Showing Compassion through Poetry and Songs: PNP-HS Concert at the Park

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For, ...I was sick, and you cared for me... "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”
Matthew 25: 34-40

Christians should, in an expression of faith in action, show compassion and spread encouragement to anyone especially those who are in dire need. For compassion and encouragement in the most desperate of times is water springing out in a barren wilderness. It floods a parched soul with overwhelming love. It drench with hope and hydrates with faith.

The Compassion Ministry of the CORPS Movement adheres to this biblical principle and in its weekly prayer and visitation to the PNP- General Hospital; the volunteers of the Movement encourage and share the gospel to the sick and in need PNP personnel.

The members pushed the envelope a little further, by conducting a mini-concert wherein they could encourage the sick and needy through songs and poetry.

PSS Renee Balagot, PSS Loida Bustamante, PS Bernard Banac and PSI Gus Ferrer in one of their prayer breakfast meeting, conceived the idea so they could further bless the sick PNP personnel as well as the officers and staff of the PNP General Hospital. They proposed it to PSSUPT Angela Vidal, Director of the PNP-Health Service, who in return approved since she saw that such event would indeed deeply touch her officers and staff. And since it was Woman’s Month, the group coincided the concert with the theme.

So last March 23, 2011 they proceeded with the “PNP-HS Concert at the Park”

The Pionso family, Ding, Abeg and Renee Dominique, showcased their virtuoso voice and dazzled the audience with renditions of Ikaw, Ugoy sa Duyan, Defying Gravity, Iingatan Ka, Hero and She under the Piano accompaniment of Mark Salazar.

But perhaps the highlight of the show was when Col. Bernie Banac and Capt. Gus Ferrer rendered poetry for the women of the PNP-HS. Col Banac rendered Nigel Mugamu’s Ode to Women to showcase the greatness of women in beauty and humanity.

My Queens

Today let me come clean

You are the reason

I still stand before you

I’ve tried so many times

but I can’t ignore you

You are my friend, my sister, my mother

You are my cousin, my neice, my lover

You are compassion, grace and humility

Love radiates fusing together to form beauty

Unified mankind from its birth

Soul provider here on earth

I fear you may not appreciate your true potential

Your soul reveals impeccable credentials

Your strength meanders through

as it begins to show

Your heart sings

and now we will all know

Multiple roles as partner,

mother and ultimate life preserver

Perfoming your duties regardless of the weather

The real chief of any home

Ensuring I am never alone

The gift of life is what you provide

Your love embraces humanity

as it continues to survive

Without you, where would I be?

A lonely existence forever stuck is misery

I know I don’t always show my appreciation

And I don’t always understand your position

I’m only a man and I don’t realise

Please forgive me, I sincerely apologise

My queens let me come clean

Your victory is near its not just a dream

For I realise now I am nothing without you

And the truth is I really do love you.

My queens

Capt. Gus Ferrer on other hand shared some witty and inspiring advice for women out of Mary Schmich’s: Advice, like youth, probably wasted.

• Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreenwould be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

• Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
• Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
• Do one thing every day that scares you.
• Sing.
• Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
• Floss.
• Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
• Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
• Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
• Stretch.
• Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
• Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
• Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
• Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
• Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
• Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
• Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
• Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
• Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
• Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
• Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
• Travel.
• Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
• Respect your elders.
• Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
• Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
• Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
• But trust me on the sunscreen.

Doc Gus ended with the best advice from the Bible for women who are also the chief “worrier” in the household.

"Therefore do not worry, saying ; What will we eat?' or 'What will we wear? For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”