tsinelas/slippers
I start my day reading online newspaper. I love reading articles from Philippine Star, especially, their lifestyle section.
I find this article very appropriate to be posted here in my blog.
Tsinelas
NEW BEGINNINGS By Bum D. Tenorio, Jr.
The Philippine STAR 04/23/2006
One must experience a certain kind of hunger so one will someday be full. Poverty is one of my favorite topics because it taught me to be rich - in many ways that money can't buy. Deprivation showed me that success or failure is a variable of life. Since it's a variable, being deprived becomes an opportunity to better one's life. Penury is no deterrent to succeed. Only those who do not know how to weave their dreams become hungry; for dreams feed the soul.
The following is a speech I delivered three years ago when I was invited as the guest speaker of the graduating kindergarten pupils in Gulod Elementary School in Cabuyao, Laguna. Here goes:
I have a story to tell. This is about a young boy I know. He was born poor to parents who were farmers. When he grew up, however, he was able to meet and mingle with kings and queens, presidents and senators. No magic took place here. This is a real story.
Because this kid was poor, he didn't have a single toy. He would go to his neighbor's house to use the toys of his playmates. In school, he barely had notebooks. Even if his mother couldn't afford to buy him notebooks, this kid persevered to study. This boy was poor but he was rich in fighting spirit.
Often he would go to school without allowance, wearing slippers and tattered uniform. For breakfast, he would fill his glass of coffee with rice. For lunch, he would mash banana and steamed rice. For dinner, he and his four brothers would share one fried egg, divided equally among them.
One day, he came home from school with the sole of his foot bleeding. He stepped on a broken glass and it pierced through his worn out slippers.
"Nay, please buy me a new pair of slippers," the boy asked his mother.
"Son, we don't have money. Just be careful the next time," said his mother while treating her son’s wound. "One more thing," his mother added while applying tincture solution on his wound, "please remember that there will come a time when you will be able to buy your new pair of slippers."
"How will it happen?" the boy asked his mother.
"Simply believe that you can achieve what you want in life. Just dream," his mother replied.
When the wound in his sole got healed, his body, however, had boils all over. He got these from playing in the sand. He didn't mind having wounds as long as he could build castles out of sand. When he had made his sandcastles, he would close his eyes and imagine that he lived in an exquisite castle with lots of food, with a refrigerator, with beautiful slippers.
Because he had plenty of wounds in his arms, legs, even on his head, he was not spared from the bantering of his bully classmates. Even that did not deter him from going to school.
"Don't mind your classmates. I will go to your school and talk to your teacher. Only your body is wounded, not your brain. Just pay attention to your studies," his mother advised him.
In time, all his wounds were healed. They left scars all over his body. He graduated from grade school with honors. He continued to study.
He could have not studied high school were it not for his elementary teachers who helped him get a scholarship. This kid was full of ambition, only he had no resources.
So he could go to college, his mother offered a novena to God for him to pass the entrance exam at the University of the Philippines. God heard her prayers and this boy got a scholarship at UP Los Banos. He was given monthly stipend and book allowance which he gave to his mother so they could have money. Slowly but surely, his dreams were gradually being realized.
The kid who imagined that he lived in a sandcastle became a writer. He met, mingled with and wrote stories of people, the movers and shakers of the world, whom he thought only existed in the sandcastle of his dreamland. He visited places he thought he would only read in books.
Telling this kid's story might sound boastful. But this is the truth.
He achieved this little success in life because he once dreamed that he would be able to buy pairs and pairs of slippers and shoes; that the wounds of the past would be healed; that there would be food on their table. To this day, this boy continues to dream.
(I am this little kid.)
The writer indeed has shown his passion to fulfill a dream. Success requires encountering difficulties. If your problem is that you are not getting any challenges in life or starting to get bored....you are too comfortable, you need to re assess the way ur living. You are not passionate enough.
I find this article very appropriate to be posted here in my blog.
Tsinelas
NEW BEGINNINGS By Bum D. Tenorio, Jr.
The Philippine STAR 04/23/2006
One must experience a certain kind of hunger so one will someday be full. Poverty is one of my favorite topics because it taught me to be rich - in many ways that money can't buy. Deprivation showed me that success or failure is a variable of life. Since it's a variable, being deprived becomes an opportunity to better one's life. Penury is no deterrent to succeed. Only those who do not know how to weave their dreams become hungry; for dreams feed the soul.The following is a speech I delivered three years ago when I was invited as the guest speaker of the graduating kindergarten pupils in Gulod Elementary School in Cabuyao, Laguna. Here goes:
I have a story to tell. This is about a young boy I know. He was born poor to parents who were farmers. When he grew up, however, he was able to meet and mingle with kings and queens, presidents and senators. No magic took place here. This is a real story.
Because this kid was poor, he didn't have a single toy. He would go to his neighbor's house to use the toys of his playmates. In school, he barely had notebooks. Even if his mother couldn't afford to buy him notebooks, this kid persevered to study. This boy was poor but he was rich in fighting spirit.
Often he would go to school without allowance, wearing slippers and tattered uniform. For breakfast, he would fill his glass of coffee with rice. For lunch, he would mash banana and steamed rice. For dinner, he and his four brothers would share one fried egg, divided equally among them.
One day, he came home from school with the sole of his foot bleeding. He stepped on a broken glass and it pierced through his worn out slippers.
"Nay, please buy me a new pair of slippers," the boy asked his mother.
"Son, we don't have money. Just be careful the next time," said his mother while treating her son’s wound. "One more thing," his mother added while applying tincture solution on his wound, "please remember that there will come a time when you will be able to buy your new pair of slippers."
"How will it happen?" the boy asked his mother.
"Simply believe that you can achieve what you want in life. Just dream," his mother replied.
When the wound in his sole got healed, his body, however, had boils all over. He got these from playing in the sand. He didn't mind having wounds as long as he could build castles out of sand. When he had made his sandcastles, he would close his eyes and imagine that he lived in an exquisite castle with lots of food, with a refrigerator, with beautiful slippers.
Because he had plenty of wounds in his arms, legs, even on his head, he was not spared from the bantering of his bully classmates. Even that did not deter him from going to school.
"Don't mind your classmates. I will go to your school and talk to your teacher. Only your body is wounded, not your brain. Just pay attention to your studies," his mother advised him.
In time, all his wounds were healed. They left scars all over his body. He graduated from grade school with honors. He continued to study.
He could have not studied high school were it not for his elementary teachers who helped him get a scholarship. This kid was full of ambition, only he had no resources.
So he could go to college, his mother offered a novena to God for him to pass the entrance exam at the University of the Philippines. God heard her prayers and this boy got a scholarship at UP Los Banos. He was given monthly stipend and book allowance which he gave to his mother so they could have money. Slowly but surely, his dreams were gradually being realized.
The kid who imagined that he lived in a sandcastle became a writer. He met, mingled with and wrote stories of people, the movers and shakers of the world, whom he thought only existed in the sandcastle of his dreamland. He visited places he thought he would only read in books.
Telling this kid's story might sound boastful. But this is the truth.
He achieved this little success in life because he once dreamed that he would be able to buy pairs and pairs of slippers and shoes; that the wounds of the past would be healed; that there would be food on their table. To this day, this boy continues to dream.
(I am this little kid.)
The writer indeed has shown his passion to fulfill a dream. Success requires encountering difficulties. If your problem is that you are not getting any challenges in life or starting to get bored....you are too comfortable, you need to re assess the way ur living. You are not passionate enough.
posted by marieand at 4/26/2006 08:44:00 AM
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