Reality Bites

This month marks my tenth year of being a corporate slave and being independent. It is true how time flies when you're busy, I can't imagine that I've been working now for 10 freaking long years already.

I can still remember when I graduated from college on how I would sent out through mail (yes, snail mail) my resumes to different companies; I think I sent almost a thousand CVs (I'm not kidding) to prospected employers during my first 4 years after college.

It is difficult to find a job in Metro Manila if you're a graduate of a little known, or almost unknown, college. It didn't help boost my confidence either whenever I would see hirings in Classified Ads saying ...

Preferably graduates of U.P. (University of the Philippines), La Salle and Ateneo.

Obviously, those companies have not heard nor realized yet the term "An equal opportunity employer".

The other day a blogger friend, who studies in a very high profile college in Taft, texted me on how he was irked by his classmates who lack "the passion" at school. He was referring to his wealthy bastards classmates who takes studying and college eduation for granted. I can totally relate to him - I've had such classmates and as a former instructor I've had plenty of such students in my class.

These people obviously do not realize the great opportunity they have.

-------------

I grew up in a poor struggling family from the south. My parents didn't earn that much to send us (me and my siblings) to high school and college. And as a young kid I was fully aware of this dillema.

I was granted full scholarships when I went to high school and college. I'm not a scholar because I was intelligent (I think it is pretty obvious from the grammatical flaws in this blog that I am not smart) and that I passed/topped some entrance exam or something. I received government subsidy because my family's financial status is considered to be below that of the average Filipino family and that qualified me for such a government support.

People might think that it was easier for me to study then because I was a scholar.

Guess again.

When I applied for a scholarship at the start of my first year in high school it was not approved immediately. The scholarship stated that (1) the student must not get any failing grade on any subject and (2) the student must not drop out of school and must finish his schooling for an entire four years - among other things. I didn't get to enjoy this privilege because I didn't have the money to enroll the next school year (sophomore year) and the news of my scholarship being approved came 2 months after the start of my supposed second year in high school. It was one year and two months late.

When I was in college it wasn't that easy either. Every semester my scholarship funds always came 2 to 3 months late. Me and my parents have to find ways to pay for my periodical exams every month. I would have to beg, and sometimes cry a bit, for my college teachers to allow me to take the exams.

Having government subsidy to pay for my tution fees was one thing, to go through some other schooling expensens was another.

On the average my baon at school when I was in college was 20 pesos - tricycle fare then was at 7 pesos. Almost everyday Inay and I would wake up early in the morning to gather some talbos of kamote and kalabasa and sell it to the public market. We would earn an average of 100 pesos for a whole sack of this vegetables. Inay and I would then divide the money for my baon and family food and other expenses.

There came a time when we had to sell some of our appliances, inay and tatay's antique coins (which they received as gifts when they got married) and some of our clothes to relief stores (now called Ukay-Ukays) just to get some money for my family's needs and me and my siblings studies.

Being fully aware on the financial crisis that my family had at the time was the driving force for me to do good at school and with my professinal life.

I'm saying all these to make a strong point based on personal experience.

That if you don't have money it is hard to get through school and even harder to get a good education from a good and well respected educational institution.

I fear for my friend's easygoing classmates that they will only realize the value of what they have now only when they graduate from college and face the corporate jungle - it is a very harsh world.

And in that world reality bites ...

very painfully.