Batch 2015, to infinity and beyond

Twenty-years ago, I came across with a book written in 1972 by Professor Juan F. Rivera of the FEU Institute of Law entitled, ‘The Great Power at the Bar and Bench.’ It is a collection of writings and speeches of great men and women of the legal profession here and abroad. Presenting his book to the readers, Professor Rivera quoted the parable written by the then Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano for the tercentenary of the University of Sto. Tomas. The parable run as follows:

A rough diamond lay on the beach among other stones of the ordinary kind. A boy gathered several of them to play with, and with them he took home the precious stone, though unaware of its value. His father, who was watching him play, saw it and said: ‘Give me that pebble.’ The boy gave it to him, laughing, because he thought: ‘What is papa going to do with that stone?’

The father took the diamond and cut it, giving it the proper angles and facets, and the polished stone sparked magnificently. ‘Look,’ he said to the boy, ‘here is the stone which you gave me.’ The boy, seeing with astonishment the beauty of the sparkling gem, exclaimed: ‘How did you do it, dear papa?’

The father replied: ‘I know the hidden beauty of the rough diamond and have simply relieved it of the coarser exterior, and this is the reason why it now shines in its natural splendor.’

The parable may sound very familiar to you. Somebody may have related it to you before. It might have been adopted or rewritten in somebody else’s works.  

Many of you may find that the cutting and thrashing that your teachers did to you in those four agonizing years inside the classroom are somehow akin to the process that the boy’s father put into the unpolished stone to turn it into a sparkling gem. Some of you may also feel content in the realization that finally, you have discovered the logic of the harshness of student life.

Assuming that we cater to such a realization, it may be fruitful to inquire whether you are ready to ask yourself if, after the cutting and thrashing, and after you have been burnt and bended, you become a polished gem or a broken glass.

What shape have you become after those four years?

I always believe that life is both a process and a journey. Life is a process of being shaped and turned into something better and greater than before. It is a process of becoming the man and woman you are conceived to become. It is a process of unravelling whatever it is that makes you different from others.

Life is a journey to an end far beyond the present. It is a journey towards the fullness of your humanity and spirituality. It is a journey to a place where you are expected to experience life’s greatest adventures—birth, infancy, adolescent, marriage, childbearing and rearing, adulthood, and old age. It is a journey not only in the physical realm but also in the recesses of the mind because living a full life means tearing down the wall of mediocrity and self-centeredness. In truth, those cutting and thrashing should have no end but the shape and substance required for a successful journey to the fullness of life.     

     

People say that the teacher’s work is done when his or her students received their diplomas. I say that it is not only the work that is done, but the headaches as well. You may refuse to believe it, but you might be the worst of your teacher’s headaches.

Teaching is both professional and personal to teachers. Their sadness is real. Their joy is real. Their anger is real. Their laughter is real. Their frustration, their exasperation, their vexation, their admiration—all of these are real to all of your teachers.

Of course, even if you chose not to say it, the other side of these are also real. Your fear was real. Your anger was real. Your laughter was real. Your tears, your anxieties, your laziness, your ineptness, your timidity, your jealousy, your triumphant accomplishments, your failed expectations, your sleepless nights, your wounded feelings, your social humiliations, your moral shocks, even your unusual tenacity to appear calm and innocent in the midst of classroom terrorism and mental torture—all of these were real too. You did not just imagine them.

By this time, I believe that most of you have ideas already on what you have gained in your four years study in College. The diploma aside, you gained something good out of your struggle to get here. I believe that whatever it is that you gained, you will have it for the rest of your life. I just hope that you will profit much, if not from it, then at least, from the experience of achieving it.   

The future will not be the same for all of you. Some will go to law school while others will have to find real paying jobs. Of course, these tracks need not be mutually exclusive. You may choose to work and study at the same time. The choice is yours. What matters is that you make your choice meaningful regardless of the odds in risking it.  

Interestingly, how will your future be crafted will not also be the same. People experience things differently. People decide differently even on matters which appear the same before all of them. Because of this, you have to remember that your future depends not solely on your decision alone, but also, partly on the choices that others make. Consider then, that many things may not be the way you want them to be. Consider then, that failure and success are always temporary. Consider then, that what carries a man or a woman in the worst of situations are not the people around him or her but the virtues and strength of character cultivated while one treks both the conventional and unconventional paths. Consider then, that it is always better to be happy and optimistic than to sulk in grief and frustration.

Finally, consider then, that while it is sometimes justifiable not to consult your love ones and friends before you make a critical decision, it is of highest importance that you ask God whether yours is in accordance with His will.  

The world is too big to conquer. Nobody can move it even with the biggest lever and the highest place to stand on. Humans are limited by time and space. You can only aspire as much, and only go as far—your ability and talents determine the heights and distance that you can achieve.

Develop then your intellectual and physical capabilities so that you can move forward even if the world seems to standstill. Dream, and believe in the power of your dreams—and believe that your dreams can give you the power to make them come true.

Finally, I wish you well on your graduation. With pride in your heart, walk gracefully well on the stage and welcome the cheers and applause of those who love you. Remember that whatever honor you bestowed upon your family name, it is meaningless without the love and support of the people who never let you down. Congratulate them for me. Convey to them my gratitude in allowing you to pass by and enrich my own journey through life.

Advance, do not quit!

Live long and prosper!

Godspeed!