By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Nowadays, a two week vacation is something to cry for. Long gone are the elementary days that included two months of vacation days. You really must take what you can get, especially as a university student, those 75 grades can look beautiful on occasions. “Passing is passing”, a reliable mantra for a lot of students, just as reliable as the DFA in SM always being filled up with people lining up to get passports.
We were part of that line just days ago and it really opens up your eyes with that number of Filipinos lining up. How many of them were teachers, engineers and professionals lining up in order to look for better jobs? There were young children with their parents lined up to get their photos and you’d expect those children to continue their upbringing likely in a western country. Their accents will no longer be of hard English when speaking the language and their culture will change in the coming years. Currently, with the state of our nation, people would call that an objective and the correct decision.
Young graduates will always be produced but the opportunities aren’t always there. Young graduates are burdened with providing for their families almost immediately. They must look for jobs that can take care of the needs of 5-8 people. Look for salaries that can provide for the education of their younger siblings and the expensive medicines of their ailing parents.
Local opportunities can’t always give them those opportunities but a passport can.
It is a different kind of strength to line up at the DFA expecting to never see your children/family for years. It is a decision more than “want” it is simply a “need”.
People must take what they can get in order to give their children the proper education and the proper food to eat day in and day out.
Standing in line inside the DFA, I see many professionals who will help so many nations and many professionals the Philippines will miss out on. We call the Philippines our home, but many of us would prefer our children to grow up in a better home.
Our nation has talented individuals but those talent will demand opportunities. Youth development is the way to the future.
Talents need to shine bright but they are often covered unable to bloom to their full potential if they stay home.
Other nations will always look to snatch away talented individuals in order to add into their arsenal of talents. We are a producer of raw materials but we don’t really mold them to their full potential. The human resources we send into the outside world turn into high value technology and great professionals.
Nurturing young talents, locally, is overlooked, ambitions eventually lead them to the bigger stage and that stage is in the west.**
