I was born in the 60’s. I was too young to recall why an angry mob shooed the Beatles away from our airport but old enough to remember the soundtracks from such TV comedies as “M.A.S.H” and “Welcome Back, Kotter.” My father owned a blue Chevrolet Impala with a leather backseat big and wide enough to swallow me up. I imagined it as a spaceship, with its oversized built-in radio and a near-panoramic windshield. Soon enough, that car gave way to a succession of other vehicles – including a Ford Fierra that was so springy that my brothers and I had to hold on to something every time the tires hit a pothole.

My nieces and nephews don’t know any of these things – the Love Bus, music cartridges for car stereos, long-playing albums and 45 singles, Chocovim and Selecta fresh milk in bottles, foot-jumps and Chinese jackstones, Pepe Pimentel’s Kuwarta o Kahon, and a broadsheet known as the Daily Express. In that sense, I consider myself lucky because while these kids have technology on their side, the age group that I belong to has the context and content to go with it. At that time, our toys were either living creatures like spiders in a matchbox or inanimate objects that you need to push or drag around, or cut into pieces like clay. The music that we played had lyrics encased in complete sentences with commas and periods and not just telegraphic dashes and a sprinkling of Ahs and Ohs.

The simplicity of life then is worlds apart from the simplicity of life now. During my youth, it didn’t take a whole lot to make me smile, laugh, and giggle. Contentment was an ice cream cone bought at the sidewalk from our neighbourhood “sorbetero”. We walked to church for Sunday mass and came home with pan-de-coco in a brown bag. My brothers flew handmade kites called “boca-boca”. We owned two dogs, named Frito and Tootsie. My mother cooked our meals or decided what meals to serve. My father waited up for us when we were late in coming home. Our phones had dials; so did our television set.

Today, every television set in my townhouse has its matching remote control. All my music fit in a thumb-size IPOD shuffle. We use the Internet to check out movies to watch, and sometimes to order food for delivery. My daughter sends me an SMS when she’s out late at night, and vice-versa. My coffee is three-in-one, and my books are all on Kindle. My handwriting has gone bad but my typing skills would put a full-time administrative assistant to shame. Nowadays, contentment is an expensive fruity yoghurt sundae bought in a mall, in a tiny plastic cup.

If as a child, I’d been asked to describe the year 2011, I would have balked at such a challenge. Yet, here we all are. I am all grown up and expanding sideways with a daughter so wise and independent at the age of 25. I have more dogs than you have fingers. I never thought then that “broadband” would become one word and mean so much. We have face transplants, and liposuctions, and reality shows that depict it. They now give away houses and millions of pesos in a single game show that back in our time would just have the tallest refrigerator as a major door prize. I follow the news on Twitter, and meet friends on Facebook.

Looking back, it is no longer true that the only thing certain in life is death and taxes. The march of time is certain; it waits for no one yet we feel each step in our creaky joints, in the hazy glow of subdued memories. The kids out there would see 2011 emblazoned in the Starbucks planners that they worked hard to obtain, sticker by sticker. We, who are much older, see 2011 as an appreciation of life lived in a continuum, from birth to adulthood, from the dustbin of memories to the creation of new skills and experiences. It is amazing, this thing called life. No matter when lived and by whom, life is for us to either waste or nourish, regardless of what year it is.

Dear Readers, a new year is upon us. I wish you a year of contentment amid challenges and opportunities that would come your way. My father once said, “Pessimism is a state of mind but optimism is a strategy for living.” In my heart, I know that 2011 will be a good year for all of us. No matter how old or young you are, I pray that you open yourself to the best that this year has to offer. Happy New Year! (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople.

What it’s not — a springboard to immediate deployment as nurses overseas. Foreign hospitals usually look for more qualifications (specialization, academic records, actual work experience and where, etc) than just a six months OJT for the nurses they hire. BUT- for fresh graduates and non-practicing nurses, this is a good stepping stone in your career as well as a feel-good way of helping your community, at least for 6 months. Note however, that the slots are few and spread throughout the country; competition will be stiff. But hey, if you’ve got time, a hometown that you love, and a nursing diploma in your hands, why not apply?

What it is — on-the-job training cum community service program where successful applicants will be paid P8,000 in allowances (hopefully to be matched by the corresponding LGU with another P2,000). To reduce costs, the nurses under NARS Program should be locals – meaning, from the communities they would serve, rather than city folks being assigned to rural nursing stations where they will be complete strangers.

Press release issued by the DoLE on the NARS Program follows …

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said interested nurses may file their application at the nearest DOLE regional office, or online at http//www.nars.dole.gov.ph where application forms can be downloaded.

Roque said the DOLE would entertain applications and conduct selection of nurses for deployment to rural areas until March 22, 2009, adding an initial 5,000 nurse-trainees would be selected for deployment beginning April 1, 2009. While on training, the nurses would receive a minimum stipend/allowance of P8,000.00 per month.

The DOLE Chief said that unemployed registered nurses who are physically and mentally fit and willing to serve in their hometowns and who meet the following requirements may qualify for the training cum employment under NARS: a) with valid nurse license issued by the PRC, b) not over 35 years old, c) resident of the identified municipalities; d) no nursing-related practice for 1-3 years.

He also said that another batch of 5,000 nurse-trainees would be recruited between Aug. 15- Sept. 30, 2009. Deployment of the second batch to rural areas would commence on Oct. 1, 2009.

NARS, which stands for Nurses Assigned in Rural Service, is a training-cum employment scheme wherein the hired nurses would be deployed to their hometowns in rural areas to undergo six-month training in providing public health services and in performing clinical functions under the guidance of participating nearby hospitals and other medical facilities.

Launched by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the Multi-Sectoral Summit on “Joining Hands Against the Global Crisis” held recently in Malacanan Palace, the NARS program is a collaborative undertaking of the DOLE, the Department of Health (DOH), and the Professional Regulations Commission’s Board of Nursing (PRC-BON).

source: Information and Publication Service