Catipay, Oren Roi D.

Tagaytay is one of the coldest cities that I have ever been to. It is a place that anyone can consider as an alternative to Baguio as it becomes more populated during the holidays. This is a picture taken from during a retreat that I went to back in 2022. There took place what I easily could call "one of the best days of my life." The place that we went to is called CCT Tagaytay Retreat and Training Center. Although it was only for a 2 day and a night, I was able to capture the serenity of nature as it landscaped huge christmas-y trees (that I do not know the name of). And the breeze of the cold season that whooshed on everyone's faces just made the experience a hundred times much better.

It is the perfect destination place for everyone who is looking for an outdoor/indoor recreational activity site. My friends (whom I just met that very same day) and I were able to participate in fun exercises and games that would just make use of the entire grass-field as wide as 2 football stadiums.

Take note that there were over 200 students and adults in the entire site, yet the place would still be for us even if we laid down each of our own tents. The view was just so captivating, that it made it difficult for some of us to focus on the goal and what the marshals were trying to instruct us. Running and laughing across this giant along with your close friends just hits different. After we exhausted ourselves out, there was an entire outdoor amphitheater that we could rest on. Not to mention a pool that could fit a hundred. You bet we didn't let the opportunity to have a night swimming pass by.

After the fun and games and relaxations, of course, there is a place that huge groups could dine in.

Man, the buffet was as good as it can get with their diverse cuisine. I'm a big-eater, but still, I had more than enough to eat and I was able to replenish the energy I had exerted earlier that day.

On day 2, we were free to explore the rest of the retreat center's vicinity and I woke up early in the morning just so I can observe at peace by myself. It turned out that I was not the only one who had the idea, but the feeling of healing is still there.

Testimonies, on the other hand, are a declaration of truth and facts. These are based on one's experience in a particular matter or a significant occurrence that they witnessed first-hand. Testimonies are frequently used in legal settings often by witnesses. Testimonies are also correlated with sharing one's story of religion and spiritual journey in faith.

A prime example of what a true narrative should look like is Mitch Albom's "tuesdays with Morrie."

1.) Introduction - The title of the book is "tuesdays with Morrie" and it is a true narrative written by author Mitch Albom. His story tells us about the reality of death and its inevitability through the life of his professor, Morrie Schwartz. That those who have realized the significance and absurdity of life in this world are guaranteed the certainty of the mystery of life itself.

2.) Summary - The author's purpose is to provide a more-than-one perspective on how a person should tackle on life. One of main points brought up in the story is that we'd bought into society's lie about what a meaningful life entailed, that we fail to take our time to just sit back and enjoy what's most meaningful to us. Mitch also specified Morrie's take on material objects—that it wasn't the nicest television, the latest fashion, or trendy cars that mattered, but the years of love and connection that gave him true joy and meaning in his days. To be able to turn away from a culture that does not make for a fulfilling life, and instead create a new meaning and purpose for us. It could mean spending precious time with loved ones rather than working endless hours that loses its meaning after the job is done.

3.) Evaluation - It seems the author is someone who has truly learned about life's greatest lesson and is eager to share it with the whole world. The words that came from a dying old man who is still full of passion for those around him was able to move hearts and touch souls full of doubts and insecurities of the future. Everyone is just so distracted with their everyday lives so much to the point where we developed a society where everyone is anxious, depressed, unbelieving, and lacked the energy to experience the essence of simple living. Thanks to Albom's masterpiece, we are reminded of what really matters in life. The things that we should hold on to and value with our whole lives. So that we will not be regretful, rather we'll get to experience the blessing of living to the utmost.

I can't sleep. While I drown myself in the light that my cellphone screen emits in hopes of making me a little bit more sleepy, your subconscious created by the figments of my own imagination and the memories we've built together peeks through the blue light and replaces it with a much warmer, brighter form of light that shines out of the pitch black background. It's dazzling bright yet it doesn't blind. I gaze at the darkness and everywhere my mind projected our times together. I see the imaginary version of yourself clearly even with my eyes closed. It defeats the action of putting me to sleep, making me wide awake more than ever.

