WITNESS

by Arnold De Villa
March 1, 2012
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. An estimated 76.5 million reported having suffered some pain that lasted at least an entire day. About 25.5 million claimed that the intensity of their pain disabled them from having normal daily functions. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
February 16, 2012
…and they live happily ever after”, the common ending of fairy tale beginnings, wordswe used to hear as kids. They come as sedatives from moms who tucked us in bed. They sing the songs of movies for kids. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
February 1, 2012
Today is my due date. I have a deadline. And if I do not do the former or the latter, I might soon find myself in a “flatline”. Such is the angst of our daily ritual. We find ourselves in a quarry of mechanical “must do’s” while we begin a morning with the noise of a “should have”. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
January 1, 2012
“Oh my gosh…five more days and it will be a new year!”, an excited youth exclaims. “Really, so what is new about New Year? It is nothing else but a calendar’s novelty”, so says the cynic. “Everything will be the same. There is nothing new under the sun.” An old man whispers as he stares at his wrinkled hands. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
December 1, 2011
Getting together over anything is one of the cherished traditions of Filipinos especially during the Christmas Season and New Year’s Eve. It is that time of year when we tend to ignore the extra serving of sodium or the additional bowl of fat that adds inches to our waistline in the company of family and friends. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
December 1, 2011
My father-in-law uttered that phrase on our way to a Sunday Mass the other day. He then added that only holidays are observed. “Well, isn’t Christmas a Holiday, I asked?” Deep within, I knew what he was referring to. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
November 16, 2011
So were the last words of Steve Jobs according to Mona Simpson, his biological sister. They were words delivered in a eulogy and printed in “The New York Times”. Job’s overwhelming sense of delight and amazement, a reflection of a person immersed in innovative introspection and creative… Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
November 1, 2011
If Karl Heinrich Marx were alive, he probably would say: “See, I told you so”. He argued that the profit accrued by wealthy capitalists would eventually create an internal tension culminating in the uprising of the proletariat to create a classless society. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
October 16, 2011
First it was Wall Street, and thenWashington D.C. Chicago probably followed next. Then Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Salt Lake City followed suit, not necessarily in that order. When grass grows, they grow in a parallel time. Continue reading →

by Arnold De Villa
October 1, 2011
So claims Jessica Williams in her book “50 Facts That Should Change the World”. One day, to satiate the curious cat inside me, I strolled through the aisles of a grocery store, and converted their shelves into a library, reading the labels of the food they had on display. For more than ten years. Continue reading →