You have my word that I will join next year’s team in whatever capacity they will have me.

What I, as the head organizer of PBA07, did not appreciate is that this minor and unintentional mistake be made into a huge issue to the point that it has even overshadowed the highlights of the event. Some of us failed to see the bigger picture — that the Phil. Blog Award is a celebration of the talents and creativity of ALL Filipino bloggers. It’s sad to see that we ourselves as a blogging community are shooting our fellow bloggers for all the effort, time and money they spent just to make this happen. Yes, it was our fellow bloggers who helped pay for those trophies, for the expensive rent of the venue and spent countless nights working to make this happen. The bigger picture was to show everyone else that we bloggers, for once, are united by showing support not only to the winners but to everyone in the community.

It is not the pointing of the mistake that is in question but the manner by which that mistake was pointed out. Our lines are open — we’re just one call away. It could have been discussed calmly, decently and privately but some people need to make a big fuss out of it. Well, we have to attribute that to the dynamics of the blogosphere — it could make you or break you.

Funny thing is, there might not be any volunteers next year for fear that their unintentional mistakes will get all the headlines. Hopefully, the ones who are most vocal now will also be the most active in helping out the community in the future.

Despite what happened, I still believe that we can make our own little corner of the blogosphere a better and more united community. We’ll work harder to achieve that. We may disagree, but at least we agree to disagree.

The first person I expected to object to all the religious reference was my husband (diba?). But he has kept himself out of it and I am thankful.

Wish you were there though as it was really fun – for most of us. :)

Cheers!

Good observation. I think the current spiritual battle is where the devil encourages an air of exclusivity among Christians (myself included) that basically prevents us from loving our neighbor.

Nice post. :)

My personal belief is every person will eventually be given the chance to learn about God – the Christian God. Whether that person will actually acknowledge the existence of that God is, of course, their call and their decision. Rather than “see the other person, the unbeliever, the one who does not share [my] beliefs, as one who’d not find God,” I choose to think of the other person as “someone who will find God with the freedom and right to choose not to acknowledge His presence.”

My definition of tolerance revolves around that assumption: I have the freedom of speech to share with a person my experience with my God in the context of my relationship with that person, but I also have the responsibility to ensure I don’t trample on that person’s rights to choose not to believe in what I’ve said.

I hope that clears things up a bit. I imagine the last thing I want to perceived as as a Christian (or ever intentionally intended to be) was smug and self-serving. If that came across at all in my post, please accept my apologies.

I just have to react to the above statement. It troubled me because the statement seemed to imply that by being a Christian makes one more forgiving. I seriously do not think religion would make one more or less forgiving. It is only a matter of acceptance of the situation and the motivation to put it in a newer perspective. No religion needed.

And, yeah, of course, tolerance could be key for making existence for all beliefs possible. However, do different religions tolerate one another’s beliefs? I’m asking this in all honesty. Think about it. In all the religious sects, it is always the dichotomy of the believers and the non-believers. All religions that I know make a claim that theirs is the only path to God. Go ahead and examine the religions of the world. Has any one of it claimed that theirs is but one of the ways to finding God? I believe none.

But still, a social tolerance is worth undertaking. It will, at least, minimize the frictions occurring among religions. But, think about it, in all honesty, all the religious would be smiling about them and saying they tolerate other religions, but deep within their hearts, they still see the other person, the unbeliever, the one who do not share their beliefs, as one who’d not find God.

Here’s what Ganns has to say about what he initially tought was a non-issue (the content of the invocation at the PBA ‘07)….

Wow, the entry did change a bit. Hehe. Ok na rin. You won me with China and Cuba. Kidding.