'BE THE LOTUS FLOWERS' CHALLENGE POSED TO COLLEGE STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS

A VOICE FROM AMERICA
By Ernie D. Delfin

‘BE THE LOTUS FLOWERS’ CHALLENGE POSED TO COLLEGE STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS IN THE PHILIPPINES

One of the highlights of my recent visit in the homeland was my speaking and interacting with college students in their own campuses. Through our Katipunan-USA’s partial eclipsing alliance with Ateneo’ s Pathways, I met Pathway’s co-founder Harvey Keh, and its Executive Director Nikki Viquiera, who together with our PTAG leader and Rotarian Litay Ferrera Brunner in Manila arranged a memorable dinner meeting with two dozen Pathways college scholars at Max Restaurant across the Ateneo in Loyola Heights. Fellow Rotarians like Rosario Yu Edwin Ferrera and Isabelita Rivera also joined us in this dinner meeting where I spoke and challenged these future leaders. Because of this event, I was invited again to speak before a much larger audience of about 200 student leaders and scholars coming from different universities at the Ateneo de Manila during their monthly gathering last February 12th. That was also an exhilarating experience as the hour given to me to speak and interact with the students almost doubled!

I felt that not only did the students learned from my life-long experiences from my working student years in Letran 3 decades ago to the many tough and trying years in America, but also motivated and inspired them to persevere to work harder to reach their dreams for a better tomorrow. I challenged these young men and women to become like the lotus plants that continue to thrive in the pond amidst the pollution, impurities and toxins in their environment. The lotus plants blessed with abundant sunlight always bring out their white flowers in Spring! As the lotus plant beautifies its environment, it also purifies even the polluted waters beneath it. Quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, I reminded these future leaders of the country that “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams~”

The open forum that followed my speech at the Ateneo Symposium was both a surprise and educational experience for a balikbayan like. From the students’ comments and questions, I also sensed the students’ intense frustrations about their own country as it is not progressing the way it should be especially in the socio political and economic arena. Most of these students were not even born during the Martial Law years of the late Dictator Marcos and therefore they did not witness People Power that ousted Dictator Marcos and his family. However, as they now live in the Information Society, hence they are also aware of the standing of the Philippines in the parade of nations. I found the students as frustrated as I was that the so-called People Power revolution remains an unfinished revolution and whatever happens in the country, bad or good, it is their generation that will be the inherit our legacy. They seemed restless and they realized that there is a lot of work that must be done to have a better future.

Although the symposium was held in Ateneo, I learned that many of the students came from other less expensive universities and many were also working students. Many comments and questions were about globalization and about the country’s socio economic and political conditions of the country. One was even bold enough to ask how he too can immigrate and work abroad like the 8 million of us Overseas Filipinos to help his parents improve their economic life.

The idealism of the youth was evident as I reminisced the way we were when we were their age. A few students with some degree of subtlety were even accusatory that all the mess in the country was done by the greedy politicians and leaders without regard to the general welfare of the people. The time invested in these two speaking engagements was well worth it and I think I will do it again next year. One comment that was quite especial for me was an impromptu impassioned remarks from a lady scholar from the University of the Philippines that she was moved by the analogy of the youth, her generation, to becoming the lotus flowers of the country. To that lady and her generation: “My ardent prayers are with you as you begin to chart the course of the country in decades to come. Whatever you do now is the beginning of what you can do next. The power of your generation’s collective intentions will manifest itself and such an event will come when its time has come. It’s like the instantaneous and miraculous convergence of millions of people at EDSA in People Power in 1986. One idea, one person causing another person to do something concrete until the inevitable just unfold itself to the awe and respect of the world. As some of us in my generation try to make amends and genuinely try to help clean up the mess that your older generation has caused unto the country, (forgive us, your elders for what our generation has done to the country that we will leave you!) we ask you to really help us by NOT giving up in your country. I still believe in my heart that the Philippines can move forward with truly contrite hearts and the purity of our collective intentions for the good of all Filipinos! Together Everyone Accomplishes Miracles spells TEAM!”

I believe I had left these students some pounds of inspiration that one person can indeed make a difference in somebody’s life. To the scholars present at the dinner, I gave each one of them a copy of an inspirational autobiographical book of a Filipino woman engineer from the squatters of Metro Manila while she was going to Mapua and became the first woman immigrant to become a licensed civil engineer in the state of New Mexico. The title of the book is “DON’T EVER TELL ME YOU CAN’T” and the author is my friend Celia Ruiz Tomlinson. A note to Celia and to my surprise, although I was not the author, everyone asked me to sign her book which I did with my “Best Wishes” to these working student scholars of Pathways to Higher Learning which our own Progressive Times Action Group (PTAG) is now supporting.

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The week-long visit to Mindanao, particularly my stay at the Notre Dame Marbel University in Koronadal City, was also memorable as I also learned many things. I was one of the judges of the University search for the PTAG BEACON award among a dozen of student clubs and organizations that exemplify their social concerns to the community from their club’s perspective. It was amazing how much these organizations did during the school year despite their club’s meager resources. In the university I was asked also to be their keynote speaker during their annual ‘Gabi ng Parangal’ (Awards Night) and my theme was parallel to the one I did in Ateneo with the theme that “One Person Can Make a Difference” where I made mentioned of the lives of Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and our heroes, Jose Rizal, Bonifacio and Mabini.

