protracted war

MSU main campus breathed alive the word INDEPENDENCE for me.  the halls of PLH, an exlusive for girl scholars dormitory were witnesses of my lonely metamorphosis from a trusting 15-year old wide-eyed child to a college freshman who learned to sleep alone in bed and one who managed to handwash for fear of running out of decent clothes to wear. 

i met countless friends, kuyas, ates , frat darbs and xis, and comrades during my 3years of stay on MSU- PLH and 3 other cottages.  i attended christian group gatherings every chance that i got, made good friends with Accounting and Aggie Eng’rng classmates, shared sleepless nights with the MSU AMO family and struggled in the streets with LFS comrades. 

i am the woman i am today, based on principles and beliefs, because of the colorful experiences that i have had that commenced in MSU.

among those experiences were my brief stay with trade union rallyists and KMP activists as well as my 6-month countryside integration where i ate, slept and studied with revolutionaries.  every morning, i had to climb hills so that i could take a refreshing bath in natural springs;  every meal time was a reason to celebrate unity, equality and life itself; everynight, we trekked the slopes on tiptoes so as to change posts for security purposes. 

it was on those hills that i felt closest to nature.  those days and nights proved to me that one thing leads to another and everything is interrelated.  criticism and self-criticism opened my eyes to bittersweet opportunities to better myself including my perception of other people as well as outlook in life.  it was during those times that i realized things will always stay as they are unless we choose to stand up and make the tiniest of voices matter. 

i celebrated my debut there…  what made it remarkable was the unselfish act of the “masa ” to cook a “dumalaga” as the only food preparation on that memorable day.  that act put in practice the idea of sacrificing one’s self for others.   to dedicate one’s life for the upliftment of the condition of the masses requires determination, patience, courage, hard work and heart. a heart that conquers all odds, that accepts failure as a stepping stone to success, a heart that beats in a protracted motion.

i say protracted because the war that i support wheels slowly but not necessarily smoothly.  it may experience loopholes but what matters is that we are not dogmatic, we are open to criticize the imperfections that we see in ourselves and in others so that we can construct a better if not perfect world that is a product of one final war.  a war which endgame may not be realized in my lifetime, an idealism which started before i was born, a struggle which i partake through writing…