Life has been defined in many different ways and in many different versions. What is your view about life? However, despite differences in our perception about life, it has one concrete definition I believe is true to all - life is what we make it.
As a young educator and wanderer, I have gone a long way in my life, if you may ask. Why do I say this? This is because I have gone through thick and thin, ups and downs, and literally I used to walk long miles from my house to school and vice versa since my elementary grades until I finished college. This is something most of my students don't believe about me. They think I am rich because I can speak English. If this is how discrimination happens, I want to be discriminated against everyday of my life.
My being able to speak English well, as others would tell me, is just one of the umpteen of manifestations of how I improved as a person. Excuse me, I am not rich yet but I hope it will come soon. This achievement I have actually brings me back to the times of yore when I was fond of reading life stories. And of course, I will share to you this very aphoristic anecdote. It goes this way.
" A traveler from a long journey happened to have a sojourn in a house along the seemingly infinite road for a dose of tranquility from an exhausting journey. When he got inside the antiquated dwelling, he saw paintings and portraits. He thought that a painter owned the house and he was right. He saw the painter sitting on the painter's chair with his palette. The traveler challenged the painter and said, "Paint me! Paint my portrait!". By the way, the man was very exhausted, haggard-looking with his eyes drooping, and pale. The painter obliged to the traveler's demand. After an hour the painter told the traveler that the portrait was done. It was fresh-looking, a depiction of vigor and enthusiasm of youth. The eyes were perfectly glowing with the sparkle of the beauty of life. To the traveler's astonishment, he told the painter that it wasn't him. He told the painter to repaint his portrait but the painter did not submit to his pleading. Instead he replied: " Mister, you are that person and you can certainly be that person only if you choose to." The man left the painter's house with his portrait in great disbelief.
What makes me so engrossed with this anecdote is not just its message alone but it relates to my own life story. I was born to a financially handicapped family. With siblings who did not have much interest to go to school and of course they did not finish school. Instead, they settled at a very early age. And my family still lives the same standard of living until this time. When I was a little boy, I never thought of becoming rich but all I wanted was to live a life different from what I used to have way back then. I was not so ambitious of possessing great material wealth one could ever possess. All I wanted was to become a teacher someday and become a catalyst for change in my family at least.
Let me share to you how I became an educator and a speaker.
My greatest challenge when I was a little boy was the fact that my family was poor and my siblings got married at early age. They did not have much chance to help our parents. So, I told myself, I wouldn't be like them one day. I ingrained in my mind that I would be different from them not only in ways but also in my perspective about life. Being that ambitious boy I was, I never complained, as far as I could remember every time I would go to school without any penny in my pocket and with only my plastic bag and some pieces of recycled papers. I never complained to my parents why I had to walk 4 kilometers everyday from my house to my high school and vice versa. I was never burdened by my family's circumstance. When I was in college, I attended the university as a scholar being a student-leader in the school so my parents did not have to spend much for my education. I used to go to the registrars office for scratch papers for me to write my notes on. I could still recall hundreds of missed lunches. I could still recall how i weathered rain and storm some of the cold nights I would walk back home from the highway to my little abode in the middle of vast rice paddies. I finished college with a single pair of old slacks which my father gave me. I finished college with projects almost all hand-written. I finished college with some pieces of school uniforms one of my generous professors (Mrs. Minerva Villaflor) gave me. I finished college with my parents toiling almost every piece of land just for them to send me to school. I graduated from college with my long-sleeved shirt borrowed from my 70-year old neighbor. I marched up on the stage and I believe I was the only graduate who did not have a photo taken! However, it didn't matter to me. I finished college with a degree of BSEd Biology/ Mathematics. Despite these overwhelming challenges, I finished college with two awards I am proud of until this very day. Shortly after my graduation, I was hired in a bank and later on by an English Academy where my teaching career commenced.
Since then I have always wanted to become a teacher. I AM NOW A TEACHER. THIS IS MY CHOICE. AND I AM HAPPY WITH MY CHOICE. And what keeps me reminded of my dream of becoming a teacher is the small painting the painter did for me when I happened to stop by his house for a short rest on a very scorching day on my way home from school. I had a great rest that time and it was a memorable experience. Not only did I get a chance to rest but I also learned one of the best lessons life has to offer. Indeed, he was right. Though I still live almost the same life I used to have, at least I now see beacon of light and with hope that someday things could change for the better.
Change is on its way and I promise my life will never be the same again.
Thank you for reading.
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