Brother Sun, Sister Moon!


I
I must say! This 2-day old blog of ours, PAJacks, acronym for Philippine Agricultural Journalists Advancing Agriculture Aided By Community Knowledge & Science, is dedicated to the pursuit of Masaganang Ani At Mataas Na Kita (Bounteous Harvests & Bountiful Income, my translation). It is dedicated to The New PH Agriculture, under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who prefers to be called Manong Willie – Ilocano for Brother Willie. Wen Manong!

That Masagana slogan is for farming families, and it’s excellent, such as it is. Now I want a slogan for the aggie journalists, male and female, and I have found what I think is perfect:

“Brother Sun, Sister Moon.”

That is from the “Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon” of St Francis of Assisi. What does the canticle mean? That “All creatures = one family[1]” – Jack Wintz (Franciscan Media). You are my brother, you are my sister. (sun-moon image from Redbubble[2])

Now, how do you translate that to journalism for The New PH Agriculture? Time to read those words one by one in the image above:

A brother is any of these any time and all of these all the time:

amBitious caRing pOsitive sTrong Helpful awEsome Reliable.

Are you getting the hint yet?

If you are a male journalist, you are/must be a brother to the farmer, male or female.
If you are a female journalist, you carry the message of a BROTHER anyway – as you are for the farmer ambitious, caring, positive, strong, helpful, awesome, reliable!

Let us see now how The BROTHER Idea can transform not only the aggie journalist but also the farmer!

For the farmer, you are:

Ambitious
– You want him/her and family not simply to earn higher and higher incomes but to ultimately break the chains of poverty. From then on, lead highly pleasant, sustainable lives.

Caring
– You stop him/her from borrowing from someone who is always ready with the cash needed, charging at a usurious rate. Your advice is to go to the nearest LandBank of the Philippines and apply for a brotherly/sisterly loan as advised by Brother Willie.

Positive
– You encourage positive thoughts in the farmer when trying new or improved technologies or systems. You have seen and have believed. You are also all ears to what the old folks know about the raising of crops and animals, and always ready to combine generations-old community knowledge with results of experiment-backed science.

Strong
– You give the farmer the strongest recommendation you can give on the strength of what you know about research and development – always remembering to talk in the language of the villagers.

Helpful
– You are always offering help about things in the growing of crops and/or animals, meaning you are always answering questions with information and guidance.

Awesome
– You are this simply by doing all of the above!

Reliable
– Most of all, you are reliable, you are consistent and always make the other fellow feel secure when you are around. You keep science available all the time, you Brother Sun, Sister Moon, by keeping knowledge all digital!@517





[1] https://www.franciscanmedia.org/the-canticle-of-brother-sun-all-creatures-one-family/
[2] https://www.redbubble.com/people/ddgryphon/works/30637870-brother-sun-sister-moon-ii

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