Way of the young warrior

 “Dying was easy: It’s the living that’s hard” – painfully narrated by Lester Tenny who, sleepless, restless, starved and battle-scarred from defending Bataan until its fall on April 9, 1942, was forced into the Death March. Walking 106 kilometers without food, water, relief, or treatment, if a captive stopped for any reason, he was instantly killed. If one faltered in his resolve to survive, he died.

Surviving the torturous march was superhuman. Any contemporary struggle to survive is unworthy of comparison. One can’t help but think though that if they fought and died for country, they also stayed alive for family and their hopeful future.

The future, our youth, even our young, would say heroic soldiers don’t have a monopoly on survival techniques. This Sunday, I will share how our younger people face their modern individual battles, captured through the lens of the students, who are young themselves. PwC asked students nationwide to submit their photo-story of anything that depicts Filipino values. This is part of a project to craft for our young ones a curriculum for their formative learning: on Filipino values, and to make them appreciative and to dream purposefully.

Here are some of the more than 700 photo-stories submitted:

1. Pagpag is a picture of two excited children, one much smaller than the other, making an excited dash towards something – a box of consumed packed lunch thrown in the garbage. Pagpag or recycled food from garbage has become staple food for the very poor. Pagpag is normally gathered and recooked. But these kids won’t wait for it to be recooked. Far from being sorry for themselves, they are genuinely so happy they found their lunch. The student who took the photo gave up his takeout lunch for these kids. That’s the least he could do, he thought. How about us, what can we do?

2. Kropek is a picture of a young lady in school uniform with a backpack, envelope, and one other thing she is carrying: a big plastic bag filled with packs of kropek (deep fried crackers) that hangs from her shoulders down to her leg. Our student-photographer caught her selling kropek in Luneta Park after her classes. This little business of hers is where she gets her daily allowance and out-of-pocket expenses. Sometimes, she will even have a bit of extra to give to her parents. She is not ashamed that her family does not have enough. This grade-school daughter takes pride that she has found a way to help her studies.

3. Kuya is a picture of a 13-year-old boy with a stack of about 20 plastic baskets he manages to carry at the back of his shoulders. He does not have the normal fortune of having parents who support their children. He sells these plastic baskets to provide for his six siblings. He believes that as their older brother, his fate is to stand as the head of the family who is now responsible for their future. The student who took the boy’s the picture offered cash but the boy refused to accept it. He said: “I am not a beggar, but you can buy a basket if you like.”

4. Cleft lip is the image of a shy-looking, adorable little boy with a shaven head, sitting by his lonesome, staring at other kids who were playing, as if resigned to his fate that he couldn’t join. The boy, however, did not seem dejected. Our student-photographer asked the boy why he wasn’t playing with rest of the kids. He said they were mean to him and called him ugly because of his cleft lip. “Do you believe them?” the boy was asked. “No, my mother tells me every day that I’m handsome. I believe my mother.”

5. Lawton is a picture of a rear-view mirror showing the face of the jeepney driver. The student who took the picture and submitted the entry is his son. The jeepney-driver father asked a paying passenger where he was headed. The passenger answered, “Lawton”. The son, then riding the same jeep, sitting at the back of his father, replied mentally to his father’s question: “Pa, I already know where I’m going. I’ll do my very best to graduate and become a CPA so I could help you in providing the needs of our family. I feel elated that all your hard work will soon come to fruition. I will never let you down. You are the man I look up to. I couldn’t thank you enough.”

6. Young OFW (overseas Filipino worker) is a picture of Jojo, a young adult spoon-feeding his lola (grandmother) whom he calls “nanay” while she sits in a wheelchair. Jojo threw a party at the nursing home to celebrate his lola’s 80th birthday. The student who took the photo is a friend of Jojo. Jojo is frequently asked why he wastes money on tickets, going back and forth between Dubai and Manila. He said he was raised by his lola, who stood as his parent. His lola worked hard to send him to school. He is sad that today he needs to work as an OFW and leave his lola in a nursing home. He does not mind spending money just to be with his nanay even for a while. His only lament is that nanay grows weaker and has a harder time remembering him every time he comes back to visit. He said even if his nanay forgets who he is, he will keep coming back to visit because his nanay is his everything.

Did you feel as if you have been served with chicken soup for the soul this Sunday? Even if I wrote this, I felt it, too.

(We will award the winners of the PwC Philippines’ values photo-story contest during the last week of this month. Thanks to them, we rediscover our values, or get awakened with servings of the truth.)

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Alexander B. Cabrera is the chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines. He is the chairman of the Tax Committee, and the vice chairman of EMERGE (Educated Marginalized Entrepreneurs Resource Generation) program, of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). Email your comments and questions to [email protected]. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.