Take (Not) The Road Less Travelled
Speech of Mikaela Irene Fudolig, 16 years old, on
One of the things that strike me as
being very “UP Diliman” is the way UPD students can’t
seem to stay on the pavement. From every street corner that bounds an unpaved
piece of land, one will espy a narrow trail that cuts the corner, or leads from
it. Every lawn around the buildings sports at least one of these paths, starting
from a point nearest to the IKOT stop and ending at the nearest entry to the
building. The trails are beaten on the grass by many pairs of feet wanting to
save a fraction of a meter of traveling, no matter that doing so will exact
some cost to the shoes, or, to the ubiquitous slippers, especially when the
trails are new.What do these paths say about us, UP
students?
One could say that the UP student is enamored with
Mathematics and Pythagoras, hence these triangles formed by the pavement and
the path. Many among you would disagree.
Others
could say that the UP student is naturally countercultural. And the refusal to
use the pavement is just one of the myriads of ways to show his defiance of the
order of things. This time, many would agree.
Still,
others will say that the UP student is the model of today’s youth: they want
everything easier, faster, now. The walkable paths
appeal to them because they get to their destination faster, and presumably,
with less effort. Now that is only partly true, and totally unfair.
These
trails weren’t always walkable. No doubt they started
as patches of grass, perhaps overgrown. Those who first walked them must have
soiled their shoes, stubbed their toes, or had insects biting their legs, all
in the immovable belief that the nearest distance between two points is a
straight line. They might even have seen snakes cross their paths. But the
soiled footwear, sore toes, and itchy legs started to conquer the grass. Other
people, seeing the yet faint trail, followed. And as more and more walked the
path,
the grass gave in and stopped growing altogether, making the path more and more
visible, more and more walkable.
The
persistence of the paths pays tribute to those UP students who walked them
first - the pioneers of the unbeaten tracks: the defiant and curious few who
refuse the familiar and comfortable; the out-of-the-box thinkers who solve
problems instead of fretting about them; the brave who dare do things
differently, and open new opportunities to those who follow.
They
say how one behaved in the past would determine how he behaves in the future.
And as we leave the University, temporarily or for good, let us call on the
pioneering, defiant, and brave spirit that built the paths to guide us in this
next phase of our life.
We
have been warned time and again. Our new world that they call “adulthood” is
one that’s full of compromises, where success is determined more by the ability
to belong than by the ability to think, where it is much easier to do as
everyone else does.
Daily
we are bombarded with so much news of despair about the state of our nation,
and the apparent, perverse sense of satisfaction our politicians get from
vilifying our state of affairs. It is fashionable to migrate to other countries
to work in deceptively high-paying jobs like nursing and teaching, forgetting
that even at their favored work destinations, nurses and teachers are some of
the lowest paid professionals. The lure of high and immediate monetary benefits
in some low-end outsourcing jobs has drawn even some of the brightest UP
students away from both industry and university teaching to which they
would have been better suited.Like the sidewalks and
pavement, these paths are the easiest to take. But, like the sidewalks and
pavement, these paths take longer to traverse, just as individual successes do
not always make for national progress. The unceasing critic could get elected,
but not get the job done. The immigrant could get his visa, but disappear from
our brainpower pool. The highly paid employee would be underutilized for his
skills, and pine to get the job he truly wants, but is now out of his reach.
And the country, and we, are poorer because of these.Today, the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to
reverse our nation’s slide to despair. Today, we must call upon the spirit that
beat the tracks. Today, we must present an alternative way of doing things.Do NOT just take courage, for courage is not enough.
Instead, be BRAVE! It will take bravery to go against
popular wisdom, against the clichéd expectations of family and friends. It will
take bravery to gamble your future by staying in the country and try to make a
prosperous life here. It might help if for a start, we try to see why our
Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why, as many of us line up for
immigrant visas in various embassies, they get themselves naturalized and
settle here. Do they know something we don’t?Do NOT just be strong in your convictions, for
strength is not enough. Instead, DEFY the pressure to lead a comfortable, but
middling life. Let us lead this country from the despair of mediocrity. Let us
not seek to do well, but strive to EXCEL in everything that we do. This, so
others will see us as a nation of brains of the highest quality, not just of
brawn that could be had for cheap.Take NOT the road
less traveled. Rather, MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FIND new routes to
your dreams. Unlike the track-beaters in campus who see where they’re going, we
may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiant searchers of
excellence, we will go far. Explore possibilities, that others may get a
similar chance. I have tried it myself. And I’m speaking to you now.
But
talk is cheap, they say. And so I put my money where my mouth is. Today, I
place myself in the service of the University, if it will have me. I would like
to teach, to share knowledge, and perhaps to be an example to new UP students
in thinking and striving beyond the limits of the possible. This may only be a
small disturbance in the grass. But I hope you’ll come with me, and trample a
new path.
Good
evening, everyone.