Touch Move

(As seen in: the Flame)

More  than the classroom-based lessons I have learned in my four years in college, my stay at the University has taught me an important message in life that is very much applicable once I step out of the walls of my alma mater. As cliché and as common as it may sound, the lesson is simply not to take life too seriously.

This  brings me back to a photo in Facebook that features a story with the headline, “Worker dead at desk for 5 days.” The article tells the story of a worker who has always been so engaged in his work that he rarely gets off his workplace. He had a heart attack and passed away unnoticed. At the end of the story, a lesson is revealed saying, “do not work too hard, nobody notices anyway.”

Contrary to how I lived up my four years in this institution, college should be a niche for learning, having fun, discovering your identity, making friends, and grabbing opportunities while juggling to do good academically. I must admit that most of the time, I have been too harsh on myself.   I have always been filled with discontentment for desiring many things that are beyond my reach. Despite this, I am glad that before my journey reaches its end, I learned not to take life too seriously for nobody gets out alive anyway. However, it does not mean that we should dilly-dally on things. It is just a matter of proper time management. Ergo, it does not hurt to party and relax at times while working hard in school.

Graduating students have probably heard the cliché “welcome to the real world” a number of times. However, no matter how hard I try to grasp it, the ambiguity of this friendly precaution remains unclear to me.

Does this mean that all the lessons and experiences I have gained during my four-year stay in this University are all far from what reality offers? Have we been prepared for nothing but a fictional reality that exists only in the subjective mind of its thinker?

All of the knowledge and understanding acquired inside and outside the four corners of the classroom do not only serve as dry-runs but as means to equip students to more difficult trials once they leave the  confines of the campus. All the lessons—whether class-based or not—as well as the experiences and camaraderie gained during college have geared us pretty well to face the much harder life ahead.

Nothing in being is for rehearsal’s sake. Every action and decision could make or break the course of our path, whether we are still in college or not. 

In the four years that I have been in the Flame, I have witnessed the struggle faced by its members in order to produce at least a single decent issue every year.

Its past members and editors have said that the Flame runs in an “alive-dying-dead” cycle.

True enough, for the first three years of my membership, it became a year-ender publication and its existence was only noticed by few Arts and Letters (Artlets) students. Nothing and no one could be blamed. It was just that the publication had to go through a dwindling point, an instance where it was merely a flicker away from being extinguished.

Now that I am down to my last year, I am proud to say that for the first time (at least in my stay), the Flamewas able to publish three issues on the first semester, followed by Dapitan,
its literary folio, and a magazine
issue on the second semester.

However, this productive phase did not just happen with just a snap of a finger. The Flame members and its Editorial Board had to go through an eye of a needle before successfully publishing an issue as defective computers, inefficient members, and funding problems confronted us.

In fact, it took this last issue a lot of thinking and decision making from the Editorial Board. After producing three issues in three consecutive months during the first semester, we were notified by the Faculty administration to limit our release into four issues at most due to insufficient funds. The news of course saddened the members of the publication. At one point, we were tempted not to publish anything to express our dissent, but it has come to us that it would be a disgrace if the Flame would just disappear without informing the Artlets community about the real reason behind its limited release.

Despite these dilemmas, the Flame has managed to produce this lone magazine issue for the second semester. I could only hope that what has been started will be continued by the future editors of this publication.

In line with this, I would like to thank the people behind the Flame who have made my stay worthwhile. To our adviser, Professor Nestor Cuartero, and the rest of my professors, thank you not only for the journalistic lessons you have imparted, but more importantly for the life lessons you have given. I will forever treat those lessons as my life’s guiding principles.

To my colleagues and friends: Angel, Ardi, Azer, Cam, Chino, Dan, Eli, Marian, Miko, Sooey, Trina, Zhea and the rest of the old and new staff members, thank you so much for the camaraderie. “Kailan na ‘yung rock band natin?” Our bonding plans have not yet materialized. Still, thank you for those crazy two semesters filled with fun and laughter.

My deepest gratitude goes to our editor in chief, Jenn. We have been writers for the Flame for four years but we got the chance to bond and to be friends only recently. Our relationship goes beyond EIC-Assoc Edaffiliation. With all the hurdles we have surpassed together, we learned to work not only as a team, but more importantly, as friends. Thanks again for the lessons you taught me especially during the time when you caught me at my weakest point.

To the incoming Editorial Board members, writers, photographers, and artists, good luck and may you keep the Flame alive and burning.

I would also like to express my gratitude to my “bading” friends, Alex, Bea, Bianca, CJ, Claire, Demi, Joanne, Lars, and Thaene for we have made it through thick and thin.

To the rest of my 4JRN1 classmates, dudes, girlfriends, geeks, and others, I am glad to be part of a dynamic, talented, and skillful bunch of individuals like you. To the rest of the graduating Journalism sections, JRN2, JRN3, and JRN4, congratulations to us for being the biggest Journalism batch to date.

To my thesis-mates, Bianca, Demi, and Joanne, and our thesis adviser Sir John Manuel Kliatchko, thank you. “I-kembot na natin ito!”

My sincerest gratitude and love goes to my family. Ma, Pa, and my brother, thank you so much for all the sacrifices, support, and understanding. I love you.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Lord for all of the opportunities, success, and blessings I received. I owe it all to Him. F