When I won the 1993 Kadayawan sa Dabaw Inter-Collegiate Writing Contest, one of the Judges told me I don’t know how to write.  He said my grammar jumble up and I only won because of my writing style.  His comment pierced me that I stopped writing for almost 11 years.  It didn’t occur to me during that time that he was wrong.  Why would I win that contest if I’m not that good?  But I was blinded by his comment.  If not for that draft I kept for my article “In Death's Embrace” (see my post) I would have not waken from sleep.

Well, what I learned from this is that you cannot control what other people would do to you but you can control your reaction.  It’s up to you then if you’ll allow other people to take control of your life.

I learned my lesson albeit so much delayed.