Your Gift of Learning, Our Tool for Nation Building- A Commencement Address Delivered by Mr. Floro Fortunato Salvador at the RNHS Commencement Exercises, Romblon, Romblon, on Mar 29, 2012

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

A female student comes to a young teacher’s office. She glances down the hall, closes his door, kneels pleadingly. ‘Sir, I would do anything to pass this exam.’ She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, and gazes meaningfully into his eyes. ‘I mean…’ she whispers, ‘…I would do… **anything**!!!’ He returns her gaze. ‘Anything???’ ‘Yes… Anything!!!’ His voice turns to a whisper. ‘Would you…… study???’

Maayo nga gab-i sa indo nga tanan!

Mrs. Donna S. Lim, Education Development Supervisor 2 (PES), Div. of Romblon, Mr. Danilo Padilla, Education Development Supervisor 2 (Elem Mathematics) and concurrent OIC- Asst. Schools’ Div. Superintendent, Division of Romblon,  Mrs. Belinda Muros Mendoza, Secondary School Principal II, Romblon National High School, Mrs. Aleth Q. Madali, HT IV, School Curricular Coordinator,  and   Planning Officer Designate,  the rest of the Head Teachers, Master Teachers, my former Mentors that I deeply revere, former  colleagues, the rest of the Faculty, Employees, Dear Parents, members of RHS Class 1979, Guests, and the very reason for our convocation today-  the soon to be ‘Graduates’ of 2012,  Good evening!

First, let me ask you Members of the Graduating Class to do me a favor, just one thing:  turn to the persons beside you, in front, and behind you and shake their hands firmly and say with sincerity ‘Congratulations!’. Do it now pls!  Thank you!

Thirty three years ago, when I left the hallowed portals of this great high school, who would have thought that I would come back, first after 6 years, and second, after 33 years?  While I secretly desired to be its Commencement Speaker, I did not pray for it but rather left it in God’s hand. But seemingly, in God’s design of the grander scheme of things, part of it is that, in His perfect time,  I would be Commencement Speaker of the Romblon National High School. Considering the long history and rich tradition of my high school Alma Mater and the vast roll of outstanding graduates it has produced, you cannot just imagine how joyful and excited I felt when I got the news and those same feelings prevail now. Thanks to the Divine Providence!

As your Commencement Speaker, I am tasked to say something relevant to the theme, which is “Your gift of learning, our tool for nation building.”

Why is nation-building so important that it has to be talked about by all the Commencement Speakers in public elementary and secondary schools across the country at this time?   It brings to mind this line from the Inaugural Speech of Barrack Obama as the 44^th President of the USA-  ‘Your people will judge you based on what you build not on what you destroy.’  What is ‘nation building’? In its simplest sense, I would define it as ‘building a better society’, a society that enables people to live with dignity.’  How can young people like you, the adolescents, contribute to ‘nation building’?  And what do you need our ‘gift of learning’ for? What or which gift of learning in the first place?

I am not the only person with the gift of learning to share with you.  Your teachers are a ‘gift of learning’ to you and your parents are a ‘gift of learning’ to you, through the things that they tell you and things they do, as they are your role model.

What purpose do I serve now as your Commencement Speaker? I am just here to complement the gifts of learning that your good mentors have shared with you and your dear parents have inculcated in you. I believe they have taught you so much and what I will be sharing with you may just be an affirmation or a reminder to you, hoping just the same that they would be of added value.

I will not share with you my knowledge as it  may not be something that would be of interest to you at this point. Besides, knowledge can be obtained from a lot of sources that are readily available and accessible now in our modern world. Ang ibabahagi ko ay ang aking karanasan at ang mga gintong aral na aking natutunan at ako’y umaasa na magiging gabay eto sa buhay na inyong tatahakin pagkatapos nyong lisanin ang paaralang eto at ang bayang eto kung saka-sakali.

Nuong ako ay nasa 3^rd yr. high school, sa Pilipino 3, natutunan ko kay  Gng. Rizalina Festin ang  diwa ng ‘sanaysay’ o ‘essay’ sa wikang Ingles.  When I became a grown-up person, I realized that our life is basically an essay, except that unlike an essay, God writes how and when our life will start and end, but like an essay, we write what happens in between. 

Hence, at this juncture, I would like to request you to draw a straight horizontal line on your paper. This line represents your lifeline.  From the point where the line starts, write the word ‘birth’. A certain distance from that point, write age 7, then further along the line, write age 13, and a certain distance from that point, write your current age. From that point till the end of the line, I want you to write in bold upper case the ff. letters: 

L-O-V-E.

