The Advent Of Future In Today.docx

The Advent of the Future in Today’s World As I can see so many young faces sitting in front of me, I am quickly reminded of my youthful days too, and truly, to be with the young, is to feel as young and as vibrant as you are. I know that this might sound as a cliché but believe me, the very words of our beloved national hero, Jose Rizal, remains ultimately truthful to this day, that “the youth is the hope of our nation!” As I was once like you before, I feel so privileged and much-esteemed to be speaking before you, being your honoured guest, and more so being your baccalaureate speaker. Despite I bespeak of no lofty success to speak of, such as a very high government position or have I earned myself great wealth in this world, I may relay to you some significant matters. In my younger days, I was as astute student as you are. Perhaps just like you, I have also burned myriads of midnight candles in pursue the scholarly challenges that lies ahead of me – from my elementary days in Mercedes towards my law studies in Ateneo de Manila and National University. When I was young, I have walked barefoot over rivers and muddied roads just to get to my school. When I was in higher studies, I have peddled so many merchandise and artefacts through the jangly and busy streets of Manila just to carry me through in those hardship days, to support my needs for food as well as for upkeep – not too mention the high cost of education. Yet, these labours and sacrifices that I have endured, I do not see them now in any negativity, in fact with so much happy remembrances. Because, as you and I know fully well now, now that you are in threshold of your young lives, it is thru sacrifices that we often achieve our mighty ambitions. And these hardships make every success the more treasured and cherished. As a youth, we know that our guile and intellect are not only tested within the four corners of our classrooms, but also out there in the field, in athletics and ball games, which, I am reminded now also, that I have been active at in order to hone my body and enhanced my competitive spirit, as well as to propel great camaraderie with comrades and companions, in the spirit of fair play and healthy rivalry. I remember in the past, that in my days away from school, during vacations and weekends, I wiled myself in exciting games and this was in hunting for birds and fowls through the verdant forest of Tictapul, which is just some ten miles from where we stand right now. I remember so clearly when me and my cousins would carry our airguns and strategized on how to capture these birds of prey. This was not an easy game since we have to analyse and observe the movement of the birds and we have to wait for hours and hours, walk through steep hills and valleys, cross rivers and lakes, just to gain our specific objectives then. But once our objective is gained, the fruits of success soothe our tiredness and the pain in our body quickly disappears.

Why I am telling you this stories my dear listeners, it is because I have been seeing the youth of today through my keen eyes, my children and then my grandchildren, the children and youth in our neighbourhood, in the city streets as I went by, I have seen some great advancement, so many changes. Where for example, in just the simple activity of game and play – I have noticed how far ahead our world have gone. when we play our games, our games were so different, like bird hunting that I have narrated to you just awhile ago, other street games such as syatung, tubig-tubigan, and the likes. But now it’s so widely different as I often see amongst the gleeful youth, often sitting in the corner, or with feet high atop while laying on the sofa, with their eyebrows furrowed with so much focus and concentration, looking at their cellphones, which they held so tightly like it was the last things on earth. I can see many smiles from you since we all know what I am meaning to say. Playing games and having pleasurable moments is so much different today, as through modern gadgetry invented by men only in the past decades, when in fact, during our younger years, which is not that very far away, we could have not imagined even in our wildest dreams how communication and entertainment have reached this height of ultimate technology. This is not to say anything negative about today’s modernity, in fact this is to lay paean and praise to the great advancement achieve by humankind, these modern things that bring us the greatest advantages and opportunities which could not have been imaginable just decades ago. Now so many years after in my life, I have seen the might and magic of modern gadgets. Advancement in technology have help improve the way people lives, in countless ways; from education, to work, to business and even on how we live in our homes. At this point I am reminded in history, in ancient history, that there was a time, that an epistle or letter, have to be carried by a horseman, from one place to another, and it would take him not merely days – but months and months to go. In times of war, the deliverer on horseback may not return alive from where he had delivered his letter. Nowadays, we click on a keyboard and we pinch “Enter” key, right at our very own home, or office, and in just a second, our message is already sent and being read by our cohorts or friends which are often miles, seas and even oceans away. Modern gadgetry makes better communication where business becomes more profitable; Education more learnable; Work more fruitful and in general lives more liveable. Far liveable than that of the hapless delivery man, riding on horseback that I have just told you a story about.

Modern technology is a gift of life, a nourishing kind that it is a spiritual benevolence also, from God Almighty, that mankind today lives a world where mystery and pleasure comes out almost every other time, like God aim it that the world today becomes a happy world, a world full of joy and pleasure. At this point, let me also take issue that in the great advancement of technology, the great convenience and pleasure that it provides us, we must also take great responsibility. For just like in everything or aspect in life, in existence, even some good things never last. And that some good things could even harm if used in the wrong manner. I would not prolong my soliloquy on advancement and modern technology, I would merely end the thoughts that I have imparted to you with a realization, that the world today have radically departed from the languid days of old. Imagine just a couple decades ago, we could not like or unlike each other. But now we can. Thank you very much and God Bless everyone. END OF SPEECH