I can't sleep. A fraction of a millisecond that flashes an outline of your image out of nowhere into my head is enough to put me in a state of trance. A state where a faint memory of you lead my thoughts to snowball down a deeper hill that is my mind, making me remember perfectly the details of our moments together. From the placement of our hands every time we hugged each other down to the sweat that dripped down your forehead to your cheeks to your chin, that one time we went for a walk under the scorching sun, while we held hands. You occupy my thoughts whenever my eyes are open, and in the time that they must close, you occupy them still.

I can't sleep. It is like my brain has been programmed to recall the image of you. To crack a smile whenever I do. Not letting me forget. And when I do, it finds ways to make me remember you. I have thought of you countless amount of times, on random occasions, to the point where I memorized everything about you just from the visions that my head has created. The picture of your shadow next to mine, the shape of your moles on your face and on your chest. Your deep laugh that is so contagious that I suddenly find myself laughing too. Your perfect teeth that makes your smile the most beautiful of them all. The way you cover your face when I get lost in your eyes. Our difference in height. The scar on your left knee. Your baby cheeks. How you like to wrap your arms around mine instead of holding hands. Although I like it more when we hold hands but I just let you be since it is what makes you happy. The way you talk in your sleep after a long day. The smell of your hair every time we embraced each other. The way you eat your favorite food. The way you smell great even when drenched in sweat. Your laughing face, your serious face, and the face you make when you cry. The thing you do with your eyes when you get moody, and all the other little things that makes you "you." I know for a fact that there are multiple versions of ourselves in the minds of the people that know us. But the version of "you" that lives in my head rent-free, is the version that doesn't let me fall asleep.

I can't sleep. Your ghost haunts the four corners of every enclosed space I step into. I was ecstatic for having someone as precious as you disturb my peace. Peace that bore me to death until your noise. You came crashing down on my ordinary. You brought comforting discord which to me was a melody like no other. I was captured by how you conducted harmonies into my monophonic scores. But for every song that has an end, every note that has a rest, all genre of music has an end. The only thing you left me with now was a requiem—the pain of missing you. And also the grief of letting you go. We have built so much, created inimitable times of you and me, but for everything that has a beginning, is bound to have an inevitable end. Even the universe that shall expand for eons will surely collapse into nothingness long after extinction. You filled my prayers as if you were the only necessity in life. Now, I am over here helpless trying to fill this cavernous pit in my heart of what used to be capable of deeper love. I was fine with losing just sleep, so long as I have you. I sit in silence as my thoughts rampage into chaos. I am yet again to learn the basic concept of human rest until I learn how to forget your sound.

I was nothing but a young man in search for what I used to think love was. I thought love would come in loud as a bang! I thought it would make me crazy beyond fix. And that it best came unexpectedly. But the younger me was naive and impatient. So, I looked everywhere, even in the wrong places. And all I found was disappointment in my face reflected through the eyes of the people I encountered with.  

I tried my best to scavenge for my own perception of love within the people I had dealt with, which caused me to feign ignorance over their greater qualities as a person. Until “love” walked in and changed everything. It was not loud, nor did it drive me to insanity, but it was indeed unexpected. Rather love was as soft as a lullaby. Love’s beauty calmed the core of my existence and I no longer wanted what I kept on looking for. For I have found something that far exceeded my own standards. All that she was, I admired. She is love. 

At last, I understood that I was not meant to find but to discover. I then worked hard to become someone. A canvas that would be deemed worthy of this masterpiece to be its beholder. We were a piece like no other. Everyone glanced in awe at how beautiful of a pair we were. A match made in heaven indeed was what all others said. We slow-danced in the rain of their praises. Jealous eyes that focused on each step our waltz made. But while it was all bliss and indescribable euphoria, both you and I could not care less about the measly pleasure these things brought upon us. We were busy letting ourselves drown in each other’s eyes as our heartbeat became synced. We went with the flow and the flow took us far. All that we were, I desired. Until you didn’t.  

