SECOND HAND SMOKE

Over five million people die from tobacco smoke-related illnesses worldwide, with 13,000 to 18,000 of these from the Philippines. this is the truth of the matter when it comes to the issue of smoking. And 20% of the casualties are the unlucky second hand smokers, or those whowho inhaled the smoke being passed on by the smokers themselves.

A lot of countries have already discouraged smoke by increasing taxes for its use, prohibiting the advertisement of cigarette products, banning smoking in public places and practically mutilating the model on cigarette packs to further discourage the user. It is quite effective in many ways to some countries in abating the use of smoke, but not in the Philippines. continued patronage of this devil is rampant and it looks like people are not minding the dangers it poses to everybody.

You can walk around the streets in the Philippines and you will see men and women puffing smokes like dragon just like anywhere and everywhere as the urge arises. You ride in public transportations and find these people smoking in their convenience at the expense of other passengers. They don't even mind the person sitting next to them cover their faces to death because of suffocation. what is worse is when you see a father carrying a baby or walking a toddler with smoke burning in his hand. It is ignorance as I say or just plain stupidity that these people still couldn't get the message that smoking is bad for everybody, smokers or non smokers alike.

There is obviously an issue in consumer education but what is more important here is the governments ability to implement rules without fear of sacrificing political and financial consequences. It is very clear that investors behind these large cigarette factories are lobbying for its continued existence in business, and they are willing to spend no matter how much the cost would be just to get across business impediments. Unluckily though for the people, their government officials are oftentimes open for sale which is why even until now you still couldn't find the logic why these dangerous products continues to proliferate in the market unhampered.

In the Philippines, One will wonder why the people still smokes when the whole world is already alarmed by the effects of using it. It cannot be denied that economic benefits of cigarettes are really helping a lot. In one local government in Metro Manila alone, in Marikina where Fortune Tobacco is, a large number of people are relying their livelihood from this company whether engaging in business or employment in the corporation. The taxes that this company is paying the government is hefty, not minding the more than 25 billion tax case lodged against Lucio Tan , the major owner of Fortune, several years ago of which I cant comment on the case whereabouts.

Government officials will have to make some choices here. Should they continue to procrastinate the implementation of smoking ban, enacting the law against smoking and sacrificing the political benefits they get out of it or just let the dangers of smoking be left unstopped while it zooms pass destructions way and just wait until it wreaks havoc big time like how typhoon Ketsana did to the whole populace. The garbage that these smokers throw on the streets is also somthing that they need to look into. One cigarette butt for one user may equal one tone of garbage for 1 million user.

The laws are there but they are not implemented. We see the no smoking sign but the people just dont mind it and the police just ignores it as well. These people just disobedient or just dumb plain and simple.

DIRTY POLITICS

In the Philippines politics is always the name of the game. People doubt the act of any elected official because they are usually branded as politicking or activity undertaken for political reasons or ends, as campaigning for votes before an election, making speeches, etc., or otherwise promoting oneself or one's policies. The people are so used with the word politics that it has already overtaken their understanding of what an elected office should be and the responsibilities in that office are.

Politics according to wikipedia.org is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

The word "Politics" comes from the Greek word πολἰς ("polis") meaning city-state. The Greek word πολίτἰκος "Politikos" describes anything concerning the state or city affairs. In Latin, this was "politicus" and in French "politique". Thus it became "politics" in Middle English (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary). The most perfect example of the Greek city-state is Athens.
It is pretty clear from the wikipedia's point of view that politics is supposedly a synergy of people working together to achieve a common objective. It is not always the case in the Philippines, politcs usually exist to achieve one's objective, influencing the other ,manipulating at worse, in roder for him to get what he wants to get. The agenda of course, has it always has been, greed and power.

Politics has become a byword in the Philippines for you to get promoted, to get a job, to do business and almost everything that you need to do work on or do with has to get pass through politicking. It may be an abused word or overused, but that how the people looks at it at this time. The sincerity or insincerity of the leader is already tainted whenever he does something because he is always understood as politicking.

