Valred Olsim
- The Old Shirt - May 27, 2024
- Pasasalamat - May 6, 2024
- Going Solo - April 22, 2024
At least Monday Manong is better than a Tito Thursday.
And what better way to celebrate your thirties than to tell a story, just like any “mature” dude you meet in a party? Tell it like a drunk uncle, or an elder in a bonfire…sing it, write it.
But, in the world today that doesn’t read as much as before, why would we care to even write?
The North Luzon Monitor is now home to The Eternal Student, a personal blog that began as a weekly column for four years in another celebrated local newspaper. It is a compilation of announcements, reflections, studies, and anecdotes written by an errr…eternal student. At first, I supposed that I was speaking about myself because I did attend school longer than necessary, but I soon realized that most people make terrible mistakes when faced with the day-to-day obstacles in life. Each of us is growing and navigating life one step at a time—we are all eternal students.
I also used to believe that my lengthy 14-year graduate degree completion period made me an academic failure. However, I also learned that during those 14 years, I completed 24 artworks, sold 14, wrote 4 songs, and took part in over 77 community service projects. According to the maxim, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. We may have failed in some areas, but we must recognize that we have also won in some. Maybe the life that we are taking for granted now, is the life that many people are also praying for.
Two decades ago after we were set loose to run free and change the world, we found ourselves in an eight to five desk and a mountain of realizations – we may have blazed through some trails but we also found ourselves stepping in somewhere the system we struggled to change before, or in a complete opposing fence from our young idealistic principles. We realized that we are frail, constantly on a cycle of hit and miss, and in situations compromise of trying to stand out and being a conformist convert…we are conflicted, just like anybody else. Such adventures and battle scars, milestones, perhaps, or markers and warning signs, must be told somehow for the new adventurers. A topic for the inebriated guild. A mandatory subject for the school of hard knocks. A cautionary tale.
Regardless of the chaos and hopelessness of the world, written works, just like the cave drawings of the ancient, have survived the times. The oral works have not, unless recorded by gadgets and preserved in the machines. At this point in my life, I have stopped thinking about what people may think about how I have lived my life, or about my philosophies and take on living and the world. I do care, however, about how my children, and future grand children would view me in their own quests. So maybe, just maybe, the real purpose of my writing is for them.
To my Vash and Vin, please know that I love you always. Have fun in your own life adventures by living a life of meaning and purpose!