PARABLES

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
(Matthew 13:31-32)

A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nest in the branches.

Moral Lesson*:
We must learn to see the value of little things because they certainly mean a lot.
We must value the deeds done by the common people; they are the genuine products of pure endeavor.


THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
(Matthew 13:3-9)

Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he scattered the seeds in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
Some of them fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and because the roots have not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.
Some of the seeds fell along thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants.
But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants produced corn; some produced a hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty.

Moral Lesson*:
We, the youth of the modern times, must be watchful of the situations and places that we are in. Our society today is filled with birds (drug lords, drug pushers, etc.), rocks (pornographic materials, fraternities and sororities which promote hazing and initiations, wrong notions on sexuality, premarital encounters, etc.), thorns (disrespect to parents and elders, political misguidance, cheating, etc.), and bushes (wicked ideologies and practices). Let us let God be the center of our endeavors and our parents and teachers as our guides.

(We must be watchful of all situations that we are in.)


PARABLE OF THE WEEDS
(Matthew 13:24-30)

A man sowed good seeds in his field. One night when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plant grew and the ears of corn began to form, the weeds showed up. The man’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, you sowed good seeds in your field; where did the weeds come from?” “Some enemy did this,” he answered. “Do you want us to go and pull the weeds?” they asked him. “No,” he answered, “because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then gather the wheat and put them in my barn.”
Moral Lesson:
God has given us the freewill to do what is best for us, to do either right or wrong. He allows us to be with the tempters who will not only destroy our future but also our souls. We must be on guard especially that we are in our adolescent age – a vulnerable stage in our life. One mistake, a lifetime distress if not overcome.
At this stage, our parents are still our best friends who can honestly tell us what to do because I believe that what they do today are for our good futures tomorrow. They only want what are best for us.

(God allows us to grow with the wicked; hence we need proper guidance to overcome the temptations.)


THE PARABLE OF THE YEAST
(Matthew 13:33)

A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with forty liters of flour until the whole batch of dough rises.

Moral Lesson:
May we be like the dough and make our presence to our team or school or home an asset and not a liability. That our teammates or school mates or family siblings are happy when we are around, not that they would display unpleasant behaviors towards us when we are with them because our being with them brings disadvantages to them.

(Make your presence asset to your team and not a liability)


THE PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE
(Matthew 13:44)

A man happens to find a treasure hidden in the field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

Moral Lesson:
God has given us all the blessings that he can offer. May we use them wisely for his glory.

(Use your talents and skills correctly and wisely)

My Personal Leadership Philosophy

My Personal Leadership Philosophy

The greatest thing that any person or a leader, for that matter, can do in his existence is his being good and upright. I believe that the goodness that we radiate to all the living beings around us counts above all. In any given situation, the paramount mark that we can offer and leave to the people around us must be the touch of goodness and kindness. This is the greatest capital that we can invest as persons and as leaders. However, we should understand that men as we are, we are capable to commit mistakes and that, there are circumstances that along the path of exercising our responsibilities at home and in our workplaces, we offend our family members, our fellowmen and even our co-workers. What we just need to remember is that, every failure or mistake is good as long as it doesn’t become a habit (Michael Eisner (1942 - )) with the hope that we learn lessons in the mistakes that we do. Moreover, Cardinal de Retz (1613-1679) in one of his speeches said, “The man who can own up to his error is greater than he who merely knows how to avoid making it.” What’s important here is that we are doing our tasks and responsibilities with good and fine intentions. Peter Abelard, a French theologian and philosopher in his article, the Abelard’s Ethics as published by J. Ramsey MaCallum wrote, “We call the intention good which is right in itself, but the action is good not because it contains within it some good, but because it issued from a good intention.” Furthermore, we must be motivated to do good because we were promised by Him to prosper and flourish if we do so. Psalms 92:12 says, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”
This belief leads me to employ a kind of leadership that must be anchored towards the worth of every employee or teacher as a person. I believe that the best asset that an organization possesses is its human resources. Boosting the morale of every employee in an organization may mean boosting the morale of the organization. Peter Drucker (1909-2005), an Austrian-born American management expert made a theory that stated “Employees were a resource rather than a cost and that guaranteed employment was important to industrial success (Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.).
At Alfonso B. Dagani Elementary School, we employ the Group-based (GII) type of decision making. Decision making in our school mostly are obtained through brainstorming during the staff conferences. At times, we also apply the autocratic and consultative decision procedures when the situations call for them. We are so happy to have observed that our teachers are positively responding to the style of leadership that we are employing. For instance, in one of our staff meetings, we have agreed to do mural paintings for our classrooms. After two months, all classrooms at Alfonso B. Dagani Elementary School including the Office of the Principal were already with mural paintings. All financed from the resourcefulness of the teachers. Last December, the school head proposed to conduct a caroling activity. We did the caroling activity and we were able to raise the total amount of P6,500 which we utilized for the labor expenses for the construction of our School Heroes’ Park. Here at Alfonso B. Dagani Elementary School, we feel that everybody is committed to work for our school and our school children because we believe that the concerns and the affairs of the school is everybody’s business and that all that is going to happen must be a public knowledge and concern. The implementation of the School-Based Management (SBM) Program by the Department of Education has helped us a lot because it implements the decentralization of decision-making. As a result, our school was able to organize our School Governing Council (SGC) which serves as our giant partner in implementing the best programs for our school. We pledge to maintain or enhance further these best practices.