My Dreams, Life and Doubts...

Who ever said that life was easy?

Throughout the years of me living in this world, I have stumbled upon different challenges. I have faced numerous adversaries that life has to offer. I've been through some of the worse case scenarios ranging from personal to family matters. Having experienced all of these made me realized that life really isn't just something that we should take for granted. Life is fast, short and stressful; one mistake can be lethal. You can never recover the time and effort lost while living life. It is not something that we write then erase whenever it went wrong nor something we can predict. It is indeed a complicated thing that each and everyone of us should respect and give value.

Unfortunately, I never found this out sooner thus I've learned all these the hard way. I grew up being dependent on the people surrounding me; family, friends and others. Whenever things go wrong there was always someone who would try and catch my fall. Years and years I've depended on them, making me feel that everything was assured for me. Man, how wrong I was...As it turns out, there is no such thing as "forever". Things come and go for various reasons. The friends you have now won't always be there by your side. Sooner or later, your parents will finally meet their fated end. Soon you'll be left alone with having only yourself to depend on. And it is in these facts that my greatest fear resides...

I am afraid of someday losing the ones I've loved.

I am afraid of continuing my life's journey without them.

I am afraid of facing the harsh realities of life.

Alas, my optimist mask is starting to wear off. As the days continue and my age increases, more and more do these fears become reality. My parents are already nearing their limit and my friends are now beginning to grow up from their old ways. On the other hand, what have I accomplished throughout my life? At my age I should already be out there in the battlefields of life. Instead, I'm still here stuck in my childhood fantasies of being untouchable from the terrors of life. I've been slacking off for way too long. I have let my emotions and desires control me. I've been a nothing but a failure...

I am an only son and eldest in the family. Automatically, I will have the burden of carrying the pride and name of the family. I know, my parents are expecting a lot from me, even other people as well. But to be honest, I think I'm incapable of being "great". I don't think I have enough ability and will to do so. Being situated in these circumstances calls upon me to be responsible and mature. Two things I've never really been good at...

I am envious of the people who are finally making a difference in their lives. Looking back, I've given up too many opportunities to become better. My parents didn't lacked any support for me nor did every instructors I've encountered. I really am good at making excuses for my shortcomings. I always try to blame someone or something for every mistakes I make. This is indeed the story of my life...

Yet, it is always never too late for everyone who possesses faith, will and determination. Time and time, I've observed and somehow proven this. I am also thinking that it may still not be too late for me. I still have everyone I loved with me; my family, my friends and others. My age may still be worthy of aspiring for something great. My dream, to write to my heart's content for the sake of everyone may still be fulfilled

Experience is indeed the best teacher. The mistakes I made, doubts I have and fears I hate can be used for the betterment of myself. Right, I can still do this. Faith, will and determination shall be my arsenal to combat my failures.

Life maybe hard but we must all remember that this privilege will never come cheap! :-)

-Alvin Reyes, 01-30-11

“Will the environment lose out to the economy?” By: Brian Walsh

Alvin Cesar Reyes Jr.

ECON111 T/Th 2:35-4:05 PM

“Will the environment lose out to the economy?”

By: Brian Walsh

This article mainly tackled the issue whether which priority should we first select, our economy or our environment. I chose this particular article because I firmly believe that it is a question that concerns each and everyone of us. As we all know, both these things hold great significance in our lives; as specie, a society, a nation even as individuals. Economy determines our livelihood as humans, this is what determines what our wants is and needs to live. It is one of the very backbones of modern human society, without economy our lives won’t be as convenient and progressive as it is right now. But our desire to live as convenient as we can also spawns consequences to other things. We’re already aware that everything has a cost, from the very food we eat to the shelter we comfortably resides in. Every time we desire to make something for ourselves we consume resources. We cut down trees in order to build homes, butcher live stocks in order to relieve our hunger. As technology progress and as our population rises, demands for goods and other commodities increase. We take in more and more of what our planet is capable of providing, forgetting that we are not the only specie residing on this planet. Earth is a planet consisting of countless life forms, from simple living organisms to gigantic oceanic mammals. Like us humans, these said species also needs something to keep them alive in their everyday struggle to survive. The only difference is, they only take what they needed in order to live whereas we take more of what we need. The human society requires tremendous amounts of natural resources such as oil and land in order to sustain an evolving community. Our demands skyrocketed over the course of our time resulting to the dwindling resources we are now beginning to feel. Example of which is the rising price of petroleum in the market; the tremendous demand due to the growing population paved way for sellers to raise prices in order to maintain equilibrium on the supply and demand of oil. Soon other basic wants and needs could suffer the same fate if our demands rise even further.

Unknown to many, the environment plays a significant role in the progress of every economy in the world. The environment provides almost everything to keep an economy running. The environment also provides several benefits in developing an economy. Take the bees for example, bees are well known for their beneficial pollinating ability. Their ability helps in the blooming of many species of plant, which we need for countless reasons. Nowadays there are cases of bees disappearing due to many human interventions such as pollution. Pollutions are or mostly caused by factory emissions due to the manufacturing of various products we use. As I always mention, demands are constantly rising thus the emissions along with it. Just imagine if the bees were all gone because of the pollution caused by our greed. Think of the strain it may cause to economies worldwide. Artificial pollination will cost unimaginable amounts of funds in order for it to meet our demands. On the other hand bees provide us with free pollination.

Yes, we all want to experience a fruitful life to say living is worth it all. But if losing our environment, our very home will be the cost of such desire then how can we face the discriminating questions future generations might ask? Just think that if we all take everything now, what would become of tomorrow? Can we tolerate seeing our children or grandchildren suffering under the harsh scarcity of resources? Can we explain to them why there is only a few forests left and why there are several extinct animals? It is still not too late to save our environment without doing much harm to our economy. A little sacrifice and conservation is all it requires for us to do so. We can also greatly contribute by just being aware about this issue. Now I leave it up to you whether which side to take.