Not everyone was born to be a rocket scientist!

I am happy with how this blogging thing is turning out to be. Not only am I beginning to hone my writing skills (whatver there is) but also gaining a lot of friends via this medium. I am glad I have started and have joined pinoy blogs, a community of Filipino bloggers, a new set of intellectuals of today who are either residing inside the country or those living outside, friendly, courteous, and ready to extend a helping hand to a fellow blogger in need.

I have just befriended one student, Rachel an Ateneo student, who gave me something to blog about. In our repartee via the forum, she reminded me of a distant past, painful but proved to be enlightening in the long run.

As a Fine Arts student in a School of Music and Arts sharing two floors in a building occupied by Dentistry and Medicine students, we could almost feel the sneers and raised eyebrows as we passed the first three floors in order to get to our domain. Maybe we were paranoid but we knew, or thought we knew what they would have been thinking, "Okay, studying to be painters, but hen what?" On a few occasions, the bolder among the lot would call us "squatters." I'm jsut glad we were the last graduates of that school. It has been moved to a new location in Caloocan City. Anyway, although we did not admit it, at the back of our minds, we knew they had better chances of becoming rich. Sure we dreamt of being big someday, probably earning the title of national artist, but hey, one among thousands of students learning how to paint? Chances are practically nil!

Then it came to me. Not everyone was born to be a rocket scientist. Each one of us has been blessed with a talent. The gift of gab, a magic hand that can do wonders, fast feet, a sweet voice... to each his own.

In a meeting several years ago, I sat with a school production of a musicale as its sceninc artist which saw me arguing with some subject coordinators who would not allow a particular student to join the school's play because said child was failing their subjects. I'm sure this is nothing new. We have given emphasis on Math, Science, and to some extent, English, with good reasons. These are the subjects where studies have proven that our students are deficient in. But in our quest to improve on these skills, should we forget about the other disciplines? With my given example, should we deprive the boy to make something of himself by way of his special talents and interests? If the boy can really act and sing well, that would give him a good boost to his ego and it is imperative that we provide him with an avenue to show what he's got. What we could do is to give him some sort of remediation or even tutorial sessions in order to help him with his grades. Stifling his creativity is not an option.

Let's admit it. We are fond of measuring success by how much money we can put into our pockets. If this is the sole gauge of success, do you remember the time when Jun Limpot was drafted to the PBA? He was offered millions of cash. And that was not because he knew algorithm or the laws of physics but because he was good at what he does.

And yet, through all these, I still say that the key to a successful career is not the monetary gain one gets but with the happiness one derives from it. I don't care anymore if my contemporaries in that college building are now successful doctors and dentists. All I know is that I am happy with my wife, my four kids, my old Lite Ace that can only be best described by sayint that it is something that runs on four wheels, my very own little house, my contented ego and my humble blogspace. And these are already a mouthful by my standards. :-)