This
2009, the Ateneo de Manila University is celebrating its Sesquicentennial year.
The main theme for this year’s 150th anniversary is “Building the
Nation”. There are numerous national heroes, martyrs, and other famous personnel
that have contributed to making this country a better place. For instance, there
is one particular Atenean who has used his talents, skills, intelligence, and
determination in order to relieve the Philippines from the dictatorial regime
of former President Ferdinand Marcos. He dedicated his entire life in order to
promote human rights, human dignity, democracy, and other values of an ideal
Christian and Philippine society. As a young aspiring lawyer, Evelio Javier is
considered as one of the youngest prominent Filipino leaders who have exhibited
love and dedication for his country. He helped free most Filipino citizens from
the iron hand of the Marcos government.
Inspired
by the nationalistic example of Evelio Javier, I too can contribute my talents,
skills, and knowledge for the benefit of this country. Like him, I can dedicate
my studies, my ambitions, and my whole life to discerning what I can do to
improve the Philippine’s state of poverty, violence, and oppression. The three
ways by which I can help my beloved country rise from the ashes are respecting
other people’s rights and dignity, aspiring for higher endeavors in my life as
a student and as a Filipino citizen, and obeying the rules and regulations in
my society.
There
is a common notion that most Ateneans are arrogant people. Some say that they
treat other people without the respect due to every human person. For instance,
it is common to see in the UAAP games how some Ateneans tend to jeer against
the other schools whenever Ateneo loses or whenever the officials of the game
make some calls against the ADMU team. It is surprisingly ironic to think that
here in the Ateneo, students are being trained to exercise the values of
respect, love, and solidarity in order to foster the ideal society in which
peace and harmony reigns. However, some of them exhibit the exact opposite of
what they are being trained to do. For example, during the ADMU-DLSZ basketball
game in the Araneta Coliseum, there were some high school students from the
Ateneo crowd who jeer, and shout words of outmost disrespect towards the De La
Salle fans. Certainly, these are not the Ateneo values that should be projected
to other people in society.
Like Evelio Javier, I can be one of
the few Ateneans who truly promote the dignity of every human person in my
society. Simple acts like greeting my teachers everyday, helping our class
janitors maintain the neatness and orderliness of the classrooms, thanking the
guards who help me cross the street safely, frequently speaking with my household
helpers, obeying my parents and avoiding answering back at them, and the like
will train me as early as possible to exercise the necessary values and
attitudes fit for an ideal Atenen and for an authentic Christian. Evelio Javier
had nearly everything any person would want: quality education, intelligence,
and a position in the government. Yet, he chose not to let the Marcos regime
hinder him from using his position in the government and in society in order to
protect others form the unjust reign. Hopefully, I can also use my God-given
talents and skills in order to promote the worth of the people in my society.
Ever since I entered the Ateneo de
Manila High School, I have constantly been an honor student. I always make it a
point to be one of the top students in my class in our long tests, quizzes, and
in other academic activities. I have aspired to be one of the best in order to
impress my parents, my classmates, my friends, myself. However, the most basic
reason why I choose to excel in my academics is the desire to maximize the
quality education being given to me by the Ateneo. Just like Evelio Javier who
aimed to be a great lawyer, I also desire to be a successful person. As Fr. Eli
Lumbo said in the Saint Stanislaus Kostka Mass earlier, “success is becoming
what God wants you to be,” I want to become the excellent person my Heavenly Father
created me to become. I know that He wants me to try my best to do extremely
well in all my endeavors, including non-academic goals, in order for me to have
the necessary means like, intelligence, financial resources, and Christian
values, in order to serve my country. By being a consistent honor student,
hopefully I can graduate from the Ateneo as a lucrative person in order for me
to properly serve my brethren.
Nowadays, most laws, regulations, and
policies in the Philippines get either violated or manipulated for the
convenience of others. Examples of these laws include the truck ban, the number
coding laws, and waste segregation policies. As an Atenean, I am being trained
to obey the laws posed to me by my society. How can I serve my country
effectively if I, myself, cannot abide by the necessary rules and regulations?
As such, by cooperating with simple everyday policies such as the haircut rule,
academic dishonesty, complete uniform, I can effectively show a proper example
to my fellow Ateneans and to my fellow Filipino citizens. As Mr. Herminio D.
Brazal, a TD teacher exclaimed, “It is the spririt of the law that counts,” I
will strive to do my best to strictly obey the laws and other policies of my
society.
In the end, to be like Evelio Javier
is to be the person God is calling each of us to become. God wants us to love and
serve our nation and the other people in our society. Like Evelio Javier, I
hope to exhibit the Magis to make my country a better place to live in. As
early as today, I will start striving
for a better and brighter future for my nation.