What do you read? Yes, LOVE- L-O-V-E, LOVE. That word  will serve as your  CODE to live by and  a KEY to doing your share in ‘nation building’. You may ask why not DISCIPLINE or PATIENCE or HARDWORK? The reason is that such words most of us, esp. young people,  find as burdensome, unappetizing, because there is a certain amount of responsibility attached to it, some amount of self-denial. Whereas LOVE, besides being the pre-occupation of teenagers like you, is something that we do that we enjoy or rather we are suppose to be happy doing about.

Let me begin with the first letter-  L

L as in ‘Live life to the fullest.’ By:

Living  for the present. What do I mean by this?

• At this very moment, don’t think about your future, otherwise, you will miss my speech. You will have plenty of time to do that after this ceremony. Meanwhile, cherish the moment, the celebration, and the adulation. This moment will never happen again. College Graduation is an entirely different thing.  You may have been here sitting and listening for hours, perhaps sleepy, hungry, tired, but, please, I beg of your patience and indulgence. This is a moment of Victory for you, relish it until its very end.  The very moment this Graduation Rites end, a chapter of your life is closed and a new chapter begins. So hold on to the last minute, like you do when you wait for the New Year to come while holding on to the last hours and minutes of the current year. Wait until you go home to think about what you will do in the future to make you happy. MEANWHILE, live for this very moment, as this moment of glory is REAL.
• Learning  from life’s painful experiences, letting go,  and looking forward
• Let go, temporarily or not, of your high school friends and adorable teachers, and look forward (of course as I said, ONLY after tonight) to new meaningful relationships in a new setting, while cherishing the good memories that past relationships  bring. Let go of the hurts and pains that took place in your journey for 4 years in this campus and learn from them.
• To our dear parents, learn to ‘let go of your children’ as they leave home to pursue higher studies elsewhere in the case of some, and as they enter the phase of self-discovery as adolescents  in the case of most of them.
• I remember, in mid May 1979 (You were not born yet then. Napaghahalata ho ang edad, hehehe.), as I was about to begin my college education, my Mother accompanied me to Manila to ensure that I would be safe and kept well. Maybe, she thought that young as I was and given my small size, I would not be safe traveling alone. She stayed with me for 2 weeks,  then,  decided to leave for Romblon. The day she left, I cried, quite painfully, because it was the first time for me to be away from her for a longer time. That was my first ever experience and practical lesson in ‘letting go’
• Looking back with gratitude
• I know that, without me saying, you will look back with gratitude to where you came from. As the saying goes “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan, ay…”. Salamat po! Hearing that from you, I am pretty confident that you will look back with gratitude to your Alma Mater and do the best way you can to help your school. Whatever act of charity you do for your school, it will be an act of charity that you do for the high school students in the generations that succeed yours. It may even benefit your son or daughter or a relative of yours. I am sure that from this batch, we can rely on people who do not have to wait for their high school teachers to solicit donations but instead to take initiative to find out what the school needs. My dear would be ‘graduates’, I am sure you will complement our teachers’ generosity with your own acts of generosity. Let us bear in mind, ‘kung sino yung biniyayaan ng mas malaki, malaki rin ang ini expect na ibibigay nya para sa kapakanan ng iba’. It is not about the money, money, money, but it is about sharing your money, money, money. The more you share, the more your blessings will grow. 
• Living your success
• Whether you acknowledge it or not, your life has been a series of successes. Treasure your moments of success in your heart and hold on to them as you face life’s adversaries, as they will help you make it through. That is the very reason why at the start, I asked you to congratulate each other, as this HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION is one  concrete moment of success for you, in the same way, that your moment of birth, age 7, and age 13 are moments of success in your lifeline.
• Letting God
• I suppose every one of us here is a believer. While God expects us to do the best we can based on the talents and capacities that He gifted us with, He expects us as well to put Him in the center of our lives, of everything that we do. Hence, prayer is ultimate. When we pray, we are in effect letting God take over. Dear would be graduates, I encourage you to pray, pls. pray. Am I asking too much from you if I ask you to?
• Our Dear Parents, I also request  you to pray for your children all the time, for their safety, and for their success. 
• I would like to let you know that I am blessed by God with a very prayerful Mother. And I would say that it is her constant prayers that have been keeping me and my siblings safe no matter where we are and what we do. Dear Parents, when your teenage son or daughter is away from you, letting God take over is the best thing you can do.

