.......And minutes later after that painful and grotesquely beautiful display of a womans commitment to her essence, country and respect for life, a beautiful 7 pounder baby boy was led out from the gates of her womanhood to join all men in a wild goose chase we call life officially on the 12th of July 1991.
YES MY DEAR SIR?... MINUTES????......... I was not born in an exaggerated long wait of almost a day.... My dear friends not even an hour.... I was born in a matter of not more than 30 mins..... You see If My mom were to take an exam worth the usual 60 minute brain busting exercise my mom wouldn't have only finished the test but she too would have enough time to pull out a baby and have everything all done and ready complete with hair and make up before your teacher could say "Class pass the papers forward" ........ talk about time management!!!! Right?
So there I was ..... BORN....CLOTHED... CRADLED... NOURISHED... TAUGHT...... Like they were preparing me for something I will never be up for. Story be told, they enrolled me to a fortress they call school. At the very supple age of 4 years old having been stripped off of my television privilleges was at the top of my concern. Not seeing Tom and Jerry chase each other in the tele was a sight I didn't wanna get used to. In the bellows of my disheartened sentiment I spoke to my mom and agreed on a compromise.
"Mommy I'm really ok if I be retained in kindergarten. Im happier here. But please dont allow the teacher to make me a grade 1 student. Then she agreed. I was delighted and told myself wow ..... that was easy.....
BUT I just wouldn't believe it.... there goes grade 1... then 2.... then 6... Highschool... before you know it I was ready for college. There was no way I was ever gonna get out of school from how things were rolling. I then would just have to make the most out of it. My terms.
Mommy since my report card states that I am ready for college and my performance allows me to choose any school, I request to be schooled in Cebu. She thought about it real hard, discussed things oh so thoroughly and yes argued on the side. After a truck load of promisses from me and advise from other people she finally succumbed and I was ready for the first day of College.
Hello good day I am Nico Ivan A. Velasquez 15 years old from Tacloban City from the Province of Leyte taking up Mass Communication and glad to meet you all. That I thought was the longest time I had to be away from my family....And I loved it!....
After a total of 29,208 hours, 1,752,480 min and 105,148,800 seconds I was walking down the red carpet for the University of San Jose Recoletos' 2011th commencement excercises.
Graduating as an accomplished member of the Cebu Performing Arts a.k.a the Amparito Llamas Lhuillier Educational Foundation, an able officer of numerous clubs and my cherry on top graduating Magna Cum Laude at an age of 19 years old, Oh God did I cry ......... I did in remembering my promises I swore to my mom. Cause I realized it wasn't really about hitting the mark, arriving to your destination or meeting your objectives. But it was a flashback of what you had to go through to get there. True to what Aristotle said "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act. Its a habit" My dear friends It is a lifestyle.
I have lived not too long to know a lot nor too short to share nothing. I am in an age of that exhibits a tug of war, a reflection of an accomplishment and a disaster, beauty and horror. I am a proud and fertile product of my history. At an age of 4 I started walking afraid of the unkown but I went forward. Growing between those years I learned and understood the concept of consistency. I found out what makes a little boy control tantrums and issues. In the long run I learned to look at things as a challenge and went thru the task of holding it firmly by the hand. And at the end I found myself realizing that with a plan, commitment and drive - I CAN ACHIEVE.