Talk To The NDMU IBED Graduating Class of 2014 by Pablo R. Manalastas, Jr. Alumni Achievement Awardee, Education Category Today, I would like to congratulate you for graduating from grade school or high school. Graduation is the start of a new period in your life. The grade school graduates will go to high school, and the high school graduates will go to college to study for a profession. It is not easy to graduate. You had to work hard for many years -- listening to lectures, doing homework, taking exams, doing library and Internet research, doing group projects, doing group review sessions, etc. All these efforts are rewarded today. By graduating, you proved to yourself, to your parents, and to your classmates and friends, that you have what it takes to get the job done. You have proven to all that as long as you put your heart into your efforts, you can finish even the most difficult tasks. As you graduate today, let us not forget your parents, who stood behind you and supported you all the way. When you needed money to pay for tuition, or books and school supplies, or money for school excursions, who were there to help you but your parents? When you did not do so well in an exam who were there to provide a shoulder to cry on but your parents? When you were discouraged by lifes difficult trials, who were there to provide encouragement but your parents? They were with you through thick and thin, through joy and sorrow. They may not always demonstrate it, but you know that they love you. Today on your graduation, tell them that you love them too, and that you appreciate all that they are doing for you. As you leave Notre Dame IBED, let me give some parting words, slogans if you like. You might like to call them time-honored traditional Notre Damean values. (1) Live a simple life. If a distance is short enough to walk, well just walk, dont drive, dont ride. Walk. Mans body was made for walking, because if you were made to ride or drive, then God would have given you calluses on your back and butt. If locally made shoes and bags are adequate, why buy expensive Gucci, or Bally, or Florsheim? Take a vacation in Lake Sebu; you do not need to go to Hongkong to enjoy a summer vacation. (2) Love your studies, love your work. Studying is so much easier, so much more fun if you love it. If you find science and math difficult, get a barkada who enjoys doing science and math. His enthusiasm may rub off on you, and you might enjoy science and math yourself. Love your work, because if you do, then the work becomes delightful, the tedium disappears, and you discover that work is just like play. A graduate student from Finland, Linus Torvalds, together with friends across the Internet, wrote the computer operating system Linux. Linux became so popular that it is now used in all Android phones, in network routers, as fuel-regulating computer in cars, and for automating washing machines. Writing an operating system is difficult work, but Linus discovered that he enjoyed it, because he loved what he was doing, and he did it just for fun. A French scientist from Poland, Marie Curie, discovered radioactivity, and isolated the new radioactive elements polonium and radium. Her work with radioactivity was both dangerous and hard, but she loved it. Her love for work earned for her two Nobel Prizes, one in Physics and a second one in Chemistry. Work is noble. God commanded us to work when he told us, “from the sweat of your brow, you shall earn your daily bread”. Now it is up to us to love our work, and to work “just for fun”. (3) Be present for others who need us. Be young men and women for others. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment of all, he answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Further he said, Love your neighbor as yourself. You can not express your love of neighbor unless you are present when they need you. Will you help a sibling who is having difficulty with his homework? Will you help the woman who does your laundry whose child is sick? Will you help a victim of Typhoon Yolanda who lost everything when the storm surge came? Giving money, giving your time, giving kind words, giving of yourself by sharing in the manual labor -- these are ways that you can help. Your help does not have to be just money. (4) Follow the example of our patron saint, Marcellin Champagnat, in his love for education, specially of the young. Because Marcellin was poor and because he was not exceptionally bright, he had a hard time getting an education. So when he finally got an education as a priest, he founded the religious order of Marist Brothers who will work with children deprived of Christian education in remote rural areas because others were not going to them. The original mission of Marcellin and his Marist Brothers was to provide Christian education, specially of the young, and to those who can not afford the cost of education. You can share in this mission. In college, you can pursue a course in Education, so that you can be teachers of grade school or high school. If teaching is not your forte, you can help the education effort in other ways, like raising funds for scholarships, supporting the education of teachers, and supporting schools, specially those in the far-away towns and provinces. A retired faculty member of the Filipino Department of Ateneo de Manila, Dr Hornedo, never married had no family to support. His Ateneo salary was more than enough for his personal needs. He lived a simple life; he did not buy a car but took rides in buses and jeeps. He used the money he saved to support the education of many of his province mates from Batanes. His scholars who have finished college, instead of paying back their debt of gratitude to Dr Hornedo, payed it forward by supporting the education of other scholars from Batanes. You are graduating today, carrying in your heart these Marist values. In my case, I graduated 51 years ago in 1963 from the school we all love, our beloved Notre Dame of Marbel. Looking back, I believe that my teachers in the 1960s may not have had the best academic training, but they were the most dedicated, the most inspiring, the most understanding, the most humane, bunch of high school teachers anyone could have. Bro. Paul Johannes taught us Physics, not inside the classroom, but under a tree, lecturing or doing Physics demonstrations where we could see our beautiful campus. Bro. Obed made us memorize the Sunday gospel reading, to be recited and discussed during our religion class on Monday. From him we learned about Catholic Christianity, love of God, love of parents, love of neighbor, and how this love must translate into action. Our geometry teacher taught us how to go about the mathematical reasoning involved in a geometry proof, patiently and without losing his cool, even if mathematical reasoning is most difficult to teach. At age 15, I was not very tall (I still am not), yet the PMT moderator appointed me Corp S-3 intelligence officer, and gave me a big dose of confidence boosting. My most important teacher was Bro. Henry Joseph, Director of Notre Dame of Marbel, and he was not even one of my subject teachers. When the National Science Development Board, now the Department of Science and Technology, announced science scholarship examinations in Cotabato City in 1962 for university scholarships in 1963, Bro. Henry gave me all the books in mathematics, science, and English that I needed to prepare for that examination. He excused me from attending all my classes for two months, and cloistered me in the Deans conference room so that I could do advanced study, in order to properly prepare for the examination. After my period of review, Bro. Henry gave me a letter for the Oblate Fathers of Notre Dame of Cotabato, requesting them to give me board and lodging for two nights, so that I could take the examination without spending too much. In the end, I passed that examination and got a science scholarship. Bro. Henry taught me how to help, how to be generous in helping others. He taught me that in order to help properly, one must help all the way. In large part, I owe to the Marist Brothers, and to Bro. Henry in particular, the start of my science career. So what is the importance of my Marist high school education to my life today? I believe that my ideas of right and wrong were slowly formed over the years, but this formation found its greatest solidity in high school, under the guidance of my lay and Marist teachers. So today, whenever I have to make a decision, or take a course of action, I consult my memories of right and wrong, before a decision is made, or an action taken. The decision or action may turn out to be incorrect, in the end, but at least, the process involved in making the decision or action is according to my conscience, formed with the help of Notre Dame of Marbel. These Notre Damean values you must always treasure in your heart, and carry out in your daily life, in order to remain true to your Marist education: Live a simple life, love your work, be present for others, and follow the example of our patron saint, Marcellin Champagnat. Congratulations to you and to your parents on your graduation. Hail hail to our Notre Dame!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 15:10:55 +0000