• Listening to your parents
• No matter what our parents say and do, they do it out of concern and love for us. Parents may not say or do the best thing to us all the time, there is no doubt that they have the right intention in mind and it is always for our best interest. Ang ating mga magulang ay tao rin na may kahinaan, pero ang kanilang sinasabi o ginagawa para sa atin ay batay sa kanilang karanasan at wisyo o ‘wisdom’ na tinatawag. Parents would say “Ay iho o iha, papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ako.” To some children, nakakaiirita sa tenga, pero, tumpak ang kanilang tinuran. So pls. my dear would be  Graduates, listen to your parents and also to your elders.
• Story
• Background- Tell the Graduates what an ‘almirol’ is and its purpose.
• My mother told me that one day, habang sya ay nagpapakulo ng tubig na may almirol na gagamitin para kumintab ang kanyang mga paplantsahing damit, andun ako aali-aligid at nakikialam sa kanyang ginagawa. She warned me several times na wag lumapit, pero di ako nakinig. Sa halip, pag talikod nya, lumapit ako sa kaldero, hinawakan ang sandok, at hinalo ang almirol. But since I was very little then, I did not know how to do it obviously. Tumilapon ang nasa sandok, at napunta sa dibdib ko. Nagkataon, wala raw akong damit nun. Nasunog ang balat ko exactly sa gitna ng dibdib causing a  round scar as big as an old one peso coin. Everytime I see this scar, naaalala ko ang kahalagahan ng pakikinig sa sinasabi ng magulang. 
• (Go to the audience, away from the rostrum.) We now come to the second letter- O, which stands for:
• Obedience
• Listening to our parents is one thing, but obeying is another. We may listen but not obey. I do not mean here ‘obeying blindly’. We can reason with our parents with politeness and courtesy and insist on what we want, but when it comes to morals and our self-preservation, we must obey what our parents say. Pagdating sa mga bagay tungkol sa moralidad, kung ano ang tama at mali, at tungkol sa mga bagay na nakakabuti at nakakasama sa atin, sundin natin ang sinasabi ng ating mga magulang, dahil “Papunta ka pa lang… (ano po ang kasunod?)…  I may not be a parent myself but I know how and what they feel as I have  counseled and do counsel parents on a regular basis
• Story
• When I was working as University Counselor at the College of Engineering at DLSU, one of the most pressing concerns of students is academic performance. Marami sa kanila ang bumabagsak sa math lalo na sa first year. This is a very important subject as it is a hard prerequisite for engineering major subjects. Many of them get kicked out because of math subjects. I had one student who sought counseling with me for the same reason. He is from Cebu, of Chinese blood, and graduate of an exclusive school for boys in Cebu run by the Jesuits. One day, his Father popped into my office, and he flew all the way from Cebu to see me. When we were talking, I could sense his frustration about his son. Seemingly, his expectations from his son were not being fulfilled. So when I asked him what it is really that disappoints him, he bursted into tears saying “What should a parent feel when he knows that his son can give him  a grade of 95 yet he is only giving him  65?” “What should a father feel when he knows that his son can produce gold yet he only cares to produce silver?” I did not know what to say. Humagulhol talaga sya and it was my first time to see a father crying unabashedly and unshamefully in my presence out of frustration, and I could feel the intensity of his emotion.
• Optimism
• Looking at the bright side of life all the time.
• Demonstration (the ‘glass half full-half empty’ perspective)
• We now come to the third letter- V, which stands for  (ask them), what do you think? Yes, V for Victory! Sounds like we are part of the cheering squad, huh?
• Do you believe that all of you are already a winner? Naniniwala ba kayo na lahat kayo ay panalo na? Let me tell you why.

Of the 200 to 500 million sperm cells from your father, only about 1 percent of them succeed in getting into the uterus of your mother and that is about 2-5M. In the end, while several sperm cells reach the egg cell at the same time, only one of them penetrates it, and that one sperm cell that got united with the egg cell became YOU. Come to think of it, if it were another of the several competing sperm cells that got into the egg, it could have been a different person. It could have been of a different gender to begin with. So your being YOU makes you a winner from the very start.

We are not born to lose, but what we do and not do makes us a loser.

Let me tell you a story:

THE CARABAO STORY

One day, a farmer’s carabao fell into a well. The farmer frantically thought what to do as the  stricken animal cried out to be rescued. With no obvious solution, the farmer regretfully concluded that as the carabao was old, and as the well needed to be filled in anyway, he should give up the idea of rescuing the animal, and simply fill in the well. Hopefully, the poor animal would not suffer too much, he tried to persuade himself.

The farmer asked his neighbors’ help, and before long, they all began to shovel soil quickly into the well. When the carabao realized what was happening, he wailed and struggled, but then, to everyone’s relief, the noise stopped.

