This blog has a “cheesy” rating, so I apologize! Also, It’s kind of long, but please do finish until the end! These texts are all for you.
First, I want to congratulate you guys in advance for your upcoming graduation.
I want to say something in admiration and remembrance as a batch mate, a [distant] friend and as a fellow Bosconian. I want to address this message most especially to 4- Caravario because this should have been my class had I not moved to the United States and also this was what I failed to say during the sharing part of our retreat last year. But again, as my title says, if you belong to this batch, read on! =)
Wow, can you believe it? We all have just finished 12 years of education. Counting from kindergarten, prep, the six years of elementary and the four joyful years of high school, the experiences throughout those years were not just things we could trade for anything else in this world. I grew up with most of you guys back in DBS, the school we almost did not want to leave during our transition from 4th grade to the 5th. However, we all managed to adapt to the real “Bosconian” setting – the all boys school environment established by St. John Bosco himself. Throughout the 5th grade and sophomore year in high school, we have managed the rigors and heat shaping wood and metals inside The Shop,assembled electrical components on a board, drafted basic shapes while following ISO standards and all the other technical stuffs. These are what make us unique graduates. We are profiles of men who, after obtaining a high school diploma, are well prepared to take on the challenges of this world without “Arte” and with a determined attitude. How lucky we are to obtain an education like this. But all of you guys are luckier.
I enjoyed high school more than any people could enjoy it. I was on the top of my game. I was president of fine sections for two straight years, gained a good reputation among peers, learned how to play Badminton professionally from a great Graywolf coach and was a friend to everyone. I never had a major dispute with anyone back then. Well, there was a minor one but after sometime, I considered it petty and very funny after all. But I won’t go through that. I was a kid then.
You guys are luckier because you all had 3rd and 4th year in high school together in an institution that forms a bond between students and their families. That is a bond so strong that even after 20 or more years, parking lots and the roads on DBTC are so filled with cars of Bosconians attending the annual homecoming, catching up with then “Totoy” and now “Tatay” of say a typical, happy Filipino family. I would never forget how Don Bosco Mandaluyong raised my self-esteem and shaped my views about various things in life. I thought I was going to be with you guys and continue my good high school career, until the news broke out that my family and I were moving to the United States to have a better life.
It is true, though. Everything here is better. Roads and sidewalks are perfectly paved, laws are followed supremely, people rarely see a gap between the rich and poor, chic cities, chic culture and a laid-back lifestyle and above all, more money. Everything that citizens from a third world country dreamed of seeing and experiencing is here. Not to brag, but I take pride on being in the country where all the Ke$has, Timberlakes, and Beyonces that you and most parts of this world listen to come from.
It is a better life, but it is not complete for me. I miss our relatives that we left back home. I also had a large gap. I mean, transitioning from 2nd year to the 3rd (the peak of being a teenager in high school, in my opinion) needs assistance from people (or friends), and I had none during that time. I needed to make very large adjustments in how I interact with people, how to live and assimilate myself with the culture and everything else in life here. It was a culture shock. It was a shock that asked a contemplating silence from me for a year – a silence to better observe my surroundings – a silence to better adjust myself to things in here - a silence that have lead to various awkward conversation moments with Americans, resulting in a difficulty to acquire their hearts towards friendship. It may sound very easy to make friends here with most of you guys back there, but at least for me and from the different stories that I heard from recent fellow Filipino teenage immigrants, I beg to differ.
After that slew of cheesy lines, maybe some will take this opportunity to make fun of me on formspring and/or any other social media. I know I sound helpless (!), but I don’t really care now because this message is sincere and rarely comes out from me, and I want you all to see where I am coming from.
Now I do not seek to draw any emotions of sympathy from you guys, but as a batch mate I want to say ultimately, “Thank you” for being part of my high school teenage life even for just two years. I would also want to say thank you to those people who said that I am part of 4-Caravario (Am I still? Haha!). You guys are the best. I would never forget everything that we have done together, and your still warm welcome to me when I went back there last year. I hope that when I see you guys again say after 10 years, it would still be a warm and welcoming reception even though I did not finish high school with you guys. Also, as a [distant] friend, I want to say cherish your graduation ceremony like no other moments. It will happen only once. Let all the emotions out! Finally, as a fellow Bosconian, wala sanang kalimutan.
Once again, congratulations on your graduation! (Mine is on May 25. Still pretty far away.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment