UP!

 “Prof. Diane Princess B. (my husband’s surname)”

Assuming you’re right, yes, I want to be called in that way someday. Not because I will have a name in the field of philosophy and education, but because I want to be a part of college students’ lives before they enter the bolder and truer face of the life that requires great effort and determination.

It doesn’t matter if I will be teaching Theology, English, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, or whatsoever. What matters the most is the fact that I will settle something remarkably important in the hearts and minds of my students—something that when time comes that these students will hopingly find and figure out their journeys in life, there they will remember me, my teachings, and my words and appreciate how I made a difference in their lives. By then, I can quite say I am ready to die—to die when I already know to myself that the things I have overwhelmingly done in this world will make me still alive within the etched letters turn in words, within the dreams turn in reality, and within the meaningless life turn into notable one.

 

To satisfactorily attain this profession is undeniably not easy. You have to study hard and willingly accept the risks. You have to put your heart in teaching enclosed with prayers and enthusiasm. You have to welcome the unceasing questions, wonders, and thoughts of every head nodding and disagreeing about the truths and theories of here and beyond. You have to carry them. You have to touch their lives not only because they are your student but because they are individuals whose lives are for society’s sakes and not just inside the wards. You have to inspire them and work out the importance of their existence.  You have to be who you have decided to be.

Elementary teachers teach the basics—and maybe when we become high school students, we might forget those (but do not forget how we all get started with these basic writing, counting and reading). Secondary teachers deepen and strengthen the basics—and maybe when we become college students (if we can afford and continue); 40-50% information and understanding about a certain subject will remain fresh before or on college life. Lastly, tertiary (college) teachers teach the most workable, inspiring, living and indelible lessons in life—and probably, even we already have our own world around, their lessons mostly remain alive. This is one of the reasonable reasons why I am endeared more in college teaching. And, I see myself in that field.

The fact that I also want to be a communications engineer, a columnist of Manila Bulletin or New York Times, a researcher, a broadcast journalist, a forensic scientist, a community server, a church leader, a pianist and so many more aspirations, is something I considered reason why God had created me. We can do a lot of things out of our in-born characteristics and talents. And this proves that it is unacceptable to say that you can do nothing. Vividly, satisfaction does not end up with one achievement only. Hundreds and thousands experiences and attainments will do.

Someday, I will be called like that. I will be a gift for them. And, I will be who I wanted to be.