It was commendable for some politicians who were all there at the height of the relief operation to help calamity victims but never attempted to take the opportunity to advertise. There are only a few of these men who are really sincere enough to serve without expecting anything in return, not even votes. But there are a lot who would sponsor a simple free clinic in there barangay, and yet their banners with their grinning photos on are even bigger than the clinic they have erected. I saw one anti rabbis program that one politician sponsored for his constituents and the usual banner displaying his picture was stupidly placed next to "ANTI RABBIS". Wouldn't you wonder why the picture of the dog was not placed there instead?

We have lost our senses about the real meaning of the word. I even heard onetime from a grade school student of St. Scholastica's Academy Marikina that she had to shell out P 1000 just to appease her classmate who are poised to "impeach" her as president of the class if she wouldn't treat them for a snack. These kids already know what impeachment means and how to do it, but they have misunderstood its purpose. That is how perverted we are when it comes to politicking. The political garbage that they see on TV wrongfully acted upon by the suppose to be mature politicians appeared to be correct by the eyes of these young ones.

It is a pity really that we continue to look forward to a better Philippines but the leaders whom we rely upon doesn't have the heart to pursue the common goal of having a better Philippines. And if there is one who has the heart to help out, he will have his entire term spent working on fixing what his predecessor has destroyed. He will also have to get rid of the people surrounding him who are more likely used to the usual dirty politics of the former.

INFORMAL SETTLERS

The Philippines is back to its normal way of life now after all the storms washed everything that came along its way for the past weeks. We had a double whammy for storms for that matter, we had the Typhoon Ondoy which banished almost all of Metro Manila residents and followed by typhoon Pepeng which destroyed almost all of Northern Luzon, both had the propensity to wreak havoc to every land, home and people their stormy eyes got hooked into.

Fingers started to point to whoever it can blame after the storm. Nobody is willing to take on the blame for the more than 400 dead people drowned by the flood.

A lot of wise proposition came up all over on how to prevent the same tragedy to happen again; and all these are really good to reckon with but all are too late to apply. The damaged has already been done and no amount of repairing can be applied to make it be undone because it has already happened. The best way to cherish the experience is to learn from it.

Looking back into the wise proposals made by different sectors, there were those who proposed to shut the huge dam which the dam operators don't agree, there are those who proposed to relocate the informal settlers to free the waterways and unclogged it but may sound so impossible right now due to economic reasons. These dams are what they say contributed much of the flooding because as soon as it opens up its spillways, the underlying rivers are unable to contain the deluge which in effect floods the surrounding plain.

I would like to believe personally that unclogging the waterways may be the best as of the moment. by this we can rid of these informal settlers from being vulnerable to any dangers that these waterways will cause them. The informal settlers by the way are those people poor enough to get themselves a decent home and they just settle to occupy vacant lots and build shanties for temporary shelter.

The government is posed to spend more than 32 billion pesos in 10 years just to relocate all these people to a more humane environment. There is also the question whether these relocation sites are conducive to work. usually based on previous government projects of relocating these informal settlers, they are lead to sites where no human would dare live, no water, no lights and no livelihood; but the proponents were brandishing these as a milestone for their administration. As a result, all these settlers will just simply turn these small dwelling places to cash and go back to squatting. That is how they are, are they pitiful? for the legitimate ones, yes they are!

Avery elementary approach that I can think of in resolving the relocation issue is this. since the government will have to plan and spend hard tax money to relocate these people, then they can start acting as if they are urban planners this time for these simple ones. When a land developer works, they make a feasibility study of the project they are planning to make. Of course there is question of how many houses to be built and the number of families to accommodate, then start from there. They can survey and find out what do these people have in common, like their skills, education, gender, ages and so on and then probably the government can gather some willing investors to relocate as well and start anew in this area with these people as their customer and probably their workers as well. What I am pointing out here is practical community reconstruction.

