What can I say? We must have been so blessed that we are again celebrating your birth date on its ninth consecutive years already. This means you are already nine (9) years old and me nine (9) years older since the time you were born. We will never get to the time where your age meets mine all at the same time but I’m sure, from where you are standing now at your tender age, things are much better and brighter than I was your age. At your age, I was adjusting to the ways of a Paulinian being a transferee from a public school back at the mountains we both dearly love today. Now, you are much accustomed to being a Paulinian having spent the last five (5) years of your time loitering the corridors of the Elementary Building.
At nine, I wanted you to understand the three (3) simple things a nine year old kid should be able to comprehend in this digital information age. Today, these might look awkward or tricky or grueling, depending on the mindset you are in, but trust me, being the ONLY boy in the family just like me, this can lead you to live the best years of your life without having the need to pass through the boundless mistakes I encountered in my prime. They say experience is the best teacher, now these pieces of advice will be worth hundred thousands of pesos if taken in formal undergraduate program.
1. Life’s a journey, not a destination.
This is a line from Aerosmith’s 1993 hit single entitled “Amazing.” Steven Tyler must be a visionary for having been coined this phrase. This simply means that I don’t give a damn if you pretend to be sick and wanted to miss all classes whenever your grandma and grandpa are here for a visit. I’m sure you’ll bear the consequence of missing a day in school, but for whatever reasons you got for wanting to let go of a structured classroom learning in favor of an ice cream or a trip to nowhere, make sure to enjoy every moment of it. As you do, you got to learn to enjoy the red marks on your report cards. Once you get used to the red marks and gets bored seeing your report cards in bloody red color tone, strive for the black ones. Those that spells eight, nine or even a hundred in their first digit. As a father, I would understand seeing your seventy-fives (75s) today, that’s part of your journey, but I would better appreciate if you try to turn them into eighties (80s) and nineties (90s) for that is your destination.
2. Si Nanay si Tatay di ko babayaan
You’ll prefer listening to Justin Beiber or humming the High School Musical Series songs over this timeless Bicolano classic. But let me tell you this. No matter where your seventy-fives (75s) or ninety-nines (99s) will take you in the future, there are two individuals (living together or not) that have put all their faith in you and trusted that you become better than what they are today. Your family is both an inspiration and a challenge. Inspiration for you to keep your hopes high in the most difficult test that you still have to face and a challenge for you to outdone what they did when you too gets the chance to raise a family of your own. You won’t get billed for your education nor will you be required to pay them off, just make sure to live a life that completely reflects both the philosophies you learned in school and the values you acquired back home.
3. Never say never.
Yes. This is Justin Beiber’s original hit. More than the title implies, it communicates the biggest reality of them all - the world has no place for quitters. If you think passing the 3rd Grade is next to impossible, bear in mind that you still have eleven (11) long years ahead before finishing college and two (2) more years will be added from it if DepEd’s K12 proposal is signed into a law. Do not stop learning. I have no plans of stopping you from learning to drink beer, once you’re done with the 6th Grade we can probably talk about it and you might get my approval. Until then, I want you to focus on your studies and give us the relief of seeing you deliberately scan your notes after class hours NOT to tear a page and turn it into a paper plane but start writing something on them so you have something to read after class.
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