Perfect to me

The feeling of knowing that my brother is finally going to college is a feeling I wouldn’t trade for anything else in the world okay, maybe aside from the feeling of seeing him finally graduate. Yes, like many other older sisters out there, I am sending my brother to school and will be for the next four years until he graduates. This is not a role I pictured myself to be in but this is definitely something that has motivated me to work harder in my job and to dream bigger. 

The reason is simple. I don’t just want to give my younger brother a good life. I want to give him the best life the same kind of life that my parents had given me when I was still under their wing.

 My brother is six years younger than me but unlike me, he takes life a little less seriously. Sometimes, this really gets into my nerves. It’s either he is behaving his age (16) or I was simply thinking and behaving way too old when I was his age. I remember quite clearly how, when I was sixteen, I was already thinking of what job to bag after graduation, the places I wanted to go, the house I wanted to live in, the life I wanted to enjoy. At 16, my brother only thinks about three things: basketball, iPod, and the family car.

I was only able to talk to my brother very briefly the night before his first day into college and the conversation was simply filled with bantering and talking about what strategy works for which teacher. Although I had to cut the phone call short because I was buried deep in work, here’s what I really wanted to say to my brother now that he’s entering one of the best parts of one’s academic life: college.

 Quak (this is my brother’s pet name for as long as I can remember because his nickname happens to be Dakki), college will definitely be an unbelievable experience for you. I can’t promise that it will all be about having a good time while I can’t also say that this will entirely be an uphill climb. College will give you the best of both worlds: the dead serious and stressful work of academic papers and requirements, and the sense of adventure and fun that, at the end of the day, will make the burden of papers and requirements feel lighter than air.

College will be the final leg in your academic life so it’s quite important that you’ve already figured out what you want and where you want to go later on. Don’t ask me about what course you should be taking. Don’t even ask mommy or daddy about it. Ask yourself and listen to your heart. Take it from me, you will only be able to excel when you venture into something that you truly love because that, my boy, is something you will be naturally good at. In the end, it won’t even feel like you’re working hard for it at all.

I don’t really care if I will be paying for a course that other people will think is ‘impractical’. There is no impractical course as many people are prone to label the humanities as. So don’t even go into thinking that way when some of your other friends will come to choose Fine Arts or Anthropology or Mass Communication. At the end of the day, what matters is that you are doing what you truly love.

 Work hard for your grades but don’t forget to get a life. I’m not asking you to give me a grade sheet with perfect fours in all subjects. You do not need to have perfect grades for me to be proud of you because I already am. 

 Hang out with the kind of people you’ll know will be your friends for life not just those with cool cars or killer gadgets because when the music dies down, the strobe lights face out, and the party is over, you’ll find out who’s going to stay to help clean up the mess you’ll find yourself in and who’ll ditch you faster than you can say ‘tequila’. Go with people who’ll see you through even when you are at your worst. After all, life will be about who has the biggest heart, not the fanciest car.

Pray. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a breath prayer. Remember that you cannot take on life’s challenges alone. And I can’t also always be there for you. At the end of the day, you will really only have God to guide you, to protect you, and to be with you no matter what. The best thing about God? He’s never out of coverage.

 Finally, I know you hate it when my teachers keep comparing you to me. You do not have to listen to them and you do not have to be me because you’re pretty good just the way you are. You do not need to bring home a jillion awards and be miserable at the end of the day because you sacrificed the things you love to do just to become the person other people want you to be. Don’t ever think that you are any less of a person just because you do not have your name and huge CONGRATULATIONS printed out in one big banner in front of the school. Let them compare but never let them dictate because you are meant to be someone totally different.

I know all these are a tall order and I really wish to cut you some slack because I personally hate to nag.

If it’s any encouragement, go for the goal in college and know that no matter what they say, you are perfect to me.