Dear mouse,
This is the twenty first in the series of the Family Tree Project that I launched to leave basic life lessons and work ethics for my grandchildren who would never know how their grandmother, biological or adoptive lived before their birth or age of reason.
NOW:
I am not praying for myself now. I am praying for my nephew in the Philippines who is in the hospital with dengue.
I’ve watched RV starring Robin Williams as a corporate ass kisser. He didn’t tell his family that he was about to be pinkslipped by his boss. So he has to make a lot of excuses in order to finish his presentation in his lap top and sneaked out from the camping holiday of the family in lieu of Hawaiian pleasure trip to attend the meeting that would determine if he stays or not.
PAST:
I’ve been in the situation of Robin Williams many times over.The young and the adult members of the family did not even have a clue about the pressure that was killing me while I brought them out for the weekend malling and eat-out adventures.
I remained employed in my alma mater even if I was already back to my practice and doing consultancy work outside the university. It was a stable job. So I thought. With only 15 hours a week, I had a lot of spare time to moonlight outside. The thing was, I also involved some of my co-faculty that there came a time when almost all the faculty were having commitments outside. What’s the problem with that? The teaching hours may just be 15 a week but the remaining 25 hours should be used for student advisement and other faculty functions. In short tumanganga ka sa faculty room. Long hours do not spell result. Effort will.
The acting dean being a CPA himself was understanding enough that we CPAs should get involved with actual accounting practice so that we were not TEXTBOOK lecturers only. He even instructed the college secretary to make our schedules suit our commitment outside. He realized that it is difficult to lure professionals to teach during daytime since there are other opportunities which can offer more monetary compensation.
But other college deans did not see this in the same light. Their faculty members however were really in the teaching professions. Rumors circulating that it was these faculty members from the other college were responsbile for the letter addressed to the President regarding members of the faculty enjoying the moonlight without the moon. Trust me, the gravepine is usually close to the truth.
Although, this was only one of the sources of my income, I draw prestige being connected with that university. So when the dean informed us that the College was given 72 hours to explain why a list of faculty members should not be charged administratively, we decided to file a mass resignation. The entire college, even those who did not “sin”. All for one and one for all. Making decision whether it is right or not is one among available options .Not making decision is the other.
Kami pa ang tinakot eh takot na kami. hehehe. But I talked to one lady who had access to the President( a new one). I let her know that these professionals/faculty members were contributing a lot to the student body because of their resources. One faculty who owned an accounting firm, hired student trainees. Others helped in monetary forms for student activities like basketball tournaments, foundation days and other projects that need sponsorships.
So why do they teach in the university? It’s also prestige. The lawyers need some teaching experience if they target to become a judge.
The President faced a dilemma.It’s a bad reflection on his administration when he had to recruit an entire college staff within a month before the start of classes. A dean in another university expressed willingness to invite the faculty members. It was backed up by a Board resolution.
Before, it reached the media, a meeting was called. Somehow, a head should roll. The dean offered himself as the sacrificial lamb. I knew, he used that as an excuse for a gracious exit. He had been complaining that he was losing a lot as a full time dean.He just accepted the position because of the title. (this I would understand some months later).
But the President remembered our faces, especially mine. Ako raw kasi ang pinakamagada.Achecheceh. Sabi siguro sa amin lagot kayo ngayon. The bad sheep of the flock.
After the dust had settled, I checked in at the hospital. Pressure from deadline of projects and
the College reorganization. An acting dean was appointed. She was also the Vice-President for Finance.Yes a woman. Strong personality and strong connection.
As organizations try to create systems to control their employees, the employees will also create an opposite system. If employees don’t like the system, they can never be successfully implemented.
It’s just like a mouse dodging every mouse trap invented by humans.
The Ca t
when I was vacationing there, my best friend Ella’s niece was also at the hospital for more than a week for dengue. I am pretty sure your nephew’s home environment is also clean the same as Ella’s, I’m pretty confident that your nephew will get well quickly with proper medication. Eversince we boil our drinking water, but one day, my daughter visited a friend’s house and she was offered a mixed juice drink wherein the water used was not boiled. She had to be hospitalized for a week. I learned from then on to bring our own boiled water whereever we go and this incident never happened again. BEfore I came home, I asked my Auntie to buy a mosquito net just inc case, but we never had a chance to use it, there were no mosquitoes in our area, only ants since they smelled the candies in my room. One tip I got from another Pinoy is to scrub Bounce (the laundry freshener) all over your clothes, mosquitoes hate the sweet smell. My daughter told me we can’t go to the province and we have to stay in Manila bec they won’t let her donate blood for a year if we go to the province, we’ll the temptation of Boracay and Davao won. We never got sick when we were there and when we came back here, the only thing we had was to cry our heart out when we were at the airport, saying goodbye to all our extended family who made our stay very memorable.
The disease is blood borne so when the mosquito bites one with dengue and bites another one, it is already transferred to the last bitten.
kaya nagkakaroon ng epidemic.
i am praying for him to get well.