Something changed. Like a magician’s coin that disappeared behind one ear and appeared out the other. Except the coin never came back. I was left with nothing right after I thought I already had everything I could ever ask for. Not even an explanation left alone a word. If only I knew Love came with unspeakable pain that left me shocked, confused, angry, depressed, doubtful, and insecure, would I still pursue it? How could one be so utterly cruel to another? All I was left with were thoughts that would never be answered. All that you were, I regretted.  

The past eight months went by in a flash right before our eyes. Graduation day is just right around the corner. Many are eager to walk up on the stage to receive awards for competence, discipline, and perseverance of the past academic year, and come down as a full-fledged graduate of their alma mater. The visualization of the entirety of it is already a sight to behold. Nothing else would bring as much pride as to come out the victor over all the hardships faced and sacrifices made in one’s academic journey.  

This alone motivates me to further excel in the different disciplines—make up for lackluster. Which outlines exactly what I must do to make the last 2 months really count. I admit that there have been inconsistencies in my overall performance. However, this is not the time to mull over where things went wrong for me. But to meditate instead on how I can compensate for my underperformances with excellence that no one has seen before, not even by myself.  

I will ensure that the combined efforts exerted by all the teachers that went the extra mile for me will be paid back in full. Without them, I would have never gotten this far. The same goes for those people who journeyed with me through my ups and downs during the school year. For the people that stayed and for the people that did not. With these individuals in mind, it is difficult for me to find a reason not to go big before my season in senior high school ends. To deliver when it most counts. Some of them might no longer be with me, but they were a crucial part of the experience and certainly a major part of my growth. 

To be a precedent is what I aim to become as the end sonically marches near. To show everyone that greatness can come from wherever; whenever within someone who’s experienced grit. A wild card that will determine the outcome of the game. A plot twist that no one has ever seen coming. A buzzer-beater in an all-star match. And I will be able to reach greater heights when no one has seen the top.  

Arguments that out-heated the sun’s flares. My mom and I exchanged words that never should have left our mouths. Like an informal debate which originated from I don’t remember which nonsensical reason it was. All I remember was the feeling of having had enough. I always pointed my finger at her when things go haywire within the family. 

I blamed her for our situation. For the things that she did and did not do. I cannot fathom at the time what emotion it was that had my chest in shambles—my intestines in knots. Her debts became something that I too had to worry about. My siblings’ immature behavior that I kept on criticizing to my mother and would criticize her for not doing anything about them. Saying things like, “I wasn’t anything like that when I was their age” as justification for my maturity. I blamed her because we did not have a dad. There have been many dad-figures in my life. But I still could not help but imagine what it would feel like to have one. 

It felt like the walls around me were slowly compressing an inch towards me by the day. There is in me a faint hope that a miracle would be bestowed upon this household and that I would just wake up in comfort without having to worry about anything. In the end it was nothing but a pipedream. Right there and then I knew. I bore hatred towards my mother. 

It wasn’t soon enough that I hated myself as well. For I realized I was becoming much just like her. Or maybe it is the fear of me being wrong all along? That I didn’t become anything.  

That maybe all of this was just part of the human process called life and that I am no better than my mother who, just like everyone else, is going through the same problems any single mother might have. Yes, this was it. I was sincere with my emotions so much that it clouded my better judgment. All “maturity” and logical thinking went down the drain like noodles. I was scared for the truth that all I might be is sincerely wrong. 

I hated her for being human, which was the result of my inhumanity. I projected the pressure of having family problems onto her. But it was none other than a futile attempt to make myself feel better about my family’s unfortunate circumstance.  

In My Immersion Era 

I have always thought that the concept of putting students through on-the-job training (OJT) was only for those who are already in college. I continued to think so until the implementation of the K-12 program. Now that I am experiencing first-hand what I only used to ponder over when I was still a junior, I can confidently say that it is a force to be reckoned with.  

