Pangilinan: The girl who wanted to be so many things

IT IS the season of moving ups and moving forward, while for me it is also a season for looking back. I graduated from San Fernando Elementary School in 1995 and I was invited by my good friend, Dr. Ariel Garcia, who is now the officer-in-charge principal of SFES to be the guest speaker for the Kindergarten moving up ceremony. My daughter Sunis and I came up with this story instead of the usual speech.

Once upon a time, somewhere in the middle earth, there was a little girl who had a really long name. She was the youngest child born to a farmer father and a teacher mother. Because her older siblings were starting to go to magic school all at the same time, her father had to leave to work in a faraway desert land. The little girl will only see her father once a year but she made sure that she didn't give her parents problems at home.

One day, her mother asked the girl, what do you want to be when you grow up? The little girl gave it a thought, and said, “I want to be a unicorn so I can help other people.” The little girl had it in her heart to help, and her family supported her dream.

The little girl started going to school and became very active, volunteering for so many things, whether it was writing for a school paper, acting in theater, or camping with the Girl Scouts. When she was about to leave school, someone interviewed her for her year book, and asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, she said that she wanted to be a unicorn, a storyteller, a lion tamer, and learn other languages.

Fast forward to magic school, the girl chose two courses to help her be a unicorn, anthropology (the study of culture) and political science (the study of power), and eventually would pass with flying colors at the top of her class. In between her classes, she was also busy learning new things outside of school, like playing the violin, quid ditch, going to balls, and traveling.

When the girl graduated, she went home to become a lion tamer for a year, making one of her dreams come true, before going to unicorn school. She found that she loved lion taming so much that she wanted to pass on her love for learning. After a year, she entered unicorn school at the top of her class but in the middle of the school year she had to stop going to school and find work as her mother got ill and she was the only one left to take care of her. She loved her mother very much.

The girl found work at an exciting new place called the City Hall, and wanted to be part of the change happening in middle earth. The girl started to work as a storyteller, until there was an opening as a warrior. The girl fell in love with her new job which was very exciting, getting to organize the jousting competitions and safeguarding her city's treasures. She thought that while she was in her job, while supporting her family, she can still learn new things instead of sulking and being sad.

Forgetting about being a unicorn for a while, she became a lot of things instead- a storyteller and memory keeper, a juggler, a herald, a thinker, a rockstar, a do-gooder in the community, whether it is Scouting, or Saving Trees, and many other things. The best thing of all is that when she became a mother to a cute little girl with many names, she also became a nurturer, wizard, potions master, and keeper of the earth, roles which she now passes on to her daughter. Beyond any medals and trophies, she believes that her family is her greatest blessing, that she still lives with her parents and = her amazing little daughter is an everyday reward.

The things I learned from this little girl:

First, never, ever stop learning. The more you know, the more you actually do not know.

Second, dreams do come true, sometimes in ways we never imagined. Her mother always told the little girl, “Many are the plans in a man's heart but it is the will of the Lord that prevails.”

Third, time is love, more than any other gifts that we give, it is the memories with the people we love that are most treasured.

Fourth, money is not the only kind of wealth there is. While we may not be money rich, we are rich with friends and family.

Fifth, we don't need a reason to help other people. We just help.

And yes, the little girl with a very long name has not forgotten that she still wants to be a unicorn when she grows up.

As a parent, I realized that the challenge is not to raise smarter kids, but kids with bigger hearts. Beyond the culture of excellence, I hope that parents like you and me also nurture a culture of service and resilience.

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