Snapshot of my Life

When I was around 7 years old and my teachers would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, “a doctor”, I would immediately reply. However, during that time I didn’t think about it that much since it would be still more than over a decade before I reach college. As I grew older, I learned more about my interests and myself. I continued answering the same thing to my teachers and whoever asked me that I wanted to be a doctor up until last school year when I was in 4^th year high school. I started truly thinking about what I wanted because it will be my future career and the path I will be taking for the rest of my life. However, my parents’ wishes are still very important to me so every time I would think about the possible careers out there which seem interesting, the thought that my parents want me to have a professional job keeps bugging me. But I know that they just want what is best for me.

When the time came to choose my final course and university and people would ask me again, I would start replying, “maybe Medicine or Law, not sure yet.” I started liking Law because I was into the argumentative aspect of it. On the other hand, Medicine seems so difficult and it takes so long to study. I heard that nowadays, no hospitals will hire you anymore if you don’t have a specialization; therefore, you will be studying for a total of 15 years, give or take a year. After that, you still have to build up your name and reputation, which will take around 2 years at least. So with a total of 17 years in Pre-Med and Med school plus the 18 years before that, you will be around 35 years old! If you’re a man, it will be okay because you wont have to worry about not being able to bear children, but for a woman, it is difficult. Women also have to think about the future when they already have kids. Women also have to make time for the kids and at the same time be able to accommodate all of their patients regardless of the time of the day. It takes a lot of sacrifice.

My parents were shocked that I chose and am now taking up BS Business Administration since I was never inclined to business matters. However, I chose this course mainly because it does not involve much science. Furthermore, this course covers a very broad field that will allow me to shift to another course easily come the time that I find out what I really want. Also, in every career path that we take, we have to know even a small bit of business administration because of the money involved such as our salary and how to manage our savings.

There have been so many people, events, and experiences that have influenced me regarding what I want to do in the future. However, those that have greatly impacted me emotionally are the past events such as the EDSA 1, EDSA 2, and most especially the failed impeachment of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. These specific events made me want to fight for justice and help improve our country. Almost all of our past presidents have been corrupt and have marred our country’s reputation. I am pretty sure that during their oath taking, they promised to be of service to the country and that it wasn’t the other way around. But what is really happening is that they are using the people for their own benefit. It is definitely the time for a change. A delay cannot be tolerated. The second event is the Payatas Landslide or “Trash-slide”. When the informal settlers living within the vicinity of the Smokey Mountain were buried under piles of trash due to a trash-slide, this made me want to help those less fortunate people in a way that when they need my services, whether I am a doctor, lawyer or something else, I will offer my services for free or at a lower cost so they wouldn’t have to worry about money matters. After all, health is wealth so before anything else, health of the people should be given priority. Through this, I believe that they would be able to save enough money for their children and for them to build their own house somewhere safer. Because of so much corruption and inequality in our country, I would always think of going abroad to study and perhaps persuade my family to migrate. It is very saddening to see that the Filipinos can continuously criticize our leaders, most especially current Pres. PNoy who is doing his best to try and make a change in our country, without once thinking whether they would have the guts and courage to do the same or better if they were given the chance. Also, they should start putting themselves in Pres. PNoy’s shoes and try to empathize with him. When I was in grade 5, I was the president of a class of 35. It was so difficult to handle them! I would always go home crying because they would just ignore me and sometimes laugh at me, so what more if you are given the responsibility of the president of a country with 80 million people. I might have gone crazy!

The people that have influenced my decisions are people who are very close to me and whom I can trust. They were always there no matter what the situation was, whether it was a happy or sad one. However, the strength of their influences vary. The most important people who helped me decide which course I wanted to take and the university I wanted were my parents. As I said above, I know they only want what is best for me. Well, I don’t think I have to elaborate on that since it is obvious that they want me to become successful. The next group of people would have to be my friends. I think that I bond with them even more than I do with my family so they probably know my true colors and what I can do. They tell me the truth even though it hurts because they want me to improve myself for the better.

