Marching Millionaires

March is the time for graduation programs and marches, when students of different levels—pre-school, grade school, high school, college—go up the stage to receive their diploma.

When I watch college graduation ceremonies and see those marching graduates,  I have this thought, “Welcome to the Millionaires’ club!”

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In the Philippines, parents usually spend for their children’s education up to college. So if you compute and total all of the expenses for each graduate (from kindergarten to their university graduation), he or she would have spent a whopping one million pesos!

You still have many years ahead of you before you graduate from college.  But let me ask you: Do you have any idea how expensive education is? 

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For you to attend school, your parents need to spend for the following: tuition and miscellaneous fees, books, uniforms, school supplies, daily allowance, plus other activities such as sports, arts, Moving-Up day, United Nations’ parade, during which you need special costumes and props. 

Now, how about the extra fees for tutors, or a birthday celebration in class, or any  unplanned school requirement? 

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Back in my time, in the farming town where I grew up, parents used to say to their children, “The only thing we can leave you is education. We are not rich, we do not own material wealth, but we can toil night and day—sleep less and work more in the farm—to send you to school.”

Education was the most important thing parents wanted to give their children in lieu of inheritance.

Although your parents today may not say it often enough, the way my grandparents and parents did, I guess your mom and dad have these same thoughts. In our culture, education is valued very, very highly. 

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Many famous people from other parts of the world said this of education:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (Nelson Mandela)

“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.” (Horace Mann)

“When you know better you do better.” (Maya Angelou)

“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.” (Aristotle)

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Education is necessary in every child’s life. So maybe you hear this a lot from your parents and teachers, “Have you done your homework? Are you studying enough?” 

They don’t mean to punish you or make things hard for you. They mean to help you think of education as something that prepares you for your future.

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So, how many millionaires do we have in the Philippines today? Countless. Every year, we have over a million students graduating from college. Maybe you know one.

If you take your lessons seriously and focus on your studies now, you, too, will be a millionaire someday. Meanwhile, consider it a blessing to be able to go to school. Always try to remember that your parents have to sacrifice a lot and work hard so you can be educated. Take time this month of March to be grateful to them.

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Congratulations graduates! Please visit my website: http://leavesofgrace.blog spot.com or email me at: gdchong@ gmail.com