MOST of the time, life seems to move so fast that one fails to appreciate the blessings of the past and the wonders of the present. For me, I always made it a point to write about the year past and what I intend to accomplish for the incoming year during the New Year’s break. I call it “Self-Realization Program,” and every now and then, I’d revisit what I wrote for the past 40 years. It’s interesting how our goals and priorities change as we grow older in life.
From March 1-3, 2019, my schoolmates in Cebu Normal Laboratory School (as it was called then) will gather for the 50th anniversary since our graduation from elementary school. Much as I want to attend the event, I am tied up to my new job lawyering (yes, I am still working at 62 years old) in Hamilton, New Zealand.
I am thoroughly sad that I will be missing the company of dear friends whom I have not met for decades, and can only send them my best wishes that they will have fun reminiscing those days of innocence and discovery.
If not for the regular current event quizzes, the class of 1969 wouldn’t have known about Gloria Diaz winning the Miss Universe crown, or US President Richard Nixon visiting the Philippines or Ferdinand Marcos defeating Cebu’s Serging Osmeña in the presidential elections.
Of course, the space race between the US and Russia dominated the news in 1969, culminating in the moon landing with Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the lunar surface. The Vietnam War was ongoing, and we’d know a bit of that, as Mactan was one of the airbases of the Americans. At 12 years old, most of us didn’t care much about Woodstock or the Beatles performing for the last time in the rooftop in their Apple’s headquarters.
What were we most interested in? Other than learning from and doing homework assigned by our class adviser, there were the gardening, scouting, takyan, jolen, kite-flying, stamp-collecting, and marching on Jones Ave. during Philippine Independence Day Parade. During recess, we’d run to buy stuff from the vendors outside the gates. Of course, most boys had their crushes and share of fist-fights.
My most memorable people in Grade 6 were Mrs. Paner, my section adviser, who thought of me as a leader (I never got elected as a class officer); and my best buddy Frederick Chiong, whom I loved talking about anything as we walked to our respective homes together after classes.
To the young ones of today, enjoy your youthful life and make wonderful memories. To us, young once, let us treat each day as a gift, by making a bit of difference in the lives of those whom we love, and even to strangers. Life is too short for regrets.