Entrepreneurial Management Course: For Men Only

I've always wondered why the EM course in UA&P is only for men. EM faculty would tell me that it's because men have less entrepreneurial "common" sense than women. Women, they say, are more entrepreneurial. Just take for example female public school teachers who are rumored to be selling tocino, longganisa, and insurance on the side. The wives of OFWs invest their husband's money to put up a small sari-sari store to keep them busy and to give them the impression that they are working and earning.

The examples I gave are all second hand information. After 28 years of living, I finally could say that I have witnessed or am witnessing myself this phenomenon that businesses are not innate in the male species: my brother-in-law. Due to his lack of interest in 8 to 5 jobs (a.k.a. office jobs), he ventured into professionalizing watching movies, reading T3 magazines, and making pa-cute. Afterwards, he finally dived into the world of investment and business. Mind you, he is newly-married to my much loved sister. What does a husband who never had a decent job (while my sister does all the 8 to 5 jobs she could find in New York and here) have financially? His father who is married to an executive working at the heart of the central business district. In short, nothing. That said, he dreams of putting up his dream photocopying and printing business, which according to my father requires around P2M for initial investment.

From a personal point of view, why would he want to put a printing business when apparently there is no need in the area? The offices in Laguna Technopark would surely have their own photocopying machines that they don't need to outsource their printing needs. What the people in our new-born city needs is the tingi: photocopy bio data, birth certificates, etc. Before his "business" would pick up, it would take a lot of money for marketing, and networking. Does he have the drive or diligence to do that? I don't know. So when is he going to get his return on investment? Five years? Two years if he's lucky? The only earnings they have as a couple to spend for their food, laundry, and utilities are from my sister's 8 to 5 job.

Just some common sense: for starting middle-class families, the best is still to have 8 to 5 jobs. When you have enough savings, that's the best time to start a business.

EM is indeed for men only.

Providence and Impatience

I don't know if it's really providence or impatience that my sister with her husband has finally moved back into their house after a two and a half month squat in my parents' house. First, about providence. I've been complaining about how my brother-in-law has been disrespectful to me (to think that I'm older than him by a good 2 years, and to think that men mature more slowly than women), and how he just leaves his dirty clothes and shoes in front of the common use television set. I have been complaining about how I cannot move freely inside my house (I'm still not maried) because my brother-in-law would be watching TV the whole day intermittently napping. [You must know that I don't get along with my brother-in-law.] I have been complaining about how he had quit his job, forcing my sister to work harder to earn for the both of them, and now dreaming about putting up his own business [which means shelling out money for investment].

What's your opinion? Impractical eh? So I told my friend about the situation and she said she'll pray for my intention that they leave the house and live on their own so that the husband will be forced to earn for extra money. Come last Sautrday, March 11. My brother-in-law used my internet cable without permission. I told my sister about it. She asked permission from me for her husband saying that he needed it to fix his dad's computer. Due to my impatience, I burst out complaining to my sister how irresponsible of him not to have finished fixing his dad's computer in his dad's house! I wasn't normally home on Saturday afternoons but I decided to go home that day. That irked my sister, and decided to bitterly leave the house because she felt like I was shooing them away already.

Providence. March 11 was the birthday of Don Alvaro to whom my friend prays to for my intention. Was it meant to be that they leave on his birthday? Was it also meant to be that I had become impatient and that they had to leave bitterly? I reflected and realized that perhaps, it was meant to be because they might not live in their house anymore if no one complained to them. It was perhaps already the right time for them to go. All these may be right, but there is now sibling rivalry. I texted and apologized but she does not reply. This story is unfinished, and will only be finished as soon as my sister forgives me for being impatient, and when she realizes that yes, it was already the time for them to leave.

Just Doing What I Have to Do

Just last Friday, I gave in to my pride. My colleagues were teasing another colleague about being promoted. My horns started to creep out that instant, thinking that she does not deserve to be promoted because she is like this and like that. Of course, behind all those criticisms is my conceit to think that I ought to be the one to be promoted since I am an obedient employee. Call me self-righteous! As thoughts of last Friday sink in to my head, I realized that I don't need to be promoted. I reached this realization because I remembered that I should keep my eyes on heaven and my feet on the ground by doing the things that I know I ought to do.

No matter how qualified I think I may be for a promotion, I don't have the right to demand for a position. If my superioirs do not notice my accomplishments, then so be it. They don't know me. They probably have not seen my resumé. It all boils down to my negligence and for not showing them what I can do.

Yes, that colleague of mine is indeed a very good and knowledgeable teacher. She does make good decisions. And with these, I salute her.

It's Lent Again

It's Lenten Season once again and it's the same story. I remember reacting to last year's observance and I feel like I'm having a deja vú. I went to our newly opened SM City Sta. Rosa yesterday, Ash Wednesday. For us Catholics, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten Season characterized to encourage Catholics to sacrifice in preparation of the coming of the "groom". On Ash Wednesday and on Fridays of Lent, we are asked to offer a simple sacrifice of eating only fish and other seafoods. What is difficult in following this routine every Friday in the Lenten season? I saw people eating at KFC (I doubt they ate there to order just salad) and lining up at Tokyo Tokyo (I hope they were going to order Ebi Tempura or Ika Fry). I struggled not to look at anymore restaurants because I didn't want to criticize the ignorance and stubbornness of Filipinos.

I recall one time in Church when I reminded my "pew mate" that she ate a piece of candy during mass and that she should observe the one hour Eucharistic Fast (you don't eat one hour before you receive communion to keep your system clean of any other matter to give reverence to Jesus' body and blood). She only reacted, "Ay! Uso pa ba yon?" The person reacted this way maybe because she sees people who do eat during mass and still receive communion. They learn through observance.

Most Filipinos are blind Catholics. The Catholics in the Philippines lack basic Catechism from the poor to the elite. Their basic Catholic education is only based on their observance from their own parents. Yes, we do have Religion classes in schools, but they are not reinforced at home so what the students learn do not make sense when they go home because the parents do not practice them. Very few Filipino Catholics practice their faith using their brains.

A Challenge: Would you like to lessen the blind Catholics in the Philippines by learning basic catechism?