By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
A life without hardship is not possible. And as for the many children like me, those hard times could not be avoided in our homes. Even as students, schools can be rampant with situations that can get you down. Here is my experience in high school.
I have had my fair share of successes in school. I also had failures. The difference is, failures stung a lot more than successes felt good. Especially in my 12th grade, where the problems did not stop in the academic part, but spread to social issues. And the distance between school and home seemingly made the problems worse. It even got to the point of me considering to transfer to a nearer school. But then the lockdown came, and the free time gave me a much-needed rest.
But even as hard headed we Filipinos are, no one can get used to failures. We can be surprisingly fragile. As the lockdown continued, I did what many others resorted to out of boredom, binge watching videos or movies. The nights of lockdown were filled with entertainment, but like many others, my health suffered. Sleeping late at night plus the consumption of junk food were a good combination for adding weight.
But repeating the mistakes I did in 12th grade was bad, and I tried to locate the problem in things around me. I would have kept making the same mistakes if not for a TV series. The main character in that show was in a similar situation as mine– problems in school worsened by the distance of home nearly made him quit. But, in the end he persevered.
That episode pointed to me as the problem for my failures. The cause was none other than me. Entering a nearby school could have given me the luxury of waking up late, but we lived in the outskirts of town, there were no institutions in close proximity. Hard activities were things that could not be avoided in learning. And the one who put all those food into my mouth was me.
Who to blame for our problems can be hard to see when we get shortsighted from difficulties. But In times when things don’t go our way, perhaps it would be wise to check ourselves for the problem. Similar to what we are experiencing now, with the rapid increase of COVID cases, it would make sense for us to blame what we see, the government. Although, our officials had made mistakes, perhaps it would be in our benefit to check ourselves. Many of us stopped following the rules. And a significant portion of the people grew lax, resulting in face masks covering the chin not the mouth. In all of us lies the problem, and the solution. Let us not be conceited as to shift the blame to others. Instead, by focusing on ourselves we can correct our own mistakes, and in that process, others will surely follow
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