A famous line of traditional
Filipino courting is, “Aabutin ko ang mga tala at ibibigay sa’yo.” Isang
pangungusap na purong talinhaga lang. In real life, it doesn’t work that way.
We can never ask someone to get the stars –I mean stars as dreams and successes
in life –and give it to us. The only way to get it is through our own effort.
We can say that all people have
dreams or even once have dreamt of achieving something they really desire, and
that includes me. I am a girl of many dreams, and once I want something, I
really envision myself attaining that goal. Even at first it seemed to be
impossible, but it will not keep me from striving. Alam naman natin na hindi
lahat ng pangarap madali makuha. Sa totoo nga mas madami pa nga yung mahirap
makuha kaysa madali eh. But I can see the point of it. I really think that
dreaming of things, even if we know that it is hard to accomplish is good,
because it makes us exert endeavour in everything we do. Come to think of it,
if all we dreamt about are things that we know we can carry out at such little
efforts, then we would be confident, idle and will not work hard anymore. Iniisip
ko nga, magpapakahirap ka ba abutin pa ang isang bagay kung nasa harap mo naman
na din lang? At kung di ka naghirap akala mo maganda yon? Kung hindi ka
naghirap wala kang matututunan. Minsan pa nga, mas mahalaga pa yung paraan kung
paano mo nakuha yung isang bagay kaysa sa bagay na iyon mismo. Katulad ng isang
giraffe, kung hindi prutas yung gusto niyang kainin hahaba ba yung leeg niya ng
ganoon para lang maabot yung gusto niya? Kung hindi siya lumaki at tumangkad ng
ganoon, ano ang giraffe? Isa nanamang hayop na makakalituhan natin at hindi
malalaman ang pinagkaiba sa kabayo? Ang ating mga paghihirap at mga pinagdadaaanan
ang naghuhulma sa atin para maging unique; para maging iba ;para magkaroon ng
identity.
There are times that people will
stop us from reaching the stars. They will discourage us, gossip about us, tell
us that we are too ambitious, and etc. But
I think they could not prevent us from being successful if we don’t let them.
They have no hold against us, this is our life and they can’t do anything about
it. I believe they are just too hopeless about theirs and they want you to feel
the same way so nobody gets above them. Instead of letting ourselves be
discouraged by their repression, I think it is better for us to use their
despondency as our motivation to reach harder. We don’t want them to have
success in putting us down don’t we?
On the other hand, meron naman mga
tao na pinipilit kang durugin, apakan at tirisin hindi dahil ayaw nilang maging
successful ka, kundi dahil tinuturuan ka lang nilang maging matigas at matatag.
Ngayon ko lang narealize na yon yung ginawa sakin ng nanay ko simula ng bata pa
ako. Kahit ano pa man maabot ko sa buhay ay sinasabi niya, “Bat ganto lang, bat
ganyan lang?” She makes me feel that I am worthless; that I am not able; that I
can’t do anything good. Pero alam mo kung ano nangyare? Habang lalo niya kong
dinudurog, lalo kong natututunan na maging matatag; lalo kong natutunan maging
malakas; lalo kong ginusto na mabigo siya sa pagdurug sakin. At sa huli, nung
nagtagumpay akong hindi niya madurog, nakita ko siyang masaya. At dun ko
natutunan na kasiyahan niyang maging malakas ako at kahit kalian ay hindi niya naging
intension na matiris ako. Ginawa niya lang yun dahil yun ang alam niya iturong
paraan para maging matatag ako. Kahit hindi niya sinabi, nalaman ko dahil sa
simpleng mga ngiti sa labi niya nung araw na natapos ko yung pagsubok niya.
I believe that life is more of a
challenge than a competition. More importantly, we should strive to challenge
ourselves to improve rather than peeking over other’s strengths and weaknesses
to see if we are better than them. Life also taught me that no matter how high
we get, as long as we know that we have stepped on other people on our way, we
will never get the feeling of fulfilment, and our hearts would just be full of
guilt and regrets. But if we reached high and were able to keep our feet on the
ground, we will feel very proud of ourselves and thankful of the people who
have been with us through our hard times. Natuto akong maging matangkad at
abutin ang mga bituin habang ang mga paa ko ay nakalapat pa rin sa lupa. Natuto
ako na abutin ang mga tala ng hindi umaapak sa ibang tao bilang tungtungan.
Natutunan kong gamitin ang ibang tao para umangat hindi bilang isang platform
na aapakan kundi isang source ng experiences na masakit man o masaya ay unti
unti mong kakainin para lumaki at tumangkad. Na imbis na ikaw ang magpalamon sa
sakit at sarap ng buhay, kabaliktaran ang mangyayari para ikaw ang makinabang.
Alam din naman natin na hindi lahat
ng gusto makukuha. In life, there are things that are really just not meant for
us. But in times when I experience those failures, I just keep in mind that
maybe that thing is not the best for me. That God has something better in store
for me; something that is in his plan and not mine. Moreover, we can use that
failure to tell ourselves that we have not gotten the best yet, so we should
still wait and work harder.
I have been happy with all the
things that happened in my life. For all the failures I had and for all the
stars I have been able to reach. They all gave me a better attitude in life. I
learned to work hard and prove to myself that I am able. Also, it taught me to
strengthen my faith –be faithful, even in times hardships make me doubt His existence, to what I believe in and be thankful for Him keeping me
strong and able.
