When will kids be kids again?

I may not be rich when it comes to money, but I do believe I have lived my childhood just like a kid. I’ve cut enough leaves to make as cooking ingredient. I’ve run several times around the town’s plaza. I’ve gotten a number of bruises and scars all around my tiny body. I’ve been scolded so many times for going home late. I’ve cried more than I think I could because I did not win when we were playing jackstone. I made quite enough friends but a lot of enemies…see? the beauty of being a kid. When honesty was your only weapon, and candies were your only motivation…who would have thought life could be so simple and less expensive back then?

Now, kids are almost grown ups. They enjoy technology and do things that seemed to be not suitable for their early age. Gone are the days of playing outdoor games. No more running and playing hide and seek… Today, almost all of them enjoys talking to nobody just sitting at the corner with their PSP (and it is freakin’ expensive)

However not all kids are enjoying that kind of luxury. There are others who do not have time for themselves. Do not have weekend plans…and even birthday celebration. There kids who think more than an adult do. They are burdened by the fact that they must go into the streets in order to eat at least a meal a day…wuld you even call it a meal if it is just a water and a bread?

I’m always saddened by the fact that these children have skipped from a mere infant turned into a man in a boy’s body. I don’t blame anyone for their situation but if all of us would just give them the chance to be kids again, they could have been saved. How come we people can afford to buy laptops, cellular phones, shoes, bags and cars that would even cost a fortune but always hesitates to give these poor angles a piece of bread? What hurts me more is that even children now know how to criticize and discriminate other children.

My sister and I were eating at a fast food restaurant when I suddenly heard to young boys at the age of six or seven I guess. They were complaining that the smell of the playhouse stinks…and there were two boys not fully clothed just smiling and standing as all of the people watched them. The two young rich kids were yelling for the guard’s attention. The way they treat the street children, the way they try to humiliate them as if they were criminals. I even heard one of the rich kids saying that when they grow up and be a policeman they will put those kids in jail.

I really wanted to scold them, but their parents were there. As for the two street children, they kept on smiling just to avoid conflict and to hide the pain they felt the moment they were scrutinized.

After that incident, I was really troubled. I knew how kids were raised these days but I did not expect that they could that be brutal and heartless. I was lucky to be born earlier than they were. I do not care if I was not born with the amazing lifestyle technology brings. I am proud to be born during the transition period. At least I got to experience the primitive way of life. I got to have a glimpse on the traditions that made me who I am now. I may not be “techno kid” but at least I know that I do not have a robotic heart.

When I get to have a family of my own, I will surely not make the same mistakes parents of today’s generation made. I will not spoil them with material things nor let them wander in the streets.

Why not let your kids be kids again?

We do not want CHANGE!

Everything seemed to be acting against the rule of nature. The weather and the climate are interchanging and becoming unpredictable. Who says rain could not fall during summer or only snow flakes could fall from the sky? One may think it is “cool” but what one is experiencing now is no longer amusing rather, it is deadly.

Climate change has been an issue so long forgotten. It was only brought to life again, when different catastrophes caused by nature happened. These “natural disasters” devastated the lives of the many, and awaken everybody’s call to save the earth.

The government is allocating large amount of money in order to maintain the natural cycle and the balance of the environment.  Projects regarding renewable energy source, alternative ways of preventing global warming are the top priorities of every country or states. Experiments and researches were conducted in order to cope with the changes the planet undergoes. Artificial ways of making rain, energy savers, and waste minimization were developed to protect man from the negative effects of their own work.

Despite all these efforts, one can say that the earth and its people are still in great danger. The continuous move for a greener planet is being overpowered by the uncontrollably phenomena.

Just like in the Philippines, many provinces have been declared to be in the state of calamity because of El Niňo. This only shows that climate change does not choose the country to be victimized. A third world country will be shown no mercy by this deadly curse created by man.

I f the present situation continues, the planet earth will become a big stadium where only the strong and powerful country survives. The competitions for survival will be stiff and tough. Man will continue to exhaust every means to keep up with every change but will only be disappointed with the realization, that things could have been avoided earlier.

Save a Drop

With arms wide open

We dream of being in the university where that proud naked man will welcome us with open arms. That naked man is none other than the Oblation, and that university is no less than the University of the Philippines.

This is every Filipino student’s dream, but not everyone gets the chance of living it. The competition is stiff, the requirements are overwhelming, the probability of getting in is too low ― the exact reasons why most remain as dreamers.

Only about 10% of the 60-70 thousand UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) takers gets the chance to be qualified to study in UP. However, the UPCAT result only covers half of the admission process― it does not guarantee that you’re really in. The other half relies on high grades all throughout secondary education.

Those who get in gets to be called the crème’ de la crème’ and enjoy “special privileges.”

Standing on the pedestal

Being one of the chosen few, we are given bragging rights ― rights that we milk every chance we get, because we are deemed as “superior”. But in truth, we realize that we are not special at all. We are just one of the many ― and many more are better than we are.

When we get into UP, we call ourselves “Iskolar ng Bayan”. The people pay for our education, but that was before. Now, once we get into UP, people call us “sosyal”. The tuition increased, there are many cars on the parking lot, and majority of the students already bring laptops to school instead of notebooks.

Outside UP, people set high standards and expect a lot form UP students. In pageants, a UP candidate is expected to be both beauty and brains, flawless in question and answer portions, outspoken and witty. An epitome of a well rounded woman, a complete package. But a single mistake could ruin it all. Once you are in UP, a small mistake is equivalent to a major crime. Expectations lead to vulnerability to mistakes and these mistakes are magnified.

Must (but doesn’t) have

UP students are ideally smart. We are known to have an advanced curriculum. One subject is a combination of two or three in other schools, and somehow, we pass. But in reality, many of the students fail in some subjects, and there is a significant number of delayed students.

UP students are ideally principled. We stand firm for what we believe in, we fight for what we think is right, and we will bring you anywhere just to prove our point. But in reality, some of us cannot fight our biggest foe ― conformity. Some enter groups for the sake of being with friends, thus defeating the purpose of hardline principles.

UP students are ideally socially aware. What we should do always be for the benefit of the masses, in service of the Filipino people. We are supposed to give back what they have invested for us. But in reality, social awareness remains only inside the University. Some UP students only make use of their degrees to look good in their résumés and work abroad, in private companies ― or worse, under capitalists, all for the sake of their own gains.

UP students are ideally assertive. We push through our beliefs, put them into actions, and persuade others to do the same in order to stir or effect change. But in reality, we are becoming the outcome of the supposed change. We are easily influenced. Thus, we become mere products― the effect, not the cause of change.

UP students are ideally versatile. We are well-rounded individuals who could excel in any situation given the knowledge and skills that we possess. But in reality, we are the ones limiting our growth, allowing ourselves to become subjects of stereotyping and unfair labeling. We are aware, but we do nothing to change the backward trend.

Save a drop

Like a drop of water going back to the sea, and becoming only a part of the majority― leaving the university gives us no choice but to immerse in a bigger social context, and blend in.

We come to realize that Philippines is not UP, and we cannot bring everything we have learned inside the campus, there would really be some that we will be left behind. Because in the outside world, it is totally different. We are just one of the many trying to survive.

But in the end, we go back to a touchstone, and realize that the ocean will be a lesser ocean without that single drop that has been denied of it.

So we have every choice to stand out.