Monday, December 03, 2007 Echaves: Defining the heart By Lelani P. Echaves Thinking Aloud
LEADERS in business and industry, respected professionals, driven entrepreneurs, heroic cancer survivors, honorary consuls, benevolent philanthropists, dedicated guidance counselors and teachers, and full-time mothers…..these comprised the twenty-five “Outstanding Alumnae of the Sacred Heart School – Hijas de Jesus.”
Unlike other awarding ceremonies that come out annually, the former Sacred Heart School for Girls waited for its fiftieth year to recognize its first-ever batch of exemplary alumnae at the Casino Español last November 24. Quietly but surely, the awardees passed the scrutiny of a five-man panel composed of Dr. Ester B. Velasquez, President of the Cebu Normal University, and a pillar in Philippine education; Prof. Felisa U. Etemadi, professor at U.P. College Cebu and multi-awarded researcher; Fr. Ernesto Javier, S.J., Director of the Sacred Heart School of the Society of Jesus; and corporate CEOs Roberto E. Aboitiz of the Aboitiz conglomerate, and Hernan Streegan of Rhine Marketing.
Fittingly, the theme “Fifty Years of Growing and Going Beyond” capsulized all about the school’s and the awardees’ track record. Sister Genoveva Suson, School Directress, shared how Blessed Candida Maria de Jesus, “a simple, unlettered woman with no cultural formation whatsoever,” founded a female religious congregation dedicated to Christian education. Setting roots in Cebu in 1957, the school grew to produce some of Cebu’s successful women hereabouts, including Honorary Consul Helena Benedicto (Class 1959), my college schoolmate Filomena Ngo-Sy, and my fellow Sun.Star Cebu columnist, Melanie Lim.
Citing Blessed Candida’s guiding principle of “where there is no room for the poor, neither is there room for me,” Sister Genoveva lauded the awardees for excellence in all their endeavors — “an excellence that is not so much about fame, power and money but about the excellence of character, always upholding the Christian values and maintaining the ideals of a Sacred Hearter.”
The good nun’s much-applauded welcome remarks were equally matched by the moving response from Ms. Cynthia Jacinto-Cabasag (Class ‘79) on behalf of all the awardees. She stressed fundamental principles learned from her parents and school —— “We are a gift of God and we have a responsibility to be a gift to others,” and “When we think about the times we had the most fulfillment, it was almost always an occasion that involved doing good for others. That’s the interesting paradox. Personal joy brought about by bringing joy to others.”
If service to others seems a herculean task, the awardee immediately reminded us all that service need not mean “big time others. It can be our own families, our neighbors, the street sweeper we see everyday, the gas boy, our helpers at home.”
Her words bear repeating. Indeed, we don’t have to hole ourselves up in a five-star hotel, create havoc to that establishment’s Filipino employees and guests, provoke the storming of their hostaged building, and then arrogantly say “we’re just doing our duty to the Filipino people.”