DOUBTING THOMAS

I know we all have heard about Thomas. “Doubting Thomas;” poor ole doubting Thomas. The guy has caught grief for 2000 years and my guess is that he will catch grief for the next 2000 years – or until the Lord returns. To be honest, I feel for the guy. Our tradition has singled him out as having an inferior faith because he actually expressed his doubt in the resurrection. He made his reservations known out-loud. And because of that he has the dubious distinction of being the poster child for skepticism. But you know what is even worse for ole Thomas is that most people know what a “Doubting Thomas” is even if they have never heard this biblical story. His name is simply synonymous with doubt. All you have to do is pick up a Webster’s Dictionary and there it is. Actually, it is in two places: under “d” for doubt and under “t” for Thomas. According to Webster the definition for a “doubting Thomas” is a habitually doubtful person. Habitually?! Goodness, we don’t know a whole lot about Thomas, but the only time – the only time – we see his doubtful side is in this story. So, I think ’habitually’ might be overstating the case just a little bit.

But in any case, we still are left with a man who appears to have a crack in his wall of faith through which a little doubt is oozing out. And can you really blame him? What he is asked to accept is fantastic. And keep in mind he is hearing about the resurrection second hand. The other disciples had the advantage of seeing Jesus in person a few days prior. So, for Thomas, not having had the encounter with the risen Lord, this tale being spun by the delirious disciples is a bit unbelievable. Even for us who have the benefit of knowing the end of the story, this seems unreal. I mean it is not every day that we hear about folks rising from the dead. In fact, I think I would go out on a limb and say that it is a fairly rare event.

So, Thomas, having heard the news that the disciples saw Jesus alive, was understandable skeptical. Put yourself in Thomas’ shoes for a minute. Just like Thomas, pretend that you have never heard the story of Jesus’ resurrection. And one day, after having attended a funeral for a friend, someone comes up to you and says excitedly, “You’ll never guess who I saw at Winn Dixie today. She looks great! Heck, to look at her, you’d never guess that she died last week.”

Think how you would react to that. I think my first concern would be for this person’s emotional well-being. My second thought would be that whoever my friend saw must obviously bear a striking resemblance to my deceased friend. The idea that someone would be walking around after having died the previous week is so far beyond the realm of possibility that I wouldn’t even entertain the thought of it. And my guess is that not many of you would either. And yet, we somehow expect Thomas to accept this news in a matter-of-fact way; like this was no surprise at all.

Poor ole Thomas has the become the scapegoat for the church which sometimes says that doubt is wrong; or that it is somehow less than faithful to need a sign, or a touch, or a vision, or a personal encounter. We get the impression that we are not allowed to ask the hard questions without being labeled a cynic, or a skeptic, or a liberal. Since when are questions bad? Since when is it wrong to admit that we don’t understand everything? Since when is it wrong to ask God to clarify something? Read the account of Job, or the Psalms. Both are filled with uncertainties, complaints, and questions of God. Even Jesus while hanging on the cross cried out to God, “Eli, Eli, Lema Sebacchtini – My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Thomas is just one in a long line of faithful people who have raised their voices to ask the hard yet faithful questions.

Folks, faith lies in conversation. I guess what I am saying is that faith is really what prompts the conversation. Faith is when we are willing to embrace the doubts, ask the questions, and face the answers. Faith is believing in something that is beyond our ability to comprehend it, but it is not afraid to try.

I think this story is a testimony to the difficulty of faith – how hard it is to believe. Faith takes work, because it puts us in uncomfortable places and begs us to ask tough questions. I also think this story validates our need for God’s touch. It says that it is okay for us to ask questions of God and… to wish for a personal encounter. There is nothing cut-and-dried about the Christian faith. It cannot be reduced to a set of rules, where everything fits, where everything makes sense, where all we have to do is to connect the dots. That is the kind of thing the Pharisees tried to do. They tried to explain everything in a formula; to make all of life so that it could be answered by a set of rules. And if it didn’t fit within that set of rules they rejected it as heresy or blasphemy. And consequently, their hearts were closed to the renewing of Christ simply because he didn’t meet the criteria. Their unwillingness to look "outside the box" blinded thems to the miracle of Jesus Christ who stood in their presence.

