Vic Berrey

My involvement with ARBEX started way back in 1987 from its conceptualization to its eventual registration on April 2, 1987. Since then, I have served in various capacities, which culminated to the chairmanship of this organization. My stint as chairman may be short, but a fulfilling one, for it further instilled in me the virtues of patience and perseverance particularly in time of distress.

The year that passed was difficult and trying one for the leadership of ARBEX as events not within the sphere of our projection unexpectedly unfurled, thus affecting in part our original work program, but in a way unmasked the best qualities of some members. Under such conditions, we achieved the following:

Ø coordination with management in the conduct of briefings on policy implementation in the department, particularly in the area of report writing;

Ø reformatting ARBEX EXPRESS from tabloid to magazine type which galvanized home-grown hidden publishing talents;

Ø the successful realization of the STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION in October at the Century Park Hotel brought out the spirit of unity and cooperation among the members for a good cause;

Ø coordination of the extension of moral and financial support to members in distress; and

Ø grant of CHRISTMAS GIFTS to colleagues who underwent medical care

Credit is due to every one of us who found time to work hand-in-hand in Christian unity for the fulfillment of the ideals of ARBEX. TO THOSE WHO WORKED WITH ME DURING MY WATCH, THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT AND COOPERATION.

Congratulations to the incoming officers of ARBEX. I admire your determination to r have the time to share your talents for a good cause. The wise utilization of time is the essence of success; the lack of it or “I don’t have the time” is the common phrase to justify failure. Speaking of time, may I share with you some thoughts from the book of Fr. Simplicio Apalisok, Jr.

“We live in an age of irony. In the past, it took us much time to do things because we work manually. For instance, mothers have to wash clothes all day for there was no washing machines. And yet, they have plenty of time for their children. The present time should have afforded us more time because our technology actually saves us time. We do many things more efficiently now as compared before. But what happened to all the time we saved? Why is it that we have less time for God and for each other today? Time has become our master, instead of our servant. We are at the service of time, obeying our frantic timetables rather than making them our slave.

The Greeks has two words for time: chronos and kairos. The time measured by clocks, which is personal, is called chronos. “The time now is 12:00 P.M.” – that’s chronos.

Kairos, on the other hand, is a human time measured by human purposes and good. “It is now time to play with my children” – that is kairos. We take time to do something; we choose to make time. Kairos characteristically means an opportunity; that is, the best time to respond to a chance and a moment. Life is never a fixed uniformity but always laden with opportunities – the opportunity to learn something new, to speak a word of encouragement, to help and console, to have free time to converse with people, to spend time to be with God in prayer. Kairos is an invitation for us to grasp these opportunities when they come. As Omar Ibn Al-Halif said, “There are four things which do not come back – the spent arrow, the spoken word, the past and the lost opportunity.”

Good luck! May you have the time to put your dreams and visions to reality.

News

Editorials

Views