I wrote this back in 2014. I am not sure if I still live up to what I wrote. Haha! Anyway, I just wanted to repost this here. So here yah go!
This is the only photo I have of my medal (na hinanap ko pa sa FB. Buti pala, inupload ko!) and I don't even know where it is now. Na karma ata ako sa kapatid ko. Kasi nawala (ko) 'yung medals niya dahil nilabhan ko 'yung laces. Ayun! Ni isang medal ko, hindi ko na alam nasaan. Pero hindi na mahalaga 'yun ngayon. Ata. Mehe.
All right. So I graduated as a Magna Cum Laude, modesty aside, last year. Well, almost last year (Again, I wrote this back in 2014). I still need two months to complete the year since we graduated, date of May 10. Anyway, I'm doing this because, just because. Nah, you'd know why when you get to finish this post. Or maybe not. Anyway, here it is. The Perks of Being an Honor Student by Althea D. Cahayag.
1. Your classmates will congratulate you for doing a great job. Especially if you're in a block section. Saying, "You're so great! We knew it! You even topped the class! We're proud of you." but...
2. Expect your classmates to ask you for some blow-out. Yes. They are proud of you but that is not enough. Anyway, what are friends are for, right?
3. No one will ever be more proud of you than your own parents. Hell, right? They got the rights! They'd tell you how much proud they are, even they were already near in cursing you every time you ask for money regarding your baon, extra school activities, projects, but in the end, they'd still give you what you need. Well, it does not end there.
4. Your parents will brag about you until your last relative they have contact with and to the last person in the neighborhood. "My son/daughter is a Laude!" And your neighbors will congratulate you the same way others did, mocking your parents for a blow-out, too.
5. Your parents, after your graduation, will expect that it is easy for you to get a job. Reality? Fuck all those who said an honor student will get a job easily. That isn't true. I swear to all the Gods we all believe in and in all parts of the heavens we have. And your parents will try to tell you words indirectly about getting a job, as if you're not doing anything to find one. They were proud of you when they knew you were on the cream of the crop list but will seem be tired of having you around the house as if you're a freakin' free loader and not their offspring.
6. Luckily, from all your prayers to all the heavenly beings you've prayed to, you had a job. You'd have a very big salary. You're an honor student, remember? Reality? Your parents and all of your kins expect that you will be paid by a big amount of money but the real thing is, it isn't. It may just only be enough for your own fancies. And when you give them a part of your salary, they will just say, "Just this?! This seem to be so small!" And you'd try to shut your mouth, words and sentences having a race in your mind, wanting to be spilled out. "I'm the one who's working and I'm not having any protest about my freakin' salary! Why don't you try to be on my place?! Let's see!" But because you know it isn't right, you know, just like what I said, you just shut your mouth.
7. You don't always land the job that suits your course. Well, lucky for me, I did land the job suited to my course, and a bonus, I love what I do. As the saying goes, it was something that kinda says, "Have a job that you love and you would not have to work. Ever." I won't say I have the best job ever. I won't say I get to buy all the things I want with my salary. But I love it. And I know it's not what will keep you alive. Let's face it. We all have our needs and those are what love can't buy. We have to eat, you have other siblings who need to go to school, you have to "return" what your parents have given, even they didn't ask you to. But the thing is, you have to choose. Sometimes, it's not enough that you're the only one who's happy. They should be, too. Whoever they are. But in the end, it's up to you.
8. It's not about the honors, the awards, and the medals you get. They may have a bearing on your soon to be career but what's more important, is how you would build it up, construct the path you want to walk on, look up, smile, and say, "I made it!" Whether you have the honors or not.
9. Lastly, but may not really be the last, the honors you got, they are just BRAGGING RIGHTS, in the real world everyone is talking about during your graduation ceremony. Isn't it the real world yet? Duh.
*If you find this list untrue, I know it is. We all differ. If you got offended by my words, profanity and anything else that I wrote, ehr, I don't feel like apologizing. But I would gladly apologize for any grammatical errors I committed.
(Welcome, newly grads! *You may read between and beyond the lines*)
Just to add, if there is an opportunity, try to grab it. And rejections have their way to put you down. Don't forget to get up and knock them down the next time around.
Comments
What do you think, Awesome?