Imagine a "pabuniag," ( baptism) a "pakasar," (wedding) or a "pamunpon" (funeral) and several Manongs are missing. "Where's Manong Jose, Manong Pedring, Manong Ben, Manong Damian," everyone asks. Who were the Manongs, what were they, and where did they come from? The term "Manong" comes from the Ilokano word for "elder brother" a term so endearing that denotes respect, yet loaded with familial responsibilities. In the old days, the "manongs and the manangs" of the family carried the responsibility of assisting their parents in providing the needs of their younger siblings even after they got married and had families of their own. It was quite a responsibility in a place called the Ilocos region where arable land was scant, a narrow strip of land wedged between the mountains and the sea. It's a place unlike Central Luzon and the Visayas where large tracts of land called "hacienda" or plantations
OUR ADDICTION to our chairs and sofas isn't just hurting us, it's literally killing us. The problem is so profound that it has spawned the meme, "sitting is the new smoking." It's a meme that the National Institutes of Health does not recommend as it promulgates direct comparisons of the health consequences of sitting and smoking. But the threat of prolonged sitting to our health and survival does exist and the more so because it's able to hide in plain sight. Sitting passively on the chair or on the sofa is assumed to be our normal resting position and until results of these research studies came out, we were in the dark about the harmful health consequences of our "addiction." A great number of research studies by Mayo Clinic, Harvard Health and other prestigious research centers has linked prolonged sitting or other sedentary behavior to diabetes, poor heart health, weight gain, depression, dementia, and multiple cancers. These studies sho