God comes in places where we sometimes least expect it, showing us that “possibility” has nothing to do with our being able to explain it. Sometimes our faith asks us to look outside the box; to color outside the lines and to believe some things that the rest of the world says are ridiculous. Or... our faith may ask us to do things that the rest of the world says are folly.

But, like Thomas, faith begins with an encounter. It has to begin with an encounter, because without it we are unable to believe. Without an encounter with God, the resurrection seems as silly as seeing Elvis in the grocery store buying peanuts. It is ridiculous. But an encounter with the risen Christ changes all of that. Suddenly, the absurd becomes a new reality, and rules which once governed our believing - and our dis-believing - are blurred. And even the lines between life and death, which once seemed so absolute, are crossed.

Make no mistake about it this is a story of doubt, but it is also a story of God’s ability to change that doubt into faith – not erase the doubt, but overcome it with an irresistible encounter with the impossible. Faith is that crazy thing that allows us to believe when everything else says, “impossible.” This story is important because when we can see the possible through our own cloudy, disbelieving eyes, we suddenly can see an entire world of possibility far beyond what skepticism would allow. God has overcome the grave, and now God even overcomes those things that lead to our death – things like disbelief, fear, hatred, and narrowness.

And even though this is a story of doubt, it is the miracle of faith that we are ultimately left with. Minds are opened, hearts swell with the words, “My Lord and my God!” All because of a personal touch and a vision of our Lord. Without it, we just continue to wallow around in our own doubt, or remain a hostage by the world’s rules that cling to the impossibilities.

I began this sermon by sticking up for poor ole Thomas. And I think his reputation needs a little polishing. He really wasn’t such a bad guy. In fact, he was no different from the other disciples; he was just a week late! The other disciples also needed a personal encounter with the risen Jesus JUST AS MUCH AS THOMAS DID. Read the story again. I think you will see that all of them reacted with fear and disbelief at first.

Faith and understanding began only after Jesus made himself known personally to each of them. And isn’t it exactly the same for us. We remain solidly in our own skepticism until the Lord breaks through the locked doors of our hearts. The miraculous news in all of this is that God searches and finds us even when we don’t want to be found. Even when we lock ourselves away from the world; even when we try to keep out the good news, Jesus breaks through that door.

The stone door that barred the tomb couldn’t restrain him. He had conquered death and he was going to make it known to his friends and to the world. And no flimsy wooden door could stop him from coming into the disciples’ room. And when they saw him they rejoiced. They cried out in faith. And for the rest of us as well, the Lord appears breathing his Spirit into our hearts literally blowing away that mountain of doubt. We all need a personal encounter with the Lord before we can declare, “my Lord and my God.” A second-hand Jesus just will never do. We need God to break into our locked hearts and to give us that encounter.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that we have all been doubting Thomas’ at some point in our lives. But it is into our doubting and searching hearts where Jesus breaks in and reveals himself to us. God knows our need for a first-hand encounter. That is why God came to us in the person of Jesus -- took on flesh so that we could see him, touch him, hear him, and be touched by him. And he died for all of us -- died on a cross, raised up for all to see. We have been given a vision of God’s sacrificial love in the person of Jesus. And we are touched by God’s Holy Spirit, who breaks through and breathes life into our faithless and doubting hearts, causing us to cry like Thomas, “my Lord and my God.”

The end of the text we read this morning declares, “these things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” After the Lord breaks into our hearts and we have declared “my Lord and my God,” there is a life that proceeds from that point. God calls us out of our locked rooms into the world. When we declare our faith we can no longer sequester ourselves in the safety of silence and detachment. We are called to show our faith for the sake of others. So, when others hear our testimony, may they not simply hear words, but may they see Jesus Christ alive in our hearts and lives. The ways we love each other; the ways we respond to those in need; the ways we are responsible with all God has entrusted to us will be visible evidence of Jesus’ presence in our lives. Others will come to faith, not by what we say, but by the way we live God’s love. Be a vision of Christ for someone today. Let’s help someone have a first-hand encounter with the living Christ in the way we open our hearts to others.