AFTER close to fifty articles and without missing a single issue, we have finally reached this column’s first year anniversary! Thank you very much Sunstar Baguio and of course, to our readers!
Exactly one year ago (last April 3, 2017) we explained the title of our column: “An Eternal Student is humorously defined as someone who tries to avoid getting a job for as long as possible by taking more educational courses. Other dictionaries are much sensible: "one who studies forever." Although this phenomenon has western origins, our country has so much eternal students, the working mom who has to postpone her Masters to take care of her baby, the working law student who has horribly aged in his 7th year of law school, the ‘suma-sampung-taon’ undergraduate student who must be confused on the difference of school allowance and wage, and those who are really addicted to learning anything under the sun.”
“The Eternal Student” is also the name of a personal blog we maintained since 2012 containing our journals, musings, and studies. Whether to give opinions from the lens of a millennial, or just to tell stories from our generation, we also dream of writing more often to communicate - besides, this is the first step towards understanding each other in this chaotic world. In this life, nobody leaves unscathed. We all make mistakes, and we all struggle to come out as whole as possible from the choking collision course of our choices and those by others, add the wild storms of this unpredicted world. Many times we eat more than we can chew, imagine more than act, doubt more than hope, and maybe, simply just acted wrong despite all heaven’s warnings. Our articles will talk about familiar experiences and opinions, and of course of all of our internalized rumblings – as a creative, a teacher, a tourism officer or government worker...as a human being. It will also be dedicated to telling stories about life and life’s lessons – learning, unlearning, and perhaps, surviving. After all, in this school of life, we are all Eternal Students.
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A year is a time not wasted when there is growth. The Eternal Student is also the title of a simple book that currently raises funds for Renal Patients in La Trinidad. 100% of the proceeds go to a group of Dialysis Patients in our hometown to, at least, even in our small actions, give aid to their day to day expenses. Initial sales have already resulted to an amount of P13,500 which they have received in full. My Olsim aunties; Aunty Marjorie and Aunty Shirly donated P5,000 and P20,000, respectively, for the reprint and production of the books. This means the book has the potential to raise a hundred thousand this year and, if sustained and with our supporters’ generosity, perhaps one million pesos in the next ten years! Thank you very much to all those who bought the book and, of course, to my relatives and friends, and everyone who supported our cause! A year is not wasted when there is purpose, and meaning in our lives!