Happy Graduation, Panganay!

Tanungin mo ang mag-asawa, na kung saan ang babae'y buntis for the first time, kung ano ang gusto nilang maging anak, ang isasagot nila'y "kahit ano, basta't normal". Masaya na raw sila basta't tama ang bilang ng mga daliri sa kamay at paa, walang diperensya ang bata, at buo ang lahat.

Pero, bakit ganu'n? Pagkalabas ng bata gagawin ng lahat ng magulang para hindi maging normal ang bata. Gusto nila, ang anak nila ang pinakamatalino, ang pinakamagaling. Paglaki't nag-aaral na ang bata, gusto nila valedictorian ang kanilang anak. Sasama pa ang loob ng mga magulang kung nakakuha lang ang bata ng 95 sa card, at sasabihing sa susunod dapat maging 100 na 'yan. Lalo na siguro kung makakuha lang ang bata ng 85, galit na galit na ang magulang, at 'di na nila ito palalaruin. Kung minsan, ganun ang ginagawa ng ilan, kahit na nasa kindergarten pa lang ang bata.

Bago pa man ipinanganak si Panganay, sinabi ko na sa sarili ko na hindi ko ikakabit ang aking self-worth sa ano mang hahantungan ng aking anak. Kung maging valedictorian siya, kanya 'yun, at hindi dahil sa akin. Kung bumagsak siya, hindi ko siya ikahihiya.

Siyempre, naroon pa rin ang mga pangaral at patnubay. Kung bumagsak siya sa klase dahil sa katamaran, magagalit ako. Pero, kung kahit na gaanong sipag ang ginawa niya't sumemplang pa rin siya, hahanap kami ng solusyon. At hindi ko siya pagagalitan.

Nag-graduate ang aking anak sa High School noong ika-21 ng Marso. Sa field ng paaralan nila ito ginanap. Buti na lang at maaga kaming nakarating, mga mahigit isang oras lang ang aming paghihintay. At least, nakapili kami ng mauupuan. Doon sa parteng nakukublihan ng building, kaya't 'di mainit ang aming pwesto.

Medyo nahuli ng halos 15 minuto ang umpisa ng lahat. Marami rin sigurong hindi nakarating agad. Kasi naman, may kung anong okasyon si PGMA sa Luneta at sinarado ang lahat ng daan patungo roon. Kung pupunta ka sa St. Scho, saan ka pa dadaan? Sobrang trapik. Mabuti na rin nga't maaga kaming nagtungo sa paaralan.

May misa muna bago ang talagang seremonyas, at si Msgr. Soc Villegas ang nagmisa. Isang oras din 'yun. Pagkatapos ng misa saka nag-umpisa ang graduation ceremonies.

Mga 300 din silang nagsipagtapos. Pero, ang kagandahan, hindi naman masyadong mahaba ang programa.

Karamihan sa mga mag-aaral ay nakakuha ng Loyalty Award. Sila 'yung mga nag-aral doon sa elementarya at nagtuloy ng hais skul.

Nagkaroon din ng award ang aking biyenan dahil doon siya nagtapos ng hais skul, pati ang aking asawa, at ang aking anak na rin. Tatlong henerasyon 'yun. Kumbaga, parang nagpapasalamat ang paaralan kasi malaki-laki na rin ang kinita nila sa pamilya namin.

Ang isang ikinasiya ng aking asawa ay marami sa mga kabarkada ng aking anak ang nagtapos with distinction. 'Yun ay mga mag-aaral na nakakuha ng honor sa buong apat na taon nila. At least, naging mahusay ang aking anak sa pagpili ng mga kaibigan. Ang mga magulang ng mga ito ay umakyat sa entablado upang sabitan ng medalya ang kanilang mga anak.

Biglang naisip ko: naiinggit ba ako sa mga magulang na ito dahil nakatanggap ang mga anak nila ng medalya samantalang ang anak ko'y "diploma lang"? Oo, aaminin ko na nakaramdam ako ng kaunting inggit. Nguni't, ipinaalala ko sa aking sarili na hindi isang kabiguan ng aking anak, at lalong-lalo na ng aming mag-asawa, kung hindi man siya nagkaroon ng award. Ang mahalaga'y nakapagtapos siya. At ang mas lalong mahalaga'y may natutunan siya sa paaralang iyon, mga aral na magagamit n'ya sa kanyang buhay. Hindi problema sa akin kung nalimutan na n'yang mag-balance ng equation kung natuto naman n'yang maibigang magbasa ng mga akda ni Shakespeare. Wala sa akin kung hindi na niya matandaan ang ibig sabihin ng SOHCAHTOA kung maaalala naman niya ang mga magagandang karanasan n'ya sa paaralang iyon. Ayos lang kung hindi n'ya naintindihan kung bakit negative ang sign ng isang vector na patungong kanan, kung naintindihan naman n'ya kung bakit dapat pangalagaan ang kalikasan.

Sabi ni Msgr. Villegas, hindi St. Scho ang pinakamagaling na paaralan sa Pilipinas, kun'di ang tahanan, at wala sa St. Scho ang pinakamagaling na guro, kun'di ang mga magulang. Graduate na ang anak ko sa High School, papasok na siya sa kolehiyo. Ilang taon na lang din at mag-gra-"graduate" na rin siya sa amin. Sana, sa kinahaba-haba ng panahon na nasa amin siya, tunay na naging mahusay na guro kami, 'di lamang dahil sa magaling kaming magturo, nguni't dahil mahalaga ang aming naituro.

