Worthwhile Pursuits

As my BA flight taxied through the tarmac, I made quick recount of the year that was. My clamor for change towards my current disposition about life ceaselessly pounded me all throughout the past year. With a massive amount of courage, I willed to seize every chance there is to initiate that change. Remembering that New Year's eve, I left the year bearing a positive note.

Before I could get up, from my aisle seat (my choice of seating arrangement for long haul flights) to gather my stuff, I rummaged through my neurons of what capacity I have to fulfill this year's aspirations. My limitations will bound to grip me helpless, I'm sure, but to dream, plan and find ways to make these happen will worth any wait. Same ways in the past, when my thirst for something more to fulfill my aspirations was insatiable. The faith that somehow, sometime, these pursuits will bound to happen lingered on.

There was a time when I was searching for a school which offers courses for professional advancement, I sighed in exasperation upon learning that I needed to submit a good number of contact hours of continuing education as an additional requirement for admission. It started there. Someone did actually called me a psycho for endlessly searching and hauling all capabilities to learn and test and garner certificates on accredited sites. Completion is still halfway through but smile is slowly replacing my long time burrowed forehead (of which is good because I'm too young to be a candidate for botox. Ha ha.).

One could blatantly surmise that to pursue educational pursuits is somewhat out of reach given the current situation. Pretty true. Everyone is harping how bleak the economic atmosphere is. It's doom and gloom for most families back home and we, the providers are directly affected. Selflessness resurfaces as a result in order to meet the growing demands of living. Prices soar to an inconceivable heights, sadly speaking. Yet again, to dream of something more on the educational front and hold on to it is perhaps worth doing. Instill a faith of what one can do, unshakable even when then eyes are blinded by tears of frustration. Never settle for less such as ending up undergoing surgical procedures to sell body parts, a misguided concept. (Some people actually resort to such measures as in nephrectomy to sell one of their functioning kidneys for a huge amount. Out of desperation, I believe). The madness of being less empowered is sometimes undaunting, true. But to keep believing and taking charge could keep one on track. After all, the promise of economic revival is always there.

To emulate those who invested on knowledge could have a long term effect. After all, knowledge is unsurprisingly ubiquitous. I suppose, it is worth not letting it sit idly within one's reach and like a macrophage engulfing an invading microorganism, be ready to conquer.

As I got up from my seat, ready to breathe Hong Kong life once again, my smile never left. I clutched my rucksack and strode my way out the plane ready to face the battle of daily life. With me is the promise of achieving my plans.

Author: Marife Tandoc

Winner: Bagong Tuklas na Manunulat of the Month. Published in True Friends Newsmag February 2009 Issue (Vol. 5 no.7)