Editing Christmas

This year I will be celebrating my 23rd Christmas. It is amazing how the meaning of Christmas changed for me from childhood to a young adult. It feels like you edit what Christmas is to you as you become more mature.

When I was a child Christmas meant new toys, delicious foods, and party games. As I grow older, Christmas started to mean family gatherings and seeing my relatives who live far. As I came to know more about Christ, Christmas became something really special because I realized how it is a celebration of the birth of the Man who died for us.

This holiday have different meanings for different people. Whatever this means to you, you just have to remember to respect other people's reason for celebrating. I learned that it is better to greet other people by saying Happy Holidays instead of saying Merry Christmas to make sure that you don’t offend anyone.

Editing poverty

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". -Chinese Proverb

Most of us probably experienced being asked for change or cigarette while we are out smoking or walking. When you go out of the streets, it might not be a surprise to see different faces of poverty. Some are obvious, and some are not.

A lot of us might think that when we give out change we help lessen poverty. It may actually help, but that help may not last long. We should start editing the way we help people. There are other ways of helping the people who are experiencing poverty. We can choose to assist them with our short term participation like giving out goods during Christmas or other holidays; however, we can create greater impact when participate in projects that promote sustainable development.

Sustainable development compared to one-time outreach programs, involve creating projects that will help people who experiencing poverty stand on their own feet after you or your organization's intervention. The types of projects may include building schools, developing livelihood projects, microfinancing, etc. I think that if we focus more effort in implementing these types of outreach program the effects may not be readily seen, but we will go further because we can help them not to become dependent of other people's assistance.

It is not wrong to participate in short-term outreach programs because it still helps address immediate concerns of people experiencing poverty. If we come to think of it, Maslow's hierarchy of needs shows that before we can move further towards self-actualization, we need to first address our physical needs. It would still be a big help if people put efforts in addressing these needs. However, it will be greater help if we can assist people in poverty find ways to earn for themselves, stand on their own, and live with dignity.

Changing the way we work

What is your ideal office? If you ask this question at the time when internet was not yet invented, you'll probably get answers like a big office room with a big reclining chair, own fridge and coffee station. 

Technological advancements changed the way people work.

Nowadays, a lot of people would probably say, an ideal office is a home office. There will be less possibilities of hearing someone say that they’d rather be somewhere than in their office because there are already options to have the work done outside the company offices.

Technology change the way people communicate and conduct business. Projects can now be done with just the use of electronic communication.

There are workplaces that take advantage of working remotely. The companies can save money by having fewer workspaces but still meeting their work needs.  Employees can also benefit from not having a specific workplace. They can multi-task and do personal chores while getting their work done. They can also freely choose to work where they can think clearly.

Here is a video that shows how a modern workforce conducts business. 

Editing builds multiple meanings.

Editing has the power to create different meanings of the same event. Below is a video that can give us an idea on what happens when reality TV footages get edited.





This made me realize that writers and editors should really be careful when choosing what to include in a material. They have to ensure that the story is told the way it happened and not the way they wanted it to happen. Though it is hard to be completely unbiased, everyone should aim to retell a story as close as it is to reality.