherein I had to rate each blog and pick my top ten from the nominees under the Supporters Category. This category is intended for Philippines-based bloggers who have affinity with Overseas Filipino Workers. Some of them have family members working abroad and so you know how heartwarming their stories are. As former Overseas Filipino Worker, I experienced the difficulty of working and living abroad and as I read the blog of these people who have loved ones working in the other country, I realized that there’s always another side of the story. The pain that they have been going through thinking of the sacrifices of their loved ones abroad has never been easy. With our attention directed to those Filipinos working abroad, we failed to see the even sacrifices of their loved ones left here.

It’s never been easy to rank those blogs as I had to toggle my mind from one school of thought to another. Although it placed some pressure in my part, I also had a great time reading and learning from the posts of the nominees. Eight of my top ten picks made it and some of them were adjudged as the best blog in different regions. Indeed, a very good book can be published out of the heartwarming stories I read which never failed to inspire. The winners were announced last night at the Teatrino Promenade in San Juan City, Manila.

My salute to the organizers, nominees and all the other people who did their part for such endeavor. Although I was not able to attend the awarding ceremony and rub elbows with the dedicated people behind PEBA 2010, I know the event was a huge success. Congratulations everyone!

 The full result can be found here.