Saturday, February 25, 2006
So: Reality bites
By Jocy L. So
Unraveling
"That more than trigonometry, Greek mythologies, chemistry formulas, names of Philippine presidents, and Florante and Laura, more than anything else my students learned in school, that they will believe in and value their nation and in taking action to do their share to help others."
"WE DO not teach math, history, science, or grammar -- we teach students."
In a few weeks, school year 2005-2006 will come to a close and another batch of students will climb up thousands of stages all over the nation to receive their diplomas. But for Guinsaugon Elementary School of St. Bernard, Southern Leyte there won't be such a ceremony. Hope to unearth the approximately 300 students and teachers buried under the 25 to 30 meters of suffocating mud is fading.
Even as rescuers cling to a thin line of hope grounded on scratching sounds from underneath the soil or a cellphone message plea for help, even as international teams fly in with their technology and trained dogs, even as loved ones and strangers shed tears and say prayers for the victims, even as an entire nation wonders why and tries to find ways to help, we cannot escape the fact that we are again facing a heartbreaking human tragedy.
Fifteen years after a landslide in Ormoc claimed 8,000 lives; a little over a year after typhoons battered Aurora and Quezon killing 1,800 individuals; a mere nine days after the stampede at Ultra for the Wowowee tv show anniversary resulted in the death of 71 people, and it seems that not enough mass graves, wailing mothers, nor innocent deaths will change things.
After Ormoc, was there reforestation programs to alleviate another disaster from transpiring?
After Aurora and Quezon have we properly assessed the impact of mining and logging on our environment? Even if nature was the primary culprit in causing damage, didn't human greed and irresponsibility contribute to the problem? After Ultra, have we asked ourselves how we can more efficiently and effectively help victims (majority of whom are poor)?
I think of my students. They are graduating this March. They will go to college, earn degrees, pursue their dreams, earn money, go abroad, establish their businesses, start their own families, and I wonder if we have equipped them properly for the real world. I wonder if we have taught them not just the importance of academic excellence, but the importance of being humans of excellence, humans of compassion, humans of integrity.
Writer Bob Ong once wrote, "Pero sino nga ba ang learning disabled, 'yung mga hirap mag-aral o 'yung mga walang natutunan? Ano ang pinagkaiba ng out-of-school youth na shoplifter at Harvard graduate na corrupt government official bukod sa mas masama yung pangalawa?... Hindi ba malaking pagkakamali ng maraming eskawelahan na gawing 0-10% lamang ang 'Character' sa computation sa grades -- gayong Character ang humuhulma sa tao, pamilya, bansa, mundo, at kasaysayan?"
My students are young. They worry about their hair, their crushes, their MP3s, their math grades. They are smart. They can calculate the acceleration of an object traveling from 10 m/s to 20 m/s in 10 seconds. They can write theses about the effects of watching TV on their grades. But I wonder, can they look at the problems besetting their communities, their country and actually care? Can they not only realize how incredibly blessed they are to have lived the life they have, but also realize that "to those much has been given, much is also required?" Can they not only look at the poverty and degradation in the Philippines and shake their heads, but also look for ways to help, look for solutions, look for hope?
Can they not only find ways to earn money and achieve a life of comfort for themselves, but also find ways to give and achieve a life of promise for others? I teach entrepreneurship to 85 senior students. I encourage them to believe in themselves and reach for their dreams. I tell them they can be their own boss and establish their own businesses. But is that enough? Have I taught them that life is not really about themselves alone?
It's not about the pursuit of their own dreams alone. It's about living a life understanding that, trite as it may sound, "no man is an island." We are all in
this together, that no matter how successful your business is, no matter how large is your company, and how much money you make, it's all senseless and meaningless if we don't know how to give, to share, to love.
Even though Ormoc, Aurora, Quezon, Ultra, and Leyte are far away, they (my students) are in this too. And that they can be heroes who actively become part of the solution, instead of passive bystanders watching one tragedy after another unfold. Last night, I watched a TV interview about Gawad Kalinga, a non-government organization with a simple dream of eliminating slums from the Philippines and alleviating poverty by empowering poor people, giving them a sense of dignity and hope through homes and communities that they themselves helped build. The guests talked about hope and action, of looking at the Philippines not with a sense of helplessness, that the only solution is to get a nursing degree and get out ASAP, but with faith that we can break the cycle of poverty, rise from the mud and debris, and become a great nation.
Three years after its inception, Gawad Kalinga has built over 15,000 homes in more than 600 villages including 44 new towns for those affected by 2004's typhoon devastation of Aurora and Quezon. Their action fueled by a deep sense of belief in the Filipino, and the ability of people, rich and poor, to dream, act upon that dream, and change the world around them. And I realize that this is the hope I have for my students. That more than trigonometry, Greek mythologies, chemistry formulas, names of Philippine presidents, and Florante and Laura, more than anything else my students learned in school, that they will believe in and value their nation and in taking action to do their share to help others. Because that is something no typhoon, no mudslide, no stampede can take away.
Jocy L. So teaches at Davao Christian High School
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