After a while, the farmer looked down into the well and was astonished by what he saw. The carabao was still alive, and progressing towards the top of the well. The carabao had discovered that by shaking off the dirt/soil instead of letting it cover him, he could keep stepping on top of the soil as the level rose. Soon the carabao was able to step up over the edge of the well, and he happily trotted off.

Lesson: Life tends to shovel dirt on top of each one of us from time to time. The trick is to shake it off and take a step up.

We should be VICTORS and not VICTIMS of situations and circumstances!

The last letter-  E, which stands for: 

• ENCOURAGE
• Every time you achieve something, no matter how small they may be, you give yourself a pat on your shoulder. That is your way of encouraging yourself. And when you encounter difficulties and challenges, encourage yourself and encourage others. I would like to let you know that you are a ‘gift of learning to each other’, and I would like to believe that no one here is a tool of destruction for the other. The power of words is tremendous, be it positive or negative word, hence, we should make it a point to say words that build and not destroy.
• Story

Two Frogs

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

Lessons of the story:

There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift him up and help him make it through the day. So be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. 

• ELEVATE
• Our life is a cycle of ups and downs, that is the reality, whether we like it or not. When we fail to achieve our goals due to factors beyond our control, when a door of opportunity is closed on us, instead of putting ourselves down, instead of destroying ourselves out of frustration, let us elevate ourselves, by focusing on
  another thing that we can do.

• Story
• When I was a college student, my goal was to finish with Latin Honors, at least a Cum Laude. I was doing pretty well in first year and in the first semester of 2^nd year. In the 2^nd semester of 2^nd year, we had the first typing class. That was my first tragedy. It was my first time to put my hands on the keyboard of a typewriter. All my classmates had typing subjects in their high school and I was the only one who was starting from 0. Expectedly, the teacher could not waste her time focusing on me during class hours. At the end of the semester, I got a grade of 1.5, which is equivalent to 75, and that disqualified me from finishing with Latin Honors. I was frustrated but did I dwell on that failure? No! Did I dwell on self-pity? No! I could just have let it burn, burn me, but I did not allow myself to burn, burn, burn. I knew for a fact that ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’, so, instead, I focused on co-curricular activities where I got active and I was able to build relationships and a huge social network within the university, while at the same time, not sacrificing my studies.  That helped me become a better person, which would not have happened if I did not get disqualified for graduating with Latin Honors. After all, education is not just confined within the 4 walls of the classroom. There is more to learn in life outside of it. I also promised myself that I will finish with honors in my Master’s Degree, and I fulfilled it.

At this juncture, I want you to remember the code I gave you:  LOVE.

My dear graduates of Class 2012,  let me share with you a few of  the many gifts of learning that my RNHS teachers bestowed on me, hoping that you will also learn from these gems.

In first year high school, in Social Studies  1, I learned from Mrs. Lilia Faigao that the ‘family is the basic social unit of society’.  In Science 1, I learned from Ms. Henedina Arboleda that ‘matter is anything that occupies space and has weight’. In Math 1, Mrs. Llerina Ferrera introduced to me the concept of ‘integers’.

In second year high school, I learned from Ms. Veronica Fetalcorin who is now Mrs. Francisco that ‘the shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid’. I learned from the late Mr. Faigao in Biology that we ‘homo sapiens’ are the highest form in the animal kingdom.  I learned from Mrs. Fely Rosales in Practical Arts 2 that ‘education embraces not just the theoretical but the practical components as well’.

In 3^rd year high school, I learned from Mrs. Ligaya Abrazado in Space Science that while we human beings are just a dot in the vast expanse of the universe, we play a very special role that no other elements of the universe can play. I learned from Mrs. Aleth Madali in Statistics that the ‘mean as a measure of central tendency  is the average of all the scores in a particular measure’. In Social Studies 3, I learned from Mrs. Lilia Montojo the Malthusian Theory of Population. In YDT 3, I learned from Ms. Rosa Mindo who is now Mrs. Rosa Wagwag the value of martial arts in shaping the ATTITUDE and or character of the individual.

In 4^th year, in Physics, I learned from Mrs. Sylvia Solidum that ‘speed represents the distance travelled  over time’ yet I also learned from her that ‘velocity pertains to the distance travelled over time to a particular direction’. In English 4, I was introduced by Mr. Jose Ma. Andres the concept of ‘arriba a bajo’.

From my teachers in Filipino- natutunan ko kay Gng. Pacita Madrona at Gng. Winifred Atienza ang simpleng kahulugan ng pagiging makabayan.

In totality, I learned from these MENTORS that:

… though we are just a dot  in the vast expanse of the universe, we all matter, not just because we ‘occupy space and have weight’, but because, as the highest form of animal,  we play a very special role in maintaining the equilibrium/balance in the universe.

