Innovation and Christmas giving

THE MANILA TIMES
Business Times p.B3
Thursday, December 22, 2005
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/dec/22/yehey/business/20051222bus12.html#

LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
Innovation and Christmas giving

I STARTED my Christmas shopping January this year and was done in September. You know, I went to bookstores (Yes, I love giving and receiving books!) and book fairs looking for books with that Christmas spirit.

My favorite gift-books this year are Lean Against the Wind by James McKarns and Form & Splendour, a coffee table book on Philippine ethnic art by Roberto Maramba.

It feels so wonderful to give. Friends, relatives, clients and colleagues are very happy to have already read the books from cover to cover. Thanks for appreciating.

There are other gifts, though, that would give me great pleasure to give, such as:

•Help a child overcome shyness
•Leave flowers in the doorsteps of a neighbor
•Have dinner with a bunch of newsboys
•Provide care to an elderly neighbor
•Sponsor more teachers to the Accelerated Learning Workshop
•Sponsor a kids’ sports team
•Teach a child to read
•Volunteer at a hospice
•Volunteer at a battered women’s shelter
•Read fairy tales to children at RCCS, Bago Bantay, Quezon City
•Conduct an essay-writing workshop for students at the Camp Aguinaldo High School
•Design a public space for Barangay 596
•Organize and lead a “Barangay 596 Cleanup Day”
•Organize a Barangay 596 New Year Media Noche street party
•Start a Barangay 596 library
•Dedicate a song to my friends over the radio
•Throw a pasta party for my friends. Yes, Cecile Muñoz, as in the past
•Give away all my unused purchases and gifts to the teachers of Tatalon Elementary School
•Plant a forest
•Pay all my bills on time
•Catch a view of Metro Manila with my mother and her friends from the balcony of the Eugenio Lopez Center, Antipolo
•Teach kids by example
•Buy a washcloth from a kid at a sidewalk stand
•Treat some kids to a roundtrip on the Megatren
•Practice tolerance
•Think of something likable about a person I dislike the most
•Take pictures of kids and oldies and give them framed copies
•Bring all the kids in my neighborhood to a fun day in Luneta
•Bring my friend, Jenny Javier, to the front row of the Madrigal Singers Concert at Philamlife Auditorium today, the 22nd
•Ignore the faults of others
•Compile all my personal recipes and give them to friends
•Give someone a second chance
•Play mahjong with my mom, Nanay Ning, and be very patient
•For my best friend, Gigie Penalosa, a week in Paris. Though we have been friends for almost a lifetime, we have never traveled together.
•For a very kind man, Bert Tato, a trip back to Vietnam and a hair dye he is not allergic to
•For my traveling friends—Susan Valencia, Berna Ronduen, Christy and Nes Mariano and Councilor Eric Rey Medina of Quezon City—a swing-around trip to Asia
•For my sons, Ronjie and Adrian, more tender loving care (I wish you give me grandchildren soon)
•For my brothers, Jing and Jess, be more tolerant of their idiosyncrasies
•For my helps, Carmen and Emma, extra five days off each either Christmas or New Year
•For my fellow service presidents at Rotary International District 3780, a major part in our “Building a Creative and Caring Learning Organizations” project
•Donate $1,000 to The Rotary Fund
•For my editor, Arnold Tenorio, 500- to 700-word articles, no more, no less. hahahahahha
•For you, dear readers, more thoughtful and creative articles about life combined with technical lessons on entrepreneurship

And for myself, I would get these gifts:
•Forgive myself for my mistakes
•Change what I can change and stop worrying about the rest
•Organize my house-cum-library
•Own the complete works of Charles Schulz
•Know when I’ve begun to repeat myself
•Forget how old I am and remember how young I am
•Spend a day alone in the church, just thinking
•Get a new laptop and remote control for my TV set
•Read more books

Moje wishes you all a blessed Christmas and merry giving. Send your wishes through moje@mydestiny.net