By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Growing up in our household, I was lucky to have had access to a great variety of movies. From these work of art, I had learned a great deal about life and the outside world, all from the comfort of our home. A good number of these were western and American. Unbeknownst to me, I was starting to have a certain bias towards western movies, and their ideals.
Among the many things that surprised me, was western independence. In these movies, I would always watch American parents drop off their children at college, which most of the time were “massive” and beautiful campuses. And around these parents would be so many others in the same situation. Parents with tears and proud looks on their faces as their children embark on their new journey.
I was amazed at the level of independence and freedom in the western world. The elementary me was suddenly filled with purpose and motivation. In all my naivety and ignorance, I had thought how marvelous it would be to experience what these American kids had gone through.
To stand in their place as they gaze upon a new journey and be independent. Some years later, my wish had been granted. And there I was, standing dumbfoundedly at the new journey ahead of me, the college journey. I got to go to a school far away from home, with a beautiful campus that came straight out of a movie scene. I felt like I was an independent American kid in a movie, finally going off to college.
Yet, as I had started to calm down from all the adrenaline, the fear and doubts came flooding through. There was so much to take in, so many strangers around, and so much distance from my own family. I did not remember this scene in the movies I watched. College is already tough on its own, but being separated from your family can be even harsher. When there was so much fear and doubt around, with no familiar face and seemingly no family to turn to, I looked up above. To the sky that was familiar, to the being that was familiar, the things that reminded me of home. When I found myself in a different environment, when all I could see was fear and doubts, it was what I couldn’t see that pulled me through, faith.
One by one, the blocks of doubts came down to reveal the beautiful scenery that is life. A movie scene finally came, and slowly, strangers became friends and the exotic environment started to feel like home.
Life can be a very hectic experience, and so easily can our senses be tricked and fooled from seeing all that we have been blessed with. Just like going through a movie, it can be stressful and scary. But we must always see it through, and we just might enjoy the climax of our very own story.** (The author used to write a column in this paper last year when he was still in senior high school. Now he is busy adjusting to college life in UP Los Banos.)
