UP

This is Manila and I would be expecting to meet lots of different people from different schools. And then, I would dread to hear the school "U.P." - the school I dreamed of in high school. Sadly, it just turned out only to be a dream. For obvious reasons, I didn't get the chance to enrol in this university even though passing to some scholarship programs would help support my studies.

I hated that time when I had to beg for my mom's approval to let me enrol in UP; that I dared not to speak to her nor with Ate for firmly saying "No" no matter how I cried; that in the middle of every meal, when the topic about my college was opened, I would instantly burst into tears and walk out of the dining table out of disperation; that I felt so helpless that I didn't any choice but to accept the fact that I couldn't go to UP.

Had I given the chance to study in UP, I would have graduated and be a proud person, introducing myself that I am from UP. I could have established a very strong and overwhelming self confidence in me that I don't have to belittle myself.

But what if I might have entered UP but still flunked in my subjects and got kicked out? What if something bad happened to me, may it be that I got killed in a rally (since I am radical-minded), or I might have been transformed to a morally-questionable being, or I might have been addicted to different vices. We can't tell.

Realizing how my life went, I don't have to regret on anything. Life's consolation is always just and fair. Had I studied in UP, I wouldn't have met my friends in Iligan and SJIT. They might not be as mentally gifted as UP people are but they are real people and I would cherish their friendship. Thanks to Fenga, Ate LA, my blockmates and colleagues in ROTC, Ces, Oni, Jesse, Mitch, Atan, Chard, and the rest who made my college life pretty fun and exciting. I would have been a different person now if I was permitted to be a UP moron (maroon). But I still can't get away the feeling that I deserve to belong to that institution.

Things happen for a reason. This is always my concluding sentence. It's true anyway, as what the book of Ecclesiastes tells us. Probably I deserve a school something better than UP - Harvard or Oxford perhaps? I don't know. Who could tell?