All of these people have influenced me in different ways such as the way I dress, speak, act, and hobbies and interests. However, I would like to believe that I have also influenced them in ways more than they know. With my parents, I have taught them how to dress up and act in a modern manner. They were born during the time when there were yet the computers, laptops, and cellphones. They even call themselves “technology-illiterate”. I would also show my parents, specifically my mom, how it is to have fun and party in this generation since my mom was and somewhat still is an introvert. My influence on my friends, on the other hand, even though not explicitly seen, has changed their perspective on things and attitudes. One example could be the importance I give to grades, although I am not sure if this is more on the positive or negative side. This example may not be much but if one thinks about it, it could lead to so much more like success in life since they have a stable foundation plus discipline.

To be honest, I am very happy with who I am today and what I have achieved in life. I have to admit that it isn’t easy to study and it would be so much better just to slack off, get a 75 mark, and pass. However, I was able to pass my grade school and high school years with flying colors and at the same time, juggle my swimming schedule. The cherry on top of the cake is that I was able to pass the UPCAT. I still can’t believe that I am in the top university in our country. It just seems so surreal because I’ve always considered myself just an average student. But I will promise myself that I will not let this get to my head, I should stay humble because everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. My strength might be academics. But for now, I will just focus on my academics and try to do my best in everything. And I hope that one day, I will be able to use what I have learned to make a change and improve our country. (Word count: 1440)

Our Heroes and Science

The symposium I attended last November 28, 2011 was titled “Our Heroes and Science“. I was very excited to attend this symposium because it would be my first time to attend one. Also, I knew I would be meeting many famous people there who have so much to offer and so much knowledge to share. It was farthest from my mind to meet a descendant of Jose Rizal, but there they were – 2 middle aged women with such bright and jubilant eyes. I immediately knew that they had a goal in mind when they came to the symposium – to share the knowledge they have, which had been passed down to them. However, I was disappointed to find out a few moments later that they were just there to listen to what the experts had to say.  But the symposium over all was still pretty good. There were 3 speakers: Dr. Benjamin Vallejo, our current STS professor; Mercedes Planta, PhD., an associate professor of history in UP Diliman; and Sir Perry Ong, a biologist. All 3 speakers talked about their respective expertise regarding our national heroes who have shown courage during the time of the Spaniards.

The talk given by Dr. Benjamin Vallejo, titled “Si Antonio Luna at ang pagtitinag ng kamalayan ng bayan”, was somewhat confusing for me since he used Tagalog as his language for discussion. I can understand the simple words in our native language; however, the words he used were very deep and very uncommon. Despite this, I still tried my best to understand his talk. He began his lecture with the word “agham” which is science in Filipino. To further explain the definition of this word and how it was used back then, he showed some pictures of the Spaniards busying themselves with works in science. He also explained that University of Santo Tomas was the first university to have a faculty of medicine. One scientist who was given recognition and emphasis was Antonio Luna. Antonio Luna was a wise man. He believed that the Filipinos were not yet ready for a revolution and everyone had to work together to achieve their goal, not only the masses or those with a low stature in society. Antonio Luna was also very nationalistic that he urged the Filipinos to stay strong no matter what the foreigners would offer to them. Their only goal in mind was independence.

Mercedes Planta, PhD, gave the second lecture. Her lecture was titled “Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, 1857-1925: Premier Filipino Filipinist”. She discussed that Trinidad Pardo de Tavera initiated the precursor for changes in Filipino ortography such as “k” and “w” instead of “c” and “u” to conform to proper fisonomia of Tagalog.

Last but not the least, Sir Perry Ong, a biologist gave the third and final lecture about Jose Rizal’s life and achievements specifically in the field of biology. At first, he compared Jose Rizal to Charles Darwin since he wanted to look at it at the point of view of a biologist but realized that it was a mistake. It is evident from the letters written by Rizal to various high-ranking officials and scientists that he was very much devoted to learning the sciences. Even though he was imprisoned, he continued sending letters and packages to his colleagues. He was truly very hardworking, no doubt about that. In addition to this, I would like to believe that Jose Rizal was truly gifted in the sense that he was able to study so many fields and be excellent in all of them. This was already obvious when he was still in Ateneo High School where he got an excellent mark in all of his subjects. Jose Rizal is truly one of a kind and someone worth emulating. 

