I was reading this speech delivered by a La Sallian engineer in UP and
remembered this. When I was disqualified from the honor roll in high school, I promised my parents I'd stand on a stage in college and make a valedictory speech. This speech is the fulfillment of that promise; I delivered this during one of the recognition ceremonies in
USC. I don't remember being very poised when I carried this out (I
laughed in between the sentences I forgot), but this was the proudest
moment of my life and I deserve to share this.
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| Yes, this medal is mine. |
When I was still a kid, people always told me I was going to be a doctor like my mother someday. There are countless of good reasons why I should have been one: the practicality, the power attached to the name, the pride that comes with people calling you doc, and most importantly, the ability to save other people’s lives. A lot of people show disappointed faces when I tell them I didn’t study medicine and took up English instead. To tell you the truth, I’ve never really been affected with what people say. The only people I don’t want to disappoint are my parents, and them being here means they aren’t.
So the true reason that I’m not on my way to med school right now is because I know my path leads to somewhere else. I fell in love with the arts, and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that right here is where I belong. And at this point, I just don’t see myself anywhere else.
This brings me to think about passion, that powerful desire to put yourself out there and do the things you know you do best. I know for a fact that passion doesn’t really appeal anymore to parents and children alike these days. Most kids today go to college to get a good job when they graduate—not necessarily a job that they’re passionate about. Sure they get their work done, but I always wonder if they’re happy at the end of the day. I wonder if they can honestly tell themselves that “this is what I love to do. This is what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life.”
I believe that being in the university shouldn’t just be about studying to get hired and get rich as soon as possible. Although this is not bad thing, what with the economic state of things here in the Philippines, I think there should also be an element of passion and dream in everything that we teach and learn. Students shouldn’t listen to teachers and teachers shouldn’t teach students just “to get things over with.” Students should be able to say “I want to learn this” at the beginning of the lesson and say “I want to learn more” at the end of it. The learning experience, if there is at the very least an interest involved and the willingness to learn, becomes a more significant and concrete part of being a student.
To all the beloved parents, the fact that you are here today means that you have done an amazing job, and for that, you deserve a round of applause. Everything we do is to make you guys proud and assure you that all the times you slumped from working too hard, all the back pains and migraines you got from thinking and taking care of some of the crazy things we get ourselves into, all the dinners and breaks you’ve been wanting to take but missed—we want to assure you that those are not in vain. So thank you to all the parents for putting up with us for so long, especially my mom and dad who have been very supportive and who have always believed in my capacity to make choices for myself.
To all my fellow students and friends, congratulations! I want to tell you about what this crazy but brilliant essayist named Robert Benchley said about college. He said that college isn’t all about books and conferences and papers. It’s about making mistakes and constantly discovering ways how to correct them. I’m not saying you should go out there and make as many mistakes as possible. I assure you that there is such a thing as a smart mistake. These are the mistakes that we make because we want to take risks but still end up shortchanged anyway. These are the mistakes from which we learn the most valuable lessons. These are the mistakes that are so much fun and educational to correct. These are the mistakes that when made, make us a true college student. So, my friends—take risks, make mistakes, correct them, study hard, laugh in between, and whatever you do, make sure it’s something that the people who care about you will be proud of.
