EDITORIAL
2010-2011

Youth – hope of all nations! 

Can you grasp what this simple quote means to everyone? Can you explain what it wants to imply? Try to give an answer in your thought. 

The youth is the hope of every mankind. They will have the duty to nourish and strengthen our nation. That is why our parents supplement us with the best they can to support us. Be it material or immaterial needs such as moral support and understanding, our elders give us all our needs because they trust us, that the youth may fulfill what they have failed to do in their lifetime. 

However, there are many hindrances that we also need to overcome. Bad influences from misguided friends, negative effects of western culture, technology and the media, early pregnancies, inconsiderate businessmen and the they-who-only-give-negative-comments-instead-of-counseling members of the community, inability of some parents, guardians and/or teachers to skillfully and professionally deal with youth problems and many other more. Many of us are not leading to the right path of what Rizal expects the youth to become. 

We are lambs being left in the midst of hungry lions! 

A challenge is called to all of us youth then. According to Existentialism “the man is the master of his soul, the captain of his ship.” Amidst the problems aforementioned, let us show to our Great Ancestors that the Old Dream is not yet dead. We should not let ourselves be caught by the traps scattered by the Evil around us. We are the Youth, the hope and future of all nations. 

They who will be fooled thru mistakes are surely losers, and we certainly want to be winners!

Why hate a teacher?
(Megan P. Tabora) 

Is it a must for students to work on for a good relationship with their teachers? 

Yes! Having good relationship with teachers today doesn’t mean literally that there’s something going on between a teacher and a student or that teachers have their own pets or favorites. 

Teachers are another group of adults in our life students who can look after us, guide us and provide us with an adult perspective. They can offer advice and help correct our poor habits and attitudes. 

So why do you think many students today hate their teachers or are teacher haters? 

I asked my schoolmates and one of the common reasons is because they are making the class very difficult and are not making much effort to help the students. When teachers make the materials difficult and they do not help the student, the latter will turn against the teacher who for them does not really want to help them. 

But we must also think that teachers are professionals with qualifications and skills and are doing their best to help students acquire an education which will help them go out into the real world with a better chance of succeeding. However as human beings, they have their own limitations. It’s a give and take on both sides that helps make learning worthwhile. If students have serious issues with a particular teacher, it might be worth having a word or conversation with him of her. 

As students, we should also do our part and be responsible in our actions and behaviors because teachers just don’t get mad without any good reason at all. To clear things out, the students really do not hate the teacher as a person but the actions or words that the teacher is or is not doing in the classroom. 

Lastly, positive relationship between students and teacher enhances a better and collaborative learning process.

Let’s Rock!
Arnoldine A. Sally
Column 

Music has always been part of our lives. Although we don’t notice how it tangles with our lives in some ways, what many of us don’t know is that is affects the way we think and live. People use music to escape boredom. Especially the young people, we see them bang their heads when they hear music. We immediately realize that it is rock music they are listening to. 

Some find this genre annoying to the ear, but why is it that many people love it especially teenagers? How it affects the mind is another question. When we are out of control with our minds, we do things we usually don’t do and we become brave while doing it. It sounds good but when it comes to the point of smoking and drinking excessively, its beyond the point. 

Few studies have been conducted to see the connection between alcoholism and obsession to rock music, but we can see that the two come in side-by-side when we look at most depressed young people nowadays. Read the lyrics of a rock song, you’ll find that most are about suicide, violence, alcoholism, immoral killings and worse, calling out for demons or Lucifer himself. 

Now tell me, if you listen to these every single day of your life, it does affect your character and action …doesn’t it? 

But no matter what music we hear, it is still in us how to manage our own life. God has given us the privilege to make our life. 

Life is short…live life to the fullest!

 One Step at a Time 

One step at a time, and that well placed
We reach the grandest height;
One stroke at a time, earth’s hidden stores,
Will slowly come to light;
One seed at a time, and the forest grows,
One drop at a time and the river flows into the sea.
One grain of knowledge, and that well said stores,
Another and more on them,
As time rolls on your mind will shine
With many a granted and garnered gem
Of thought and wisdom: and time will tell.
One thing at a time, and that done well,
Is wisdom proven rule.

This is shot poem in a card that my friend Jerman Silot gave me last Christmas vacation. 

Jerman Silot was a classmate of mine, and he is now studying in Virac, Balatoc. When we were in elementary, he always cut-classes and is so lazy to study. He stays in the computer shop until the classes end up. Until one time, he realized that it is wrong. 

When I try to understand the poem, I found out that the message is: “If we try to do our very best to reach our goals and dreams, we will reach it.” 

We need to forget our boredom in our life. Full-hearted work is needed, because every drop of sweat that comes from hard working will soon be paid in the right time. One step at a time and time will come, our journey will be ended and we will reach our dreamed destination. 

This is one thing to do in education. Have patience and don’t get bored. Year after year; one after another level of education, as you go on, you will be surprised that you already had reached your goal. 

And our knowledge – no one can steal it forever!

A Young Priest Reflects
Fr. Jeason A. Cabacab 

As one of the most recently ordained priest of the Catholic Church in our Vicariate, I feel humbled by the task of expressing my understanding of the priest today. When I was still a deacon, I have that privilege to work and learn from some of the finest priests in our Vicariate. 

At the foundation and source of a priest’s life and ministry is his grounding in personal prayer as well as in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. By his words and actions, the priest dedicates his whole life to the service of God and His people. Every aspect of his personal life reflects his calling and his ministry. His priesthood remains his only vocation and can never be a “part-time job.” He is ordained to serve, to give himself in unceasing and divine silence, “to the service of all form of life.” Prayer sustains and strengthens his vocation, and the Holy Eucharist nourishes and sanctifies his whole being. The priest then must give himself “continually to the prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). 

Like Jesus, the priest must always be connected to the Divine Source of all graces. Even though he is too busy in his ministry, he needs to stop, to reflect for a moment in order to pray and to meditate. He must give time for God to intervene in his ministry. Prayer must necessarily be the basis for the fulfilling of all the priest’s duties. The priest, then, is a man of prayer in the church’s services, in the home with the family, with other members of his flock, and privately. 

With all of this in mind, I tried to reflect my life as a young priest. I was ordained to an “alter Christus” to others. To be a priest is to shepherd the people in accordance to the heart and mind of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. However, to be assigned in your home town is so challenging. Yet it is my joy to administer the sacraments of Christ for the greater glory of His name and for the sanctification of His people. It is a great privilege for me to serve in my home town, Sabangan. 

Indeed, God chose and appointed me to go and bear much fruit in His vineyard.