… because we matter so much, we do not live apart from each other but part of a social fabric where family is the basic unit. What we do as part of our family can either restore or upset the social and environmental equilibrium.

… what we do affect the rest of the population and its collective performance. If all of us will give our best in what we do, the mean or  ‘average score’ will be as high… the collective outcome will be excellent.  Like the concept of ‘integers’, if we do something negative, we pull the summation of collective performance down. Conversely, if we all do positive actions, we will build a nation that will enable us to live with dignity, even if the population doubles and food production does not. I suppose that is one of the   best ways we can manifest PATRIOTISM in our lives.

…life is ‘arriba a bajo’, a cyle of ups and downs, depending on what we do and we don’t do. And that since life is ‘arriba a bajo’, it is important to journey in life not just with the right speed but with the right  speed and direction/ ‘velocity’, so that we will reach our goals efficiently.

… and lastly, since the shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid, it is  not flat, hence, it implies that virtually, there is no dead-end in life but a vast array of opportunities that we can explore and benefit from, we just need to have the right ATTITUDE.

By and large, I learned from my high school MENTORS,  as I had the chance for quite some time to  observe the kind of life that they led before on almost a daily basis,   that,   when dealing with people, sometimes, being KIND is more important than being RIGHT, and that at the end of the day, it does not really matter how rich we have become, what our status in life is,  and or what position we have in our job at the moment and that what really matters is that we have BECOME A BETTER PERSON.

Finally, I got to rediscover from my former colleagues in this institution (I cannot name them as they are many, but I know they know who they are.) that ‘experience is the best teacher’. When I joined the faculty of RNHS,  I was 23, very young, and very idealistic, without any practical grounding. My colleagues, through their own unique way, helped me in many ways than one. Thanks to all of you for  your patience, support, and understanding.

To recap…

As citizens of our country, we contribute to nation-building based on what do and what we do not do in our own lives. Along the same vein,   you members of Batch 2012, as adolescents, contribute to nation building based on what you do and what you don’t as adolescents.

Hence, to be valuable contributors to nation-building, you all must live life with LOVE. Meaning, you must:

Live life to the fullest, by ‘living for the present’, ‘letting go, looking forward, and learning from life’s painful experiences’, ‘looking back with gratitude’, ‘living your success’, ‘listening to your parents’, and ‘letting God’.

Obedience to parents, in matters that relate to morals and self-preservation.

O-ptimism! Looking at life with the ‘glass half-full’ perspective.

V-ictory!  To begin with, we are already a winner. What we subsequently do or not do in life makes us either a VICTOR or a loser.

E-ncourage yourself and others. Use words that BUILD and not DESTROY.

E-levate yourself. When you fall down, get up, and do what you need to do, even if you have to start all over again. Success is ‘rising  up when you fall down’.

In other words,  dear members of Class 2012, basically, whatever good thing you do to yourself, you contribute to nation-building, and whatever you do that destroys yourself, you also destroy your society.

Sideline Information

I cannot end this speech without telling you that I belong to RHS Class 1979, where your very own Principal is one of its prominent graduates, which also includes Mrs. Angie  Las Pinas.  I would like to gladly share with you that 33 years after we all left this school,  and we were not more than 200 then I suppose, we have become more close, supportive, caring, and endearing to each other than we had ever been.  As a matter of fact, some of them are here to support me and they are very happy for me. We have become a family that sticks together through thick and thin.  Most of us are now in our golden years (50)… we may not be chronologically young, but definitely young at heart. We may be one of the wackiest batches to have ever existed in this school’s 100 year history, but we happen to be one of the most loving as well. At our age, we make it a point to capture the best moments that life has to offer. Hence, watch us out, RHS Class 1979 in the Grand Alumni Homecoming this coming May, for we will definitely make a mark in the Search for Mr.  & Ms. Grand Alumni Homecoming 2012. 

In behalf of RHS Batch 1979, I convey our ‘congratulations’ to you young boys and girls!  Welcome to the colossal RNHS Alumni Family!

In closing, let me say this to you dear members of Class 2012:

I know I can count on all of you to do things that build instead of destroy. I know you will not fail me, I know you will not fail your teachers, I know you will not fail your parents, I know you will not fail yourself, and most of all, I know you will not fail God. And I know that you will NOT FAIL, because you are graduates of the Romblon National High School.

.. and lastly, remember that,  “Life is an essay, God writes when and how it will start and end, but we write what happens in between.’

Maayo nga gab-i sa indo nga tanan!