BASIC NEED

(FROM THE EDITOR, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN SENSE&STYLE, WOMAN, MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AUG2008)

Among the Chinese around the world, the seventh month of the lunar calendar (lunar July in our calendar this year is between the seventh of August to the sixth of September) is regarded as the ghost month, dedicated mostly to ancestral worship. During this period, “when deceased ancestors emerge from the lower realms to visit the living,” important events like weddings, inaugurations, and construction are avoided at all costs.

BLURB
I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex—Oscar Wilde

For us in the media, August, like the latter part of July, is a time to take a breather from our media circus, which will promptly resume in September and, I expect based on experience, will not slow down until around July next year. But this month, at least, we need not run around like headless chickens with brunches and lunches, high-teas and cocktails, dinners and nightouts to tick off our daily schedule. Because thankfully the economy never comes to a standstill, there is, of course, always the occasional invitation or two that you cannot turn down even in this slow month.

I’d like to think that ancient Chinese wisdom has been validated that in August, even among us pragmatists, hardly any brand launches a new product and many designers are away on holiday. Whatever the reason, August’s gift to us is the luxury of time, which this magazine in your hands encourages you to spend wisely, taking stock of what is truly essential in your life.

Under the theme, “Back to Basics,” this special, collectible edition trains the spotlight on the key ingredients of a life well and wisely lived. Of course, there’s no denying that there is pleasure in our excesses, but without the fundamentals, we find ourselves empty when all the things we don’t need are no longer there to close up the hole. So this month, we focus on what is vital to our existence.

Health, for instance, demands constant, unfailing attention, as exemplified by nurse Jenny Yoro (“Order of the White Caps,”), whose profession is a vocation rather than a practical career choice.

Although it remains a luxury for too many of our brethren, education is also non-negotiable in the pursuit of a meaningful life. Here we salute young teachers like Mia Villavicencio (“To Ma’am, With Love,”), who make it as much fun to teach as it is to learn from generations-in-training.

No longer confined to the laboratory, science or the awareness of it among us laymen is now integral to day-to-day living. Scientist Rochie Cuevas (“The Cereal Scientist,”) is dedicating many of her young years to the study of rice, the most basic of Asia’s basic diet. Who knows her cereal chemistry project might yield the solution to the rice shortage that threatens to exacerbate the problem of starvation around the world?

Incidentally, one of our fashion editorials (“Rice is Gold,”), emphasizes the value of rice and the need for a consolidated effort to keep it a staple, therefore affordable and available, on every table in the Philippines, in the region, and other parts of the world, where billions depend on it for daily sustenance.

But back to basics, inspiration and self-realization are crucial, too. Wrapped in the arresting package of beauty and glamour, not to mention height, our cover girl, New York-based Ford supermodel Charo Ronquillo (“Model Behavior,”), calls attention to these basic ingredients of the life worth living. Within her recipe for success is yet another recipe that combines in equal measure hard work, humility, a sense of gratitude, and the desire and energy to keep dreaming.

Love of others, especially in this day and age of economic turbulence and environmental disaster, is doubtless a fundamental virtue. In preparation for this issue, my staff and I, upon the prodding of associate editor Hector Reyes, threw an afternoon party for the children of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) in Quezon City (“Happy Days,”). Partnering with Diether Ocampo’s K.I.D.S. Foundation and seeking the support of our own friends, such as the brothers Rachy and Ricky Cuna of Fiorgelato and Lynn Sunico of the Skyline Group, as well as the lovely mascots Sergeant March and Lionel at SM Storyland, we endeavored to give joy to over sixty children, along with their families, if only to give them momentary relief from the pain of broken bones and the boredom of being tied to their beds for months on end. We know there’s so much more to giving than a whole afternoon of entertainment, but I take consolation in the fact that people like Diether and his group, whose key members include the lovely lawyer Karina Tañega and the musician Mondo Castro, are constantly at the service of these children in need.

Ours was barely half a baby step to civic consciousness. I believe we derived more benefits from this excursion into sharing than the children at POC, who are sadly in need of many other basic necessities, such as new beds to serve as their entire world for extended periods of time.

Indeed, we were privileged to have spent a few hours with these children in need, if only because now we know caring for others is a basic need. Without others to care for, to worry about, to dream for, each of us will be such a small world inhabited by nobody but ourselves. I do love me but if it were just “I, me, and myself” in the universe, what’s the point of infinity?

A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com.