Having been assigned to the City Legal Office of my city’s municipality, pulled me out of my comfort zone like gravity. The atmosphere in the workplace emanates the vibe of true formality and intense seriousness. You could really tell that what they do requires strict competence and above-average skills. Being in a room full of actual attorneys and soon-to-be ones exacts pressure on mere students such as myself who just wish to complete 80 hours (about 3 and a half days) of work that our subject in Work Immersion requires of us. Of course, this is what we signed up for the moment we listed down “Political Science” as our preferred course in college. And this journey is made specifically for us to overcome hurdles in pursuit of our dreams and ambitions.  

The first day bore us to death when all we had to do was sit down at one corner and observe how things functioned inside the City Legal Office. But for us, it was literally just watching the walls, the hands of the clock point at 5, watch as the room darkened as it gets late. Everyone was busy doing their own thing, clumped up in each of their own cubicles. We were bench players in the NBA Finals. Only getting seconds when the starting 5 gets either injured or ejected from the game. But then again, I thought to myself, “we’re only grade 12 students.” The best work we students could do was the grunt.  

But that all changed when Sir Ferdie (one of the department employees) approached us and offered to teach us the ways of the xerox machine. He must have noticed our heavy faces and droopy eyes before coming to us. From that point on, we were able to learn so many new things that weren’t really legal work, but the basic stuff that any legal worker should know. From operating a photocopy machine up to how we should address the different problems that come to the office. We were also able to handle civil and criminal cases (we didn’t handle them just inventory work). Our life as immersionists made a huge 180 degrees all thanks to our millennial-wannabe supervisor.  

R - Traveler

E- who Watches Flocks by Night

N - Goes Home for the Holidays

R. - and Learns the Meaning of Christmas

He who gave nothing but everything.

Directions: Write a speech that uses 5 words that you have never used before. 

Words: Cacophony, Zeitgeist, Conciliate, Deference, Candor

SPEECH ON THE YOUTH’S POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT 

In the Philippines, there are currently 30 million young people between the ages of 10 – 24 years. That accounts for about 28% of the Philippine’s population according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF).  

Over one-fourth of our nation’s population is made up of the youth. But still, most of them remain within the shadows of the “uninformed.” And those that are curious, whose wish is to know the framework of our society political-wise are distracted by the cacophony produced by our fellow citizens, whose minds are closed to the idea of letting our young ones being involved in political talks. Out of all people, our youth should understand early on in their lives the importance of being “woke.” For the burden may feel light as air now, it would soon gain weight as we progress on with our lives.    

We, as a nation, should not let this kind of gatekeeping become the zeitgeist of our democracy. Instead, we should lift the spirits of our youth and open their eyes to the reality within our society. I believe our youth can make profound changes in our nation. Showcasing these talents and potential should conciliate the nagging voices and plaguing minds of the conservatives. The very people that should be emphasizing our capabilities to decide and think for ourselves turn out to be the ones encaging us in their shallow understanding of how the world should function. Making it difficult for us young people to show deference to our elderly who think in the same manner.  

Pedantic: Such melodrama the heavens have bestowed upon me! 

Slang: Chill, bro. It’s just a rainbow. You react too much to normal things. It doesn’t totally vibe with me.  

Colloquial: Y’all gotta stop this bad energy. Let’s just do something fun before you guys ruin this lovely day. 

Concrete: What if we go buy some sweet ice cream and just appreciate the colorful sky above. I’d rather do that while Pedantic and Slang continue their petty fight. 

Formal: I agree.  

Colloquial: See?! Why can’t y’all just get along like Concrete and Formal here?  

Slang: Fine! It was my bad. I guess I also over reacted. My fault, Pedans. I’ll try to up my temper-game.  

Pedantic: Reconciliation, reconnection—ahh, yes! Truly a sublime experience. Indeed, my forgiveness has graced you, my friend, Slang.  

Slang: I don’t get it, but I guess we’re good, fam? 

Pedantic: We are good... fam. 

Formal: I am so proud of you two. It shows great character development. I have high hopes this means that both of you will now have reduced fights, correct? 

Concrete: I’ll inform Colloquial as soon as I hear one of them raise their voices again. But then again, the vivid sky is no more. It has now turned into golden hour.