The Rolling Stone

Life is beautiful. It is full of surprises that make us appreciate the beauty of living. We never lose in life; we always gain something out of it. Whenever we have bad experiences, we gain lessons that could help us grow to be more than what we are. Whenever we have good experiences, we gain memories that linger deep within our soul. If we try to look back to the making of our history unfolding before our very eyes, we would say that life indeed is beautiful.
Looking back, I never thought I could go this far. Now, I am almost celebrating my silver birthday anniversary, but I still feel young at heart. Despite all the ups and downs I have met, I still bravely face life with all the vigor. I could still remember every moment which formed me to become what I am now.
My mother told me that I was a blessing to her. She never had a great deal of pain when she delivered me into this world on November 8, 1982. Moreover, during my younger years, she found me gentle; I just slept soundly in the crib so she could do her other works. I just cried when I got wet and hungry. I didn’t even have a slight sickness when I was young. Such things might explain why I am my mother’s favorite.
I was raised up in a religious family composed of six. I was taught to have faith in God by my parents who served as lay ministers in our parish. My father earned his living by driving our jeepney while my mother managed our small sari-sari store. As a family, we lived a life of simplicity with my two sisters, Shella and Grace, and my brother Christopher.
When I was young, our parents told us to be respectful. Thus kissing the hands of the elders had been my habit. Aside from that, my mother also taught me how to read and sing when I was four years old.
When I was six, I was sent to Payao Elementary School to have my formal education. All throughout my elementary years, I was the consistent first placer in the honor roll. I had many memorable experiences during my elementary years. Some of them were good, others were bad but I treasure them all. I could still remember those times when I always got pads of paper, loads of candies and chocolates as I perfected our exams. Moreover, I also learned to be thrifty. As a matter of fact, there were times when I did not spend my daily allowance and saved out of selling bananas and guavas in school.
When I was in Grade III, my grandmother told me that she wanted me to become a priest someday in exchange of my uncle who answered the call of married life. I just agreed to her without much thought. Thus, I began to attend mass every Sunday. I even led rosaries whenever the Birhen sa Barangay visited near our home. Moreover, I always had the perfect attendance during the Flores de Mayo every May.
After graduating elementary as class valedictorian, I was enrolled in the catholic institution of Immaculate Academy in the town of Duero. I chose the first section, St. Therese where almost all the valedictorians of every elementary school in Duero were enrolled. Hence, there was a stiff competition in the class. Sometimes I felt somewhat inferior because I came from a far-flung barrio. Despite that, as the school year ended I proved my worth because I was ranked as second honors in our class next to the principal’s daughter. I gave my best during high school; thus my talents were honed and developed, my sense of responsibility was enhanced, and my knowledge on many things was augmented. It was also the time when I became more active not only in the academic sphere but also in extracurricular activities.
When I was in fourth year, we had a subject on computers. I was very much fascinated with this thing; thus I yearned to learn more about it. On the other hand, many people told me that probably I would become rich in the future because I had the guts, the brain, and the attitude needed to be successful. Moreover, I had a yearning to lift my parents from poverty. So after graduating high school, instead of entering the seminary, I decided to pursue my college education with the course Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering at University of Bohol. Because of that, I caused grief to my grandmother who always wanted to have a priest in the family.
My college life was smooth sailing at first. I was even included in the Dean’s List. But influenced by some of my friends and classmates, I started to skip classes and drink liquors. From then, my life became a mess. My grades gradually became lower and I failed to maintain the scholarship which I was enjoying during my first year in college. I was very much discouraged, and my life seemed to have no proper direction. I yearned to find meaning in my existence,
My search for life meaning was answered when I was elected as PYM moderator in our parish in the summer of 2001. As a moderator, I was sent to attend recollections and seminars in the diocese so that I could re-echo them in our parish. One time while I was attending a seminar, I was touched by the talk of the speaker. That gave me the impetus to pursue my dream of becoming a priest. Thus in the year 2002, I took the entrance examination at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary. Luckily I passed but I was discouraged upon knowing that I needed to be financially equipped to study in the seminary. Thus I was not able to pursue my dream of becoming a priest.
The following school year, I still continued my study at University of Bohol. Because engineering course focuses more on mathematics which was not my favorite subject, I shifted course to Bachelor in Psychology.
After a semester, my parents told me that they could not anymore afford to send me to school since our jeep was already worn out and my sister was already a graduating education student at Holy Name University. So, I stopped schooling and helped my parents at home. I even volunteered to be the conductor of our jeep. That job was very tough because the roads were very dusty and the temperature outside was very hot. As a conductor, I found out that it was very tiring to do manual jobs such as carrying sacks of rice, palay, copra and other things under the heat of the sun.
When my sister graduated in college, all the savings of our family were exhausted. I had no more chance to continue my studies, so I decided to go to Manila to find a job. I had an uncle there who had his own house somewhere in Cubao. So, together with my younger brother, I went to Manila. Left with no choice, I stayed at our uncle’s house. I thought Manila was a heaven but I was disappointed to know the reality that it was not. It was only good to be there if you had the money; but if you had none, it was hell. It was very difficult looking for a job in this place especially if you had no course completed or any backer to assist. We applied for many jobs in the city. There was even a time that we had to walk miles to reach the company only to be told that we would just wait for their call. We had also applied for a janitorial position, service crew in a restaurant, and others. But all of these job applications were futile.
We stayed for almost three months in our uncle’s house without a job and we were very much dependent on him. Because of such, his wife became indignant to us up to the point that she almost refused to feed us. Driven by shame, we grabbed an opportunity to work as safety consultant.
Our work as a safety consultant involved going around wearing formal clothes and convincing people to buy our safety device for their stoves. We needed to demonstrate by playing with fire just to convince a prospective buyer. We also had an agreement of no purchase, no salary with our manager. And because it was very difficult to convince people to buy a product, we lasted just for a month doing that job in Laguna.
After that, we worked in a canteen doing stuffs as washing dishes and doing errands for our master. I experienced hell that time because our boss was very strict and he liked to humiliate us in front of people. After a month, we also quitted that job. During those times, I realized that life was indeed very difficult. As a result, after few weeks we came back to Bohol.
When I came back to Bohol, I learned that our barrio was in the process of becoming a Quasi- Parish in Duero. Rev. Fr. Edward Karaan was assigned there to celebrate mass every Wednesday and Sunday. Since my parents were lay ministers, they had access to the priest. In one of their talks with the priest, they told Fr. Ed about my plan of entering the seminary and the reasons why I had not pursued such plan. Fr. Ed offered a helping hand to find me a benefactor , and I did grab the opportunity.
On June 6, 2003 I entered the portals of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary. For almost four years of stay in the seminary, I have been formed to become a better person. I learned a lot of things in the seminary and I feel that this is really where I belong. After many years of wandering, I have finally found my home. I still do not know what awaits me, but I am certain that whatever my future holds, I will face it with faith in God.