Baby Steps

"Dream hard. Work hard. It never comes after you wrapped and decorated with a red ribbon."

This thought occurs to me en route to work. I am currently a new hire for a shipping company (I graduated this summer 2013) and you may ask out of the blue, what the hell is the relationship of that quote above with me being a new hire? Well, working 8-9 hours a day and commuting for about 2 hours going/back to our house in Laguna, I am still adapting to the idea of not having that much free time. I mean afterwork I am dead tired and on weekends, I have to do my filial duties. During these times, I have always asked myself if my life would stick to this kind of lifestyle, after all, I have no choice but to work. How about all those dreams I wanna have during my wee hours? I wanna travel (a lot), engaged in volunteer activities, explore and the list go on and on......

Head bumped! Luckily, I have this spontaneous boyfriend that always scolded me whenever I have this kind of negative thinking. And yeah, as what he 'scolded' (haha!) I should stop complaining and in contrary, work hard! This is a start of a new chapter in my life, maybe I was still adapting to the changes, entering the 20's era where you are starting to create your own identity and at the same time, the world pressures you with money, time and expectations. So what to do? Work hard! Dream big, set your goals, and work hard for it. Grab it. Hold it. A 'dream come true' never presents itself at your door wrapped and decorated with a red ribbon. You have to chase it CONSTANTLY, work hard for it, and this loop never ends until you have it at your hands. What is important is whatever stage of life you enter, you never lose hold of your identity and your dreams. Never let the world point out to you what is right/wrong, or what to do, what is important is you live your life in making your dream come true. Imagine yourself working hard for something, maybe it all equals to a bucket of perspiration, blood (haha!), sleepless nights, eye bags, etc. but whatever the ending of this struggle, if you gave your best shot for something you really care, it's all worth it.

Dreams. Set it. Chase it. Grab it. Hold it. Dreaming is not just about knowing what they are, it also is about knowing the steps on how to make it come true. Took the baby steps and after sometime, you'll realized, you're a day closer to it.

Conviction

   Bon jour! Before heading to the 'article thingy' itself, I wanna start off with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than the  'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

   Though commuting would always mess up my hair every time I ride the jeepney on my way home, I still prefer to fully catch the blowing wind coming from the jeep's window (sometimes it hurts though). For a minute, my eyes though open were blind and my mind would start to wander off on that far away side of reality, the dream world. Satisfaction would always fill up my mind every time I sit there on the jeepney while the wind brushes off my face. Maybe because it is my precious, personal time of opening up my mind with every possible things I've done, I would do, I hope to do or will do. During this time a flood of hope would wash away all those negative vibes, realizing that the world is a collection/a big set of possibilities.

   One time, the idea of conviction just popped out of my head. Maybe it was because of the argument between the driver and the commuters about the system of jeepney transportation here, fitting too many commuters in one jeep. Sometimes, rather than feeling fearful of the brawl itself, I find it fascinating to hear both sides of the argument, hearing the convictions of each individual. Conviction is our foundation of belief. It what makes us as up as a unique person. It molds us. Rather than having none at all, rather than being dependent of others' belief, rather than accepting them all the time, it is better for us to have our own convictions because it molds up our personality, it showcases what we hold on to. I think that people just have to accept the fact that we have grown up in different environment, we experienced, perceived things differently and we learned differently from these experiences, that's why we have different beliefs/convictions. We have to embraced diversity. We should not be afraid of speaking our side and engaging ourselves in arguments because though we view things differently, it is a way of gaining integrative unity. Embracing does not mean that we changes our side and accept the other person's conviction, rather, it is being able to open up our mind, listen and criticize not just the other person's system of belief but also of our own.

   Great day everyone!

A teaching call

 I have read this striking article online, the week after Christmas, just after waking up with a heavy heart. Sipping a cup of coffee, the article lifted my spirit in a way that it struck the me whose dreaming of participating in a charity and also a me who wants to share my blessings with other people. The article is about what’s missing in the context of teaching here in the Philippines. Though K to 12 curriculum has been implemented, lack of application, in terms of knowledge, has been the missing puzzle piece for us, students.

I am currently a fourth year college student and had experience both the small and large class way of teaching. On my side, I do agree that the small class scheme of teaching is much effective, in a way that the teacher and student have much personal relationship with each other, exchange of ideas, criticisms, questions are entertained. Though teachers in the large class are trying their best to have an interactive class in the large class scheme, based on my experience, small class allows teachers to fully appreciate and know his/her student, on the other hand, the student is more confident to share his/her ideas, raise a question and be more interactive in this kind of teaching.

Another point is that, with lack of knowledge application, having only heard the lessons is not effective at all and may not drive us to truly discover what our talent is, or we have may discover it but do not cultivate it the right way, that in the end we may end up getting the wrong careers later in life. Having truly experience our gained knowledge, is what true learning is and this should be the aim of our education system.

This article has inspired me in a way that maybe, unlike the Irish priest that built dormitories and a school around the Sapang Palay area, I can also help by sharing my knowledge and be an inspiration to younger students. That maybe for now, I do not have enough money to share in a charity but through teaching, through the chance of molding the Filipino youth, we may change lives, or rather I may help this society to achieve its potential. Teaching is not just a mere profession of having a lecture, it is a passion and a big responsibility, for it is a way of sharing our knowledge and a way of helping the youth discover and achieve their full potential, honing not only their skills but also their morality and lastly, as what I’ve learned in my university, lit them the spirit of nationalism.

This is just my personal reaction to an article entitled Personal touch missing in Philippine education.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/view-personal-touch-missing-philippine-education-040004062.html