“ Mahigit 14 years
kang mag-aaral tapos habang-buhay kang magtatatrabaho!. Oh life!”
People seem not so aware that behind all our differences
regarding our way of life, generally speaking we are all but follow only one
singular phase throughout our lifetime. Phases which consist of routines that
we obey devotedly and will continue to be followed by the next generation
without ever questioning if it still valid or whether they being robbed of
their freedom to create and make their own path because in instant they are
given sets of “programs” that they must follow or else, society will shun them
and be known as deviants.
Though because of its too much commonality, less people
didn’t even have the time to waste to ponder the statement above if it’s really
worth it to spend a decade within the walls and halls of rigid academic
training and in the end you’ll have to work and make money for your entire
life. Before you give you’re violent reaction to this, let me say first that in
a real sense, nothing is wrong about it. From studying then to working is the
right transition towards real learning and growth. Academic life teaches us all
the theories, buffing our minds with knowledge and honing our active as well as
dormant skills. Working, on the other hand is the final culmination to test
whether we are ready to execute what we learn and practice all the knowledge
what we have. Thus, this is the output of the 14 years burning your eyebrows
and exhausting your parent’s pocket. So it really makes sense that after
studying we should better step our gas to work and flex up (again) our mind and
body to test our ourselves (besides the other personal reasons like we have to
work to help our parents, get rich and make both ends meet, etc) if we are
ready for what they coined as the REAL world.
But let us see this in a different perspective: We study to
learn and gain knowledge. This knowledge is our bread and butter to survive and
grow in this world where it seems to be more like a “jungle” of civilized
individuals who ought to struggle zealously in order to live for themselves and
for what they deem as important. That’s how valuable knowledge is; it is an
invaluable weapon and probably the only thing you need to scale into the
heights of living. Good thing is, knowledge can be acquired in the form of
education. In school, we develop and hone the knowledge we need until we became
ready to specialized in certain areas of studies and finally, be able to get a
degree and graduate. I believe that’s the reason why it takes us almost a
decade spending our days reading, writing, listening and speaking because it is
the period to lay down our foundation towards our growth, and without focusing
in our foundation, the percentage of getting lost in the jungle is slim and
worse is, we might end up as the first man to preyed upon.
How about working then? Why we have to work for our entire
life? As I stated above working is where theories are tested and when we have
to practice all that we gain. That is by far what I know about why we are
working but knowing this world is just as complex and trivial like the human
mind, working so far has a primary definition to boot now: to make money. That
is, as I quote from someone I know is a “practical” mindset that prevails most
of us now. Again, there is no evil in making lots of money, but straining your
mind and body for 8 to 5 for 5 or even 6 days a week for money alone is
something really bothering. Of course you can’t blame some of our poor brethren
that due to poverty and famine, they become driven to gain money to uplift
their lives. But if there is something more appalling than living in rags is
the fact that these conditions lead many to a mentality that totally corrupts;
a mentality where all that matters is the concrete and material (money) and not
the impalpable yet free (learning).
How many of us are now working for the sake of improving our
talents, skills and abilities? I bet if you ask our generation today why they
have to work is because they need money and they want money because they want
to help their parents, give back to all the sacrifices they made in order for
them to have the much coveted diploma or maybe a medal too. That’s highly
ethical and nonetheless, a reasonable mindset of the youth today. But I fear
somehow this kind of scenario knowing that working is not just a way for us to
stack some bucks. Working is an extension of a never ending learning and
growth. Thus, it is better to say that we will learn and study for the rest in
our life. The only thing that will change here is the setting (from academic to
work place) but in virtue, nothing is really different between staying in
school for 14 years and working for the rest of our lives because the theme of
learning and growth is constant and unbreakable. I wonder if there are still
number of individuals who think like those people from the past who, despite
the fact that money matters even those days, manage to work for the sake of
learning. And what’s the result? They change the world. Of course at first
society see them as mad and even odd. No one really gave them any appreciation
since they are not “in the crowd”, they didn’t follow the given phases of life
that everyone follows without a question. And who gets the last laugh in the
end? Them; the misfits who see that nothing can top learning and studying, not
even money or riches nor the way the world will see them.
I know I did blabber too much now, but my point only is that
studying shouldn’t end after 14 years. It should be continued even when we are
done with books, when we grow tired of wafting chalk powders and filling all
the pages of our notes. We can learn so much more when we begun to work too. My
only concern is that is let’s change our typical perspective that to work for a
life time is a burden and we only need this to survive. No, working is a brand
new opportunity for us to grow more and become a better individual equipped
with all kinds of knowledge that we wanted to gain. No matter how simple or how
complicated, how trivial or significant your work in the eyes of many, you
should always be proud because with that work of yours, you are continuously
becoming a part of the endless cycle of giving and receiving knowledge. For
learning is life itself and for the whole days of our lives, studying and
learning never stop even if the ink of our pen runs dry.
“Mahigit 14 years kang
mag-aaral, pero and totoo habang buhay ka talagang mag-aaral kahit may
trabahaon ka na. That’s life!”
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