Apart from getting a loyalty award by studying in a private school for 12 years, I learned valuable lessons that I take with me wherever I go.
It doesn’t matter whatever school you went to.
Being in the same place that evolves as I grow help me to see things beyond what they appear to be. Years have passed and I’m still contemplating of the good old days from kindergarten to high school.
This is how my life was as a student in a Catholic school in Caloocan City.
You Can Only be You
I now live by the words of Dr. Seuss.
Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
I was and still a nerd. Although I was asked to live the library to watch a school show I’ve been forced to watch every single year, I toned down being a bookworm back then.
The library was my fortress that I even thought of becoming a librarian.
I wished I read more books by Isaac Asimov and classic books for the love of reading but there’s Math that I have to figure out because numbers wasn’t my forte. Imagine being like Rory Gilmore eating in cafeteria reading and listening to a music instead of the hustle and bustle of teenage life.
Familiarity Brings Comfort and Creativity
In 12 years I’ve seen gradual constant change in the school. New paint almost every two years. Grand facade. More concrete within the walls. We are building a modern age metropolis that requires higher tuition.
All of which brought familiarity even the high expectation of my parents.
Every time I pass by the long hall of bulletin leading to the gate, I look for something new. Announcement. Quotation.
Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today. – Thomas Jefferson
If there is a slightest hint of change, my heart would quietly leap inside. New face. Another breed of bullies and victims. They come and go. So are the teachers.
And I was still there. Wishing for any change. Anything.
I have to be creative, imagine things to happen the way I want to. Only in my wandering thoughts I can be in a different world. A different person.
Throughout the years, I learned how to draw, to keep dreaming in a different place. I pursued college education in one of the school in the University Belt.
I left everything that are yet to change because I have outgrown the place that became my second home, which I always keep inside my heart.
People has the Choice to Change
I was always in the middle at home and in school. Neither do I cause the trouble nor be part of the solution.
From where I was, atop the pedestal of higher perspective, I see people at school change within a year that I would assumed it’s a different person, or probably someone’s twin brother or sister. Same look. Different personality.
The timid boy in class joined a boisterous gang of bullies the next year. Doing funny things in exchange of being one of the “it” crowd. Their victims moved to another school. Why wouldn’t they. I would if I could.
Sigh. So much desperation. And longingness.
My library became my fortress from those who lacks compassion and chase popularity instead. Is this the kind of environment, the reflection, of the world out there? The thought frightened my juvenile existence.
Years had passed, I met some high school classmates in college. They were not infamous for mischief anymore yet we all still long to be part of a group. To be valued and accepted for who we are.
Silently, I wished for us to change for the right reasons, first for ourselves.
Stop being a clown for the king’s entertainment and grace.
Final Thoughts
I am grateful for everything. For all the good, the bad, the familiarity, the changes that made me become a better person whether I am ready or not.
My parents thought of transferring me to a more affordable school yet it didn’t happen.
Call it destiny. Or sheer luck.
I am me working everyday to accept every flaws and the goodness in me others keep pointing out to my surprise. To my alma matter, may you be proud of me wherever life leads me.
How was your experience in school? Did you like studying in a school for a long time or move to different schools?
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