First Rose

“I am glad to receive my very first rose from the best teacher I have ever had.”

Way back in college, I wrote a short story entitled “First Rose”. It was published in our school newspaper then and that line is one of my favorites. That was a decade ago, but in my everyday struggles in the academe, I cannot help but relate myself to the character there who aspired to receive a bouquet of roses that later on led her to a “rosy life”. As I stated there, “A rose will always be a rose.” Therefore, if one desires to receive roses, he has to accept it along with its thorns. With that, I think I have received a bouquet of roses already.

I have been in the field for quite some time now, yet not long enough to say that I have been exposed to many things that could prove that I had served really that much. But then, I believe that it is not how long you serve but how you really dedicate your life into something. Everything I do, I do it for my students. I give it all for the love of BNHS which is my Alma Mater and at the same time my second home. I am studying not only because I want to provide quality education, but also to prove the quality of its graduates.

I, being an alumna would like to bring my school at the pedestal. I want to bring honor to where I started that I pledge to work hard for it.

Therefore, though sometimes I felt forsaken by my own home that I experience more difficulty in facing my day to day tasks, I still consider it a privilege to serve. And because of that, I am holding the bouquet of roses given with a smile.

Certainly, all of us have received roses in this profession, but let’s think that petals are more in number compared to its thorns. Time will come and we can start cultivating our own garden of roses in our hearts that we can become numb and invincible of what we see, hear, and feel. Feel the pain for it is through feeling the pain that we can get through it.

With that, I would like to take this chance to express my heartfelt gratitude to the best teacher I have ever had, my BNHS, my Alma Mater, my mentor, my life…