January 16 - 31, 2018
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
durianrepublic
The Gift of Knowing
by JJ Atencio
I get sentimental whenever i re-
ceive gifts, specially during Christ-
mas and my birthday. In fact, I don’t
recycle gifts, and when I do, I leave
the original card as my way of giving
appreciation to the gift-giver. I also
keep all the cards I receive; a few of
them I even display on my desk for
the year. And thanks to social media,
I also get to keep Christmas and birth-
day greetings forever.
I’ve always felt that gift-giving is
more symbolic than material. As a
true believer in the idea that, “behind
the gift is the thought that counts,”
these are only meaningful indications
of the real gifts we receive. Like the
gifts of friends, family and good rela-
tionships.
Knowing how well loved and re-
garded you are by your family and
friends is a gift that’s priceless. It’s a
validation by people that mean a lot
to you as they make it known how
much you mean to them. It’s a re-
assurance that you’re doing some-
thing right, despite your faults and
shortcomings. And
its yours to recognize
and keep everyday.
And then there’s the best gift if all:
the gift of knowing.
The thing with birthdays is that
we’re reminded, at least once a year,
that we get wiser as we get older. Or
at least we should. And my 56th
birthday comes with an important
milestone: my retirement as CEO of
a publicly listed property development
company after 25 years in the mass
housing industry.
I consider myself lucky to have
survived this long, luckier because I’ve
come to realize certain things that’s
become my gift of knowing.
It’s knowing about the nature of
people; knowing that people, includ-
ing myself, are emotional, excitable,
self-absorbed and thus, sadly prone
to error. In our lifetime, many people
will come and go, some will stay for a
while and that’s all good. It’s knowing
that even the strongest relationships
are fragile, and so we must be pa-
tient, accepting and forgiving with all
out relationships. For not everyone is
blessed with the gift of knowing.
It’s about knowing who we are,
who we’re not, and that the life we live
is made from the choices we make.
It’s about accepting that life isn’t
fair, but knowing that, while we don’t
get to choose how we begin our jour-
ney, we certainly can choose how to
live it and how we want to end. It’s
knowing that everything is temorary
and that all things end. Both good
and bad. So that we can move on to
do other good and better things. Its
knowing that its not really How you
spend your money that matters, its
February 2 deadline nears
for empty home declarations
in Vancouver
Mayor Gregor Robertson and Patrice Impey, CFO and General Manager of
Finance , Risk and Supply Chain Management
A total of 11 per cent of Vancouver
homeowners have not yet submitted
their Empty Homes Tax declarations
and only have before the February
2 deadline or their properties will be
deemed vacant and subject to the
Empty Homes Tax.
To date, 89 per cent of all residential
property owners have submitted
declarations and the City would like to
thank those who have declared early
and