One afternoon, I was also made a special guest speaker to about 200 working students of the University as arranged by our PTAG Cell leader in Koronadal, Jing Ureta, the HR Director of NDMU. Meeting that many working students and still maintaining very good grades reminded me of my college years made me nostalgic and happy. I believe that working students become more successful in their lives by paying the price of success in full and upfront, while surrounding themselves with many good people like the Marist Brothers, professors and employees of the NDMU and reading as many good books they can, than many “professionals” students especially those with their personal yayas or katulongs or family drivers who bring these rich kids to school when they when they were young. Being a working student was never fun especially if you were surrounded by many friends or classmates who come from wealthy families. You have to create some kind of internal defense mechanism to compensate for the things that you do not possess to have a healthy balance, so that you do not hate the rich because you are poor. I have been fortunate that I never really never reviled my wealthy classmates because as they were always good to me. I guess it was some degree of “mutual exploitation” : they copied most of my work and received satisfactory grades and in return they did compensate me for other “things” coming from the “excesses” from their own homes! I am just happy now that those are all past tense!

By the way, to our STAR readers let me also share one of my favorite essays authored by Marianne Williamson that was made popular by Nelson Mandela when he included it in his inauguration speech as president of South Africa in 1994, which I also quoted in my speech before these students:

EMPOWERING THOUGHTS TO LIVE BY
OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS NOT THAT WE ARE INADEQUATE;

OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND
MEASURE.

IT IS OUR LIGHT, NOT OUR DARKNESS, THAT MOST
FRIGHTENS US.

WE ASK OURSELVES, WHO AM I TO BE BRILLIANT,
GORGEOUS, TALENTED AND FABULOUS?

ACTUALLY, WHO ARE YOU NOT TO BE?

YOU’RE A CHILD OF GOD --- YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOESN’T
SERVE THE WORLD.

THERE’S NOTHING ENLIGHTENED ABOUT SHRINKING SO
THAT OTHERS WON’T FEEL INSECURE AROUND YOU.

WE ARE BORN TO MANIFEST THE GLORY OF GOD THAT IS
WITHIN US.

IT’S NOT JUST IN SOME OF US; IT’S IN EVERYONE!

AND, AS WE LET OUR OWN CANDLE SHINE, WE CONS-
CIOUSLY GIVE OTHERS PERMISSION TO DO THE SAME.

AS WE ARE LIBERATED FROM OUR OWN FEAR,
OUR PRESENCE AUTOMATICALLY LIBERATES OTHERS.
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Meeting the newest Filipino Cardinal, (then an archbishop) the Most Reverend Gaudencio Rosales, originally from Batangas, on Feb l8th for a breakfast in his official residence near the Manila Cathedral was a especial treat, courtesy of another PTAG leader Lou Arsenio of Caritas Manila and Monsignor Teston of the Our Lady of the Airways Parish and Fr. Benito Tuason. I was humbled and somewhat emotional by the simple thought of meeting a holy man, without even any prior arrangements with his Eminence, happening on the very last day of a very hectic three weeks schedule around the country. If there is no Awesome God that guides the destinies of men and nation, who is? Times like these, I always remember as I often re-read the best short book of wisdom ever written called Ecclesiastes:

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair
under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A Time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down , and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to
be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time of peace!”

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Over breakfast, I learned many things I never knew happening like his PONDO NG PINOY, an empowering program on savings designed for the masa, just a few pesos a week but multiplied million times, decades long advocacy for the environment, ecology and his pro-active opposition against illegal logging since he was assigned as bishop in Bukidnon. Learning from our own PTAG’s Lou Arsenio of the Ecology Desk of Caritas what the Archdiocese and the entire church is doing without much fanfare and publicity in really helping the poorest of the poor with the full support of the newest Cardinal of the Philippines, I feel very optimistic that there will be dramatic changes in the next decade as the Filipino people get tired just talking, ranting and raving of EDSA demonstrations and shallow talks of selfish politicians and wannabe leaders. I am glad that I have met many Filipinos in the private sisters like the Rotarians, Couples for Christ, Gawad Kalinga volunteers and many others who are not members of NATO (No Action Talk Only). These unsung often not recognized people are the real “modern day” heroes that must be written up from time to time to inspire others to pitch it.

My dreams for my country are bigger than myself, but with many people believing in the same things as I do, I believe that something BIG can happen, like our EcoPark and Station of the Cross Village project, that Monsignor Teston of the Our Lady of the Airways Parish and Cardinal Rosales have fully supported. I have faith that an idea whose time has come will happen in HIS time. Man simply proposes and our awesome GOD disposes.

Lastly, may I invite our STAR readers to pause and thank God for his continued love, mercy and love for the Philippines and her people. Let us also pray ardently to God to bless our Cardinal Rosales to give the grace and long life to serve the people of God, especially the Filipino people who should be proud of his elevation as one of the newest Cardinals anointed by the by Pope Benedict VI.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas and our kababayans wherever they are!
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-Email writer: erdelusa@hotmail.com or drbannatiran@yahoo.com Visit our websites: www.ptag.org and www.katipunan-usa.org
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