Congrats, anak!

Why I Have This Nickname by Danilo "Balty" Baltazar

NOTE: Sumali ako sa Toastmasters' Club dito sa San Miguel Corporation (SMC), Mandaue, Cebu. Libre ang beer t'wing meeting. Ito ang una kong speech na ang tema ay ang pagpapakilala sa sarili.

Someone told me that if you're cute when you were young you become ugly as you get old, and the opposite is true. As I stand here in front of you, I'm sure you can imagine how very, very ugly I was then. I was so ugly that my mother, the only person who should have loved my face, said to her friends that my younger brother was handsome. Have you noticed anything about the adjective? It wasn't even in the comparative form! And the sad part was that it was I, not my brother, who was present in that conversation.

When I was in Elementary, we were not poor but my parents did not let me feel we were rich. They gave me only one peso as my “baon”, my pocket money, enough to buy me two bottles of Coke, at fifty centavos each, one for recess and the other one for lunch. You see, my only motivation then of going to school was that I was able to buy and drink Coke, so that's the only thing that I bought with my one peso. I didn't care for the education, nor did I have many friends. Today, it's different. My motivation of going here in SMC Toastmaster's Meeting is the beer...and the opportunity to learn...and, of course, the people.

Back to my story.

My problem, then, was that I needed to add fifteen centavos as deposit for the bottle. After spending fifty centavos during recess, I only had exactly fifty centavos for lunch, and no extra for the bottle deposit. So, during recess, I would scour around the campus, trying to find any bottle lying around, thrown by a rich kid who didn't bother lining up and getting back his money.

Being ugly and being poor is a deadly combination that undermines a child's self-esteem. Yes, I had a very, very low one. It was so bad that I contemplated on killing myself. Fortunately, I had low tolerance to pain, and I knew that thrusting a knife on my chest will hurt a lot. I also abhorred taking medicine, so, drinking poison was not an option. Furthermore, I cannot throw myself down the stair to break my neck; living in a bungalow, there were only four steps on our stair, enough for one complete cycle of Oro-Plata-Mata.

During this time my classmates were forming new nicknames, based on our surnames. So, we had Alvi Alvero, Rebi Rebosura, Rozy Rozal....my classmate loved that last one. I wondered why for we were in an all-boys' school.

When I reached high school the very first thing our classroom advisor did was to ask us what our nickname was. An idea came to my mind -- here is a chance to “kill” my old self, Danny, and give birth to a new one, Balty, a timely lesson for this season of Lent. So, I decided to give Balty as my nickname, which stuck. In fact, my mother, sister, and brother are now calling me Balty. It's as if Danny never existed.

Committing this virtual suicide was good because, first, it was painless. And, second, I did not break the sixth commandment.... Sorry, the sixth commandment is “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. That, I often break. What I meant was that I did not break the fifth commandment.... Yes, that's the one!

I now believe that with this simple act of changing my nickname from Danny to Balty helped me a lot to achieve what I am now. It has made me more outgoing, less shy, and an eetsy-bitsy-teeny-tiny bit funnier. I still have low self-esteem, but, at least, I was able to remove two “very's”.

Haters by Maya Angelou (Crab Mentality, Part 1)

NOTE: Natanggap ko itong mensahe mula sa isang kaibigan. Mag-comment na lang ako sa susunod na post.

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time trying to make you look small so they can look tall. They are very negative people to say the least. Nothing is ever good enough!

When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters...

That's why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can't handle seeing you blessed...

It's dangerous to be like somebody else... If God wanted you to be like somebody else, He would have given you what He gave them! Right?

You never know what people have gone through to get what they have...

The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don't know my story...

If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, you can rest assured that the water bill is higher there too!

We've all got some haters among us!

Some people envy you because you can:

• Have a relationship with God
  
• Light up a room when you walk in
  
• Start your own business
  
• Tell a man/woman to hit the curb
  (if he/she isn't about the right thing)
  
• Raise your children without both parents being in the home

Haters can't stand to see you happy.
Haters will never want to see you succeed.
Most of our haters are people who are supposed to be on our side.

How do you handle your undercover haters? You can handle these haters by:

1. Knowing who you are & who your true friends are.
   *(VERY IMPORTANT!!)*
   
   
2. Having a purpose to your life: Purpose does not mean having a job. You can have a job and still be unfulfilled.
   
   A purpose is having a clear sense of what God has called you to be. Your purpose is not defined by what others think about you.
   
   
3. By remembering what you have is by divine prerogative and not human manipulation.

Fulfill your dreams! You only have one life to live...when it's your time to leave this earth, you want to be able to say, 'I've lived my life and fulfilled my dreams. Now I'm ready to go HOME!'

When God gives you favor, you can tell your haters, 'Don't look at me...Look at Who is in charge of me...'

Relationship

Alam ko na ang tawag sa isang relasyon na "more than friends, but less than lovers" -- Friendster.

Hapi Bertdey

Hapi Bertdey sa lahat ng taong ipinanganak ng Feb 29!