DNL’s Speech during the Bohol Wisdom School Graduation Rites held at the BWS
Gymnasium last March 31, 2006.
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| ``The Gift of Wisdom`` |
When I received the invitation to speak during the joint graduation rites of the grade school and
high school of the Bohol Wisdom School, my first instinct was to refuse.
Wisdom seems such a lofty word and I have never considered myself wise in the mould of the world
and the yardstick by which it measures wisdom.
I had also assumed that this institution had a particularly different way of doing things. For
instance, I had long wondered why my grandfather, who donated the spot on which the old Bohol
Wisdom gymnasium beside PMI Colleges stands, continues to toil in anonymity.
There is no doubt that his donation, the first visible and significant property that Bohol Wisdom
received, literally sent the ball rolling. When the concrete structure became known as Bohol
Wisdom gym, the pledges and commitments started coming in and, as the cliché goes, the rest is
history.
On hindsight, I had asked myself the question on why there is not much to remember him by. I
dismissed the thought merely by comforting myself that maybe there are things that are far beyond
my comprehension.
A few years ago, I heard of disturbing things going on inside Bohol Wisdom. They were disturbing
enough because what started out as a friendly neighborhood club was breaking apart. Friendships
and relationships were being put to the test. Well, some things are indeed too wise for ordinary
mortals like me to comprehend. These and other things better left unsaid were the reasons for my
initial refusal to come and be with you today.
Eventually, it dawned upon me however that people cannot expect problems to go away simply by
running away from them. A distraught man who attempts to drink his problems down in liquor does
not accomplish anything. He will soon find out that problems know how to swim even in alcohol.
When the hang-over is gone, you will stare straight into your problems which knew how to keep
afloat.
By this time, some of you are getting uncomfortable. Don’t worry, you are not alone. I feel
uncomfortable too. I knew I could talk about motherhood statements and look good all the time that
I am standing here.
As most politicians do, they simply stay clear of problems because that is what many people
prefer. Like ballet dancers on tiptoe, they waltz out of trouble until the song ends.
I prefer however to keep my feet planted on the ground. As I repeatedly point out, a good surgeon
is not one who assures his patient that the disease can be cured by drinking a few capsules just
so the patient won’t feel bad. A good surgeon is one who explains the problem as softly but as
clearly as possible so the patient will understand why he has to go through a surgical operation.
Many institutions around us are crumbling because people prefer to sweep problems under the rug.
Unfortunately, rugs only have a limited capacity to hide dirt. Eventually, the truth will come
out. Just like cancer cells, they grow by the day until they have become malignant. By then, it
will be too late.
I remember a poster showing a baby with a wide variety of objects scattered around him. The baby
was crying. At the bottom was the caption: “nobody told me there would be days like this”.
Yes, many people are unable to solve their problems not only because they don’t know the answers.
Oftentimes, people refuse to face their problems because they have not been taught how to deal
with them.
Unfortunately, people will encounter problems all throughout life. No matter how well meaning
parents may be when they try to insulate their children from problems, this is not helping them.
Among all living things, it is the human being who is dependent longest on the parent. Fishes swim
as soon as they are born. Goats and cows run a little while later.
Babies however are entirely helpless during their first year. Some learn to walk in a year while
others take a longer time to talk. They are sent to their first learning atmosphere at three years
old.
Comfort and convenience have a way of retarding growth. Many children of affluent parents cannot
do things on their own longer than those growing up in poor families.
In fact, some continue to depend on their parents long after they are married and have children on
their own. Instead of helping them on their way, comfort and convenience have made them less
prepared to face life.
This is the message that I want to share this morning both to the graduates and their parents.
Those to whom much is given, much is expected. Those who are born to comfort should think more of
others than their own. Those who can give should share this with those who have none.
Obviously, only those who can run their own lives are able to branch out to the concerns of others
outside their own families. It does not take a wise man to know that.
This is the challenge that stares every graduate of Bohol Wisdom School in the face: the challenge
not only to survive and make good but also to make a difference.
The difficult times that you live in, the problems that your generation faces are not enough
reasons to turn your back on those who cannot take care of themselves.
No one is too early or too late to share. It does not take much to be able to do that. Most of
all, sharing is such a universal concern that even those who are certified failures in life can
live lives of service. If you are not sharing and giving of yourselves because you consider
yourself a failure until this time, think again.
As Charles Swindoll once pointed out, our greatest problem is not the mistakes we make in life,
but that we fail to learn from them. If you can come up with creative new mistakes, that’s
something else. But if you’re making the same ones over and over, you’re not learning. A feeling
of futility may set in. You may start to identify with Alice in Wonderland that says, “you have to
run real fast just to stay in place.” Maybe, it’s time to stop running. Stop and learn.
As graduates of Bohol Wisdom School, graduates should think of themselves wise. Now, the word
wisdom brings up pictures of gray-haired old men muttering obscure philosophic maxims.
But that is not what being wise is all about. Wisdom is not reserved for a brainy elite. On the
contrary, wisdom is freely available to those who stop talking and start paying attention - to God
and his word, to parents, to wise counselors, to anybody who is wise.
There is nothing much we can do about the past, and little that we can do about the present. But
we certainly can do a lot about the future. It is crucial therefore to know how we intend to spend
it.
A man who was losing his memory went to his doctor for advice. He received this diagnosis from the
doctor, “we cannot help your memory without impairing your eyesight. Now, the choice is yours.
Would you rather be able to see or to remember?”
The man thoughtfully replied, “frankly, I’d rather have my eyesight than my memory. You see, I’d
rather see where I’m going than remember where I’ve been.”
All of us have failed somewhere – failed in our studies, failed in our jobs, failed in our
relationships, failed in our goals. Failure however should not keep us where we are but should
spur us to press on where we should be.
The future awaits us all, regardless of whether you are sitting down today as a graduate or a
parent whose youngest child has completed school. The question that should be on everyone’s mind
then is how we intend to spend the future.
W. H. Auden said in one line what many have been searching for in years when he said this. “we are
on earth to do good for others. What the others are here for, I don’t know.”
Yes, that is what a Bohol Wisdom graduate should declare as he moves on to a new horizon. It is
the philosophy that any wise man and woman should embrace from here on.
Indeed, we are on earth to do good for others as God sent us to do. What the others are here for,
we don’t know. They can do their worse, but let us do our best. Thank you. |
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