Responsibility

Pisay taught me way back in second year what it really means to be responsible, and no, I am not only talking about studying hard for tests and submitting requirements on time.

My sophomore year was the toughest for me. I will spare all the details but what is important to know is that year, I was almost literally down in the pits daily, always tense, ignoring schoolwork. I could say that the experience has actually caused me to degenerate; my character values actually worsened. By the time I fully appreciated how much I needed to regain-my habits, values-I felt as if I was carrying a weight enough to crush me twice over. While I dislike having to truly express how I felt before, I find it necessary to be honest. Feeling desperate perhaps, I tried to look outside for help but quickly realized, that none would come. .If I wanted to become a better, happier guy, well, its going to have to be all me, no matter how difficult.

The experiences I had in my sophomore year taught me that responsibility not only meant doing your assigned task regularly, it also meant deciding for yourself what you want to become. It meant you had to handle yourself well. It meant being the captain of your own ship.

It wasn’t easy of course because it also meant that there is the possibility of going against the values of friends or what attitudes were “in”. This responsibility perhaps first manifested itself when I decided what kind of person I wanted to become. Essentially, after imagining the person I wanted to be, I tried to inculcate in myself the values and attitudes that this imaginary future me possessed. I did it because I wanted to be able to respect myself, even with the possibility of alienating myself from others.

This now leads me to another lesson I learned that I learned. I found out that I actually had the power to choose how I respond to any situation, even if I could not control the situation itself. This meant that if I found myself in a certain position where I am pressured to do things that I believe is not good for me, regardless of the people involved, I had the capacity to detach myself from it. Friends are one grand example, especially in high school. We know that peer pressure is one immense factor in determining how a person will mature. This means that we should actively seek out amd befriend those people from whom we can learn from the most. We want to be in good company so that we will also be good. In the end everyone will be reinforcing each other. At the same time if you find yourself connected to those whose values and attitudes you do not like, what’s stopping you from loosening the ties in search of others? You should not be afraid to risk alienating those you call friends, after all, this is still just high-school. It is much more important to develop yourself than to tie yourself to others. Further, I believe that we must all be persons who can stand for our own beliefs and stay by them in spite of what others say. I believe in fact that this is the main goal of a high school education.

Yes, I am thankful because Pisay has helped me understand this. There are other things that Pisay has taught me but to elaborate on it would require hours of deeply personal conversation. Why wont it be? These things Pisay has taught me, has made me who I am now.

- Deo Estanislao