Devotion

A Jesuit priest in the Catholic Express gave another view on devotion. It is not so much ours as it is the Lord's for us.

Mediation sees the total picture, too- both sides and the fair side.

Selfie Spots

CNN PH Trippies' hosts Jessica Zafra and Pepe Diokno had this tip re tourism from South Korea. Nothing is left to chance. There is an organized effort. Example is a viewdeck with  arrows including one pointing to the South Pole! Beside it is a sign indicating WiFi.

Mediation is likewise concerted.

Take That

Watching the Kardashians is like practicing the Desiderata. One episode had Khloe making their only brother Robert experience menstrual pain from a simulation machine.

Abusive husbands, beware!

Warmbier

He was the American student caught and tortured in North Korea, and returned to US almost cold.

This was serious mediation gone wrong. A Tom Hanks starrer depicted a successful one involving another American student in East Germany during the Cold War.

Esther

She became the second queen of King Ahasuerus in the Bible's Old Testament.  What happened to the first? Queen Vashti who "refused to come at the king's command," and appear before his guests, thus also setting a bad example, was dethroned.

Even then, social pressure had a lot to do with break-ups.

    

Moves

The military telegraphed its ban on bombing mosques in Marawi.  Won't they became places of refuge for the Mautes?

Mediation is not warfare. Each side precisely reveals its plan to the other. Only way for it to succeed.

Jeff Wise

Not a fairy tale character but a real Science Journalist of HISTORY. In one feature of Engineering Disasters, he broached the idea that trains run without human hands. Divine would be best but Mr.Wise suggested the alternative, something like an auto-engineer.

But even those have to be programmed by human minds. Mediation is like that. Instead of the usual route of litigation, conflict resolution can pass the creative path of compromise.

Kind

In the cable movie Swallows and Amazons, a child described an elder as very kind. Yeah, someone retorted, the wrong kind.

Compromise agreements have to be likewise clear and not subject to misinterpretation.

ADD WIFI

DOTR taketh away internet usage on EDSA while DICT giveth it in MRT stations to stave off a revolution of the commuters.

What gives? Is there an invisible boundary between the road and the station? It's like two disputants canceling each other's gain.

In-dependence, non-celebration

It was meaningful that DU30 did just that last June12 as for once, he was true. Leaning on China and Russia, while spurning EU and US aid, then taking a U-turn on the latter, capped by US providing technical aid in Marawi. No wonder, he was tired and ashamed!

Mediation is the empowering route for disputants.

Budget

CNN's Richard Quest's apt search for such airlines came up with Southwest that practices self-tagging of luggage.

Mediation is the self-service in the judicial system.

Maute or Martial Law

DU30 gives Filipinos the choice.

In any case, there is always the third and right choice.

Ex-perience

The DOT ad to Experience PH was canned, after the McCann product seemed to have been made in South Africa.

In mediation, after the bad experience comes the good.

Spicer

Is he still the US President's Spokesperson? He surely was lacking taste and hearing!

That is why mediators do not speak for the disputants but gives them the voice in modulation.

No Chicken

This irate diner customer of such a sandwich surely was.

If only victims of delayed justice, decisions and hearings exhibited a little of such impatience.

Hanging Hang-ups

Aside from "Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren wrote "Celebrate Recovery."  There, he traces addiction from hurts, hang-ups to habits.

Sometimes, mediation follows the same pattern, hopefully leading to good habits instead.   

Brillante

He directed the first SONA of Duterte. Is he still at it, creating the plots that have been thickening each day? One storyline involved the attack on business. First targets were the media companies ABS-CBN and Inquirer. Then, there was a mall scare that was spread. Next, the supposedly free tickets from PAL, capped by the lifting of Resorts World's license.

Trace their owners. Brilliant!

Just Now

Accompanying his mom on her delayed entrance to the White House,Trump son's T-shirt read "The Espert." Could it have been a gift from his dad?

 Trump could be impeached on Twitter.

Dead deadlines

Duterte's self-imposed deadlines were effective in winning votes.  Not so in actual implementation.

Mediation does not rush through the issues, but rather thought of.  At least, there is the position of no postponements as in litigation. A better judicial world, really in deed!

Cannine for Kids

Not just for house pet but also hospital therapist and even cancer detector!  CNN featured Casper in Alabama making the rounds among confined children to cheer them up. Another specialist dog can sniff which among urine samples has the volatile cancer chemical scent.

Doggone humane traits surely must rub off on humans.

Big Brother China

Do you realize it also contains the name Cain? To our Able fishermen!

Hopefully, the angel of death won't be far behind.

Dangerous

Name the concert as such and it becomes so. Like a hyperactive boy called RAF RAF.

Don't we sometimes bring conflict upon ourselves?

Scareborough Shoal

China has allowed us to fish but did not promise to allow the fishermen to bring home their catch!

That's what happens when our President is so fond of bowing like a grade school speaker. He gets the shorter end of the fish.

ANT

Advanced Notice of Terrorism, also like those insects who sniff each other for information while going about their way. According to one female Marawi evacuee, they were being told to leave at least two days prior to the attack. Perhaps after the Dasia (Davao security) van owned by a recent sports consultant appointee, started rolling on its road trip to terror. Coincidentally, our jury group c/o our DILG member  was asked to sponsor a dinner meeting with some 15 Lanao Duterte- uniformed citizens in Manila mid-May (thank Allah,  only in Mcdo) before their tour of Malacanan, Pampanga with Arroyo and SBMA with Dino. And some of them are still around here.

We rest our case.

Mautak

Our Armed Forces failed its intelligence test.

Defeated by Mautek instead, despite billions of budget. Today, maraming pera in Marawi. Hmmmmmm 

Were they thinking?

More apt question to raise vs. the ADD Act or misdeed? More than rosaries, billboards screaming for attention of drivers along Edsa should have been addressed, netizens observed.

To LTFRB credit, they admitted shortsightedness. Mediation avoids those hiccups and knee jerk reactions.

Keeping up with Technology

The drug trade is not left behind. They do e-business now. Contract delivery service as you and me. Use online casino chips! Was the Resorts World gunman their foot soldier?

Mediation is similarly the justice system's creative innovation.

Heydarian

He's a university professor and GMA News TV resident commentator. After the ASEAN gathering, he spoke of the third option on the South China Sea.  Like Vietnam and Japan, we can dialogue with opponents while still Holding Our Ground.

That's win-win, taking into consideration non-negotiables, the least we would give up.

Beast Mode

That was Baron Geisler before. Now on peace mode, hopefully for good! He was featured in CNN's Real Talk.

Disputants likewise trust each other's goodwill in following through their Compromise Agreement.

Taxing

This season is, and not only peace-wise. Duterte whammy has also inflicted the scourge of additional taxes while depriving these same sufferers of EU aid.

What gives? Or doesn't!