Reaction Regarding the Discussion last Nov. 17, 2011 and the Syllabus

Last November 17, our Sociology 10 class discussed and tried to revise the syllabus according to what we deem fit for ourselves. Everyone definitely had their own opinions as to what they wanted; however, everyone also had one main goal in mind – how to get an UNO. It seemed very selfish to an observer because we would only think about our strengths and weaknesses and not care about other’s needs. But to a student in that class, he would be able to feel freedom to change something that he has never been given an opportunity to in his entire school life. And although not everyone agreed in every aspect, a conclusion was made especially in the breakdown of the grading system. I was amazed to see how people in our class, though total strangers, were very open to each other and even rebutted each other regarding their opinions. However, everything was done in a very formal and respectful manner, this I was very proud of. I realized that the rumors going around about UP students having an “attitude” isn’t a generalization.

While browsing through the syllabus given to us by our professor, I noticed that almost all, if not all, of our topics would be about the self, society and the connection between the two. I just realized that I am very lucky to have taken Anthropology 10 last semester because it is sort of related to this class and if I remember correctly, our prof then said that Anthropology used to be a part of Sociology. Contentwise, I believe that there are still many people out there, maybe even including myself, that are still confused about the nature of humans: the way they think, make decisions, and the likes, and how we relate to others in our society. Also, many don’t realize this but we are constantly being affected by the changing world around us and I believe that each and every one of us should be aware of that. We should always be on guard because if we are so vulnerable, in terms of our belief and values system, then we can easily be swayed and fooled into doing something that can hurt us, physically and emotionally. Furthermore, additional knowledge about the world and ourselves wont hurt us right? It might be even an advantage to us because we would understand more why such things are happening. We would surely feel less stressed and less panicked.

In addition to these, I noticed that our topics revolve around the Philippine society and the way of life of the Filipinos. This is really good for us because as we all can see, the younger generation Filipinos tend to have this colonial mentality, where they believe that anything foreign is much better than our local products. These lessons can help us find and develop a deeper love for our local products and believe that these can soon be international brands as well. However, it is very difficult, in the case of those looking for greener pastures, to convince the top notchers and intellectuals to stay in the Philippines so that our economy will improve because it is clear that jobs abroad will guarantee us a better life.

In terms of the additional activities to be done in class, I highly recommend field trips to perhaps museums, historical places, and the likes to know more about our history. Also, we can see the talent and skill of the Filipinos in creating masterpieces and works of art such as statues, paintings, and others rarely seen.  I would also recommend watching documentaries about our culture since there will be places we will not be able to visit such as the mountainside or provinces. This may teach us to be satisfied with what he have because we will realize that there are people out there who still live an uncivilized way of life and do not have the technology to live comfortably. 

I have thought of issues that are prevalent in our society today, which can be discussed or perhaps debated in class. One could be the effect of technology on our values because I have noticed that the youth of today have started developing different beliefs due to technology. They may not notice it outright but subconsciously, they are changing such as losing respect for their elders because they tend to be so focused on their video games and when their elders do so much as talk to them, they quickly wave their hand to shoo them away or make them keep quiet. Sometimes, I even notice them shouting at their parents just to leave them alone. Also, the priorities of these children are very different from what our parents had back then. All these changes, both bad and good, are due to technology and its innovations. Who would have thought there would be even such a thing as an iPhone or an Xbox? It’s really quite amazing.

 In line with the class participation grading system, I believe that the attendance of the student should be counted because it also takes effort for us to come to class everyday and on time. We don’t necessarily have to be given an additional 0.25 or such if we have perfect attendance but at least the professor will be able to recognize us and know that we participate in class. We also have to consider that there are students, who live in the provinces, because they have to spend time travelling and that needs effort on their part.

In addition to these, I would like to comment on the language we will be using in class. I recommend that we use pure English during discussions and in written works as well. It is a fact that the international language is English and the only way that we can communicate with people abroad is through the English language. You would ask, why would we want to communicate with people abroad? Well, it is very simple. If we want to create connections and trading partners abroad, then we have to communicate in English. Also, if we want to become big time business entrepreneurs or even just succeed in life, being fluent in English would matter. Since most of the new ideas come from abroad, it would be very difficult if we do not understand and speak English well. We can reserve Tagalog for our family reunions and other local social gatherings to make us feel more at home but when we do serious business deals and other professional tasks, English would be best. (Word Count: 1094)