My New Daily

As opposed to The Graveyard Shift (my other blogsite), Diurnal is a chronicle of important daily events that shape my life, my country and the world. Literally, the word diurnal borrows its origins from the greek word diurna which means dia or day. This diurnal will record not only moments of great significance but of the mundane things that few people give time to. I honestly believe that the size of things is not so important compared to the impact that they bring to the particular event.

One example is obedience to traffic rules. This is the simplest of the laws of the land. If one cannot follow a simple sign of the "red, yellow and green lights" on the road, then I would not be expecting someone to be filing his correct income tax returns. Obedience to traffic rules is one great free advertisement with which we can show our foreign visitors that the Philippines is one great place to visit or stay. It would only take one malingering pedestrian crossing EDSA outside the pedestrian lane to ruin a P1M advertisement of the Department of Tourism.

Just this morning, I had this chance to read a small book by a not so popular Filipino author. He's not the one whom you can see frequently on TV or hear his voice over the radio but he managed to have no less than President Cory Aquino to write the foreword of his little book. The name of the author is Alexander L. Lacson and his book enumerates 12 little things that every Filipino can do to help our country. And on top of his list is obedience to traffic rules. I agree with him 100%.

Let us be proud and honor the achievements of our fellow Filipinos. I would not speak of Manny Pacquiao because his deeds have been exalted to the 7th heaven by his friends and enemies alike. I know of a Filipino whose contribution to science is so profound she won the 2002 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the first Asian teacher to win the Intel Excellence in Teaching Award. Her name is Dr. Josette Biyo. For her feat, a newly discovered asteroid (or planet) was named after her - 13241 Biyo.

The great things that we achieve is the sum of the little things that we do daily.