A Moveable Feast

Souvenir program cover designed by Kurde de Asis (Honorary Member ’90)

I am usually not big about birthdays. That is why I don’t give away “Happy Birthday” greetings willy-nilly to almost just everybody. And, for that matter, I am more than happy if other people don’t greet me at my birthday. Why, you ask? I just hate the thought that I’m growing old. Call it a form of denial but let me deal with that in a different forum.

But for this momentous milestone, I am making an exception. For the 50^th year anniversary of the UP Varrons, I am happy and proud to greet everyone a “Happy Birthday” together with the following not-too-sentimental thoughts with the hope that moving forward is in everyone’s mind.

I joined the UP Varrons when it was still 10 years old. (For a minute, imagine me cringing just thinking about that fact). I was a freshman, very much naïve about college life and about student organizations and, quite frankly, with no clear and conscious idea as to why I was joining, although the academic emphasis of the organization may have been an attraction in the beginning. Over a short period of time, however, the “reason” evolved not because my priorities had changed but my outlook in life did. And I have to say that this change was for the better and I give credit to the organization and the people within for serving as effective catalysts for this change.

In the early 70s, the country was experiencing a strong wave of political turmoil – political anarchy was the order of the day with no sign of abatement and Marcos had just declared Martial law. The UPLB campus was not immune to these political unrests and the UP Varrons was not either. Discussion about politics became part of bigger issues about life, about its meanings, about the world, and about our relationships to something bigger than us and the organization. Internally, I witnessed the constant call for change to something beyond academics, not because academics doesn’t matter but because it matters significantly that it cannot be treated as a separate entity but rather an integral part of other human pursuits. Asking questions led to another and, more often, the questions remained unresolved.

I must say that I am glad I was a witness to those sometimes chaotic and seemingly never-ending discussions. The experience was exciting and, most of all, illuminating because they became a major source of what I’m calling as trigger points that were useful for me to question my own existence, to examine my philosophical foundations and to determine which ideas I needed to discard and modify and which premises to discover, uphold and cultivate. I’m sure that my evolution towards accepting the belief in “the primacy of a humane life characterized by truth, love, justice, and freedom” is not unique or different from other members. But whether it was unique or not may not matter because it is more significant to realize the meaning of that conscious discovery about yourself and the change that eventually followed. At the end, there was nothing more meaningful than being able to say the words “yes, I get IT” to yourself and mean everything about those words.

To say that a lot of growing up happened decades after the 70s is an understatement.  I realize that living life goes through numerous processes and iterations of never-ending questions, changes, and discoveries (not necessarily in that order). Over the years, and even now (yes, s**t still happens even at the age of 50), the contexts of the so-called foundations of my beliefs are constantly changing. Although one of the “constants” is this: the belief in “the primacy of truth, love, justice, and freedom” does not seem to change. It becomes a beacon that serves as guide for me to distinguish the significant from the mundane to better come up with some actions that matter and more meaningful, at least I hope, not only for me but for others.

In 2012, at the 50^th birthday of the UP Varrons, the whole world has changed a lot in comparison to the time when I entered college and became a member of the UP Varrons. Obviously. So are UP Los Baños as a university and the Philippines as a nation. Has the UP Varrons changed? I certainly would like to think so. Is the change for the better? Perhaps that’s a good topic of conversation in another forum. I have to admit that nothing seems to be perfect in this world. But I would like to think that what I do matters and I am making a difference to make my place in the universe to be better.

I also like to think that I am not alone in this regard. It is wonderful to know that, for 50 years, members of the UP Varrons have embarked on very diverse paths on how to live their lives and in their career pursuits – in academics, research, arts, social science, education, psychology, music, public and government service, banking, medicine and health care, law, politics, religion, business, real estate, finance, community development, military, nutrition, culinary arts, forestry, environmental science, agriculture, journalism, biotechnology, and information technology. Indeed, a tremendous pool of talents. It occurred to me that all of us, in our capacity as career professionals (aside from playing our critical roles as mothers, as fathers, as grandparents), have the opportunities to do our own share to contribute in affecting change in this imperfect world.

The philosophical beacon is there for us to take and use in whatever role we are playing. To paraphrase Hemingway: if you are lucky enough to know the value of the beacon, to discover and cultivate what is significant, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for that beacon is a moveable feast. Because if we do, our small place in the whole universe will matter and the future will be worth inheriting by those who will follow us. And perhaps it will change the “perception” that growing old is something that we welcome without any form of psychological denial 😉 and should take pride after all.

To UP Varrons, welcome 50!