Decaffeinated

It’s 11:22pm Melbourne time but I am still up and typing this post while having a cup of decaffeinated coffee (with, of course, some ‘biko’ that I cooked yesterday).  I had actually given up coffee for five days after suffering from intermittent vertigo attacks for almost a week.  Thankfully, caffeine abstinence is effective for me— I haven’t had that annoying dizziness for four days now!

But my cravings for this moreish drink never stopped; every morning or even after lunch, my desire for my favourite skinny flat white with ‘half’ sugar has just been getting more intense.  This must be part of the caffeine withdrawal symptoms, though I don’t have that characteristic headache that my late dad, who was an avid coffee drinker, was describing to me when he was experiencing coffee thirst.

WHILE WE WERE CHATTING on FB Messenger this evening, my friend Anna, who is also a coffee drinker, suggested that I might be able to get rid of this vertigo while at the same time enjoying coffee.  But there’s a catch— I have to drink decaffeinated coffee!  Oh boy, I haven’t thought about it, so at 10pm I found myself driving to Coles supermarket to get some coffee.

While at Coles, I noticed a few staff down the aisle who had just cleared an entire rack to give way to a display of a wide variety of Christmas decors!  I stopped to browse along the aisle hoping that I could get something for my unit.  There were different sizes and colours of reindeer, glistening metal balls, artificial pine needles made into wreath, mistletoes, Santa’s hat, socks, candy canes and the list goes on...  Sadly, I didn’t find what I was looking for—the nativity scene poster or figurines!  Not even an ornamental star! 

I just can’t believe that a supermarket giant has never considered or thought about selling (or even displaying) a nativity scene poster when in fact Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  

As I drove home, what I had was only a pot of poinsettia to adorn my coffee table with, and a small jar of decaffeinated coffee in my shopping bag.  While navigating through the deserted, dimly lit streets of Bendigo, I was thinking that I may be able to manage vertigo attacks by drinking coffee without caffeine, but I definitely couldn’t celebrate Christmas without Christ, can I?      

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The Coughing Pig

“So, what do you really do at work?”  This is the most common question my Facebook ‘friends’ ask me when I see them face-to-face.

Contrary to what they’d usually see on their FB newsfeed, I don’t just simply drive to the airport, hop on a plane and visit places for work.  There are actually more than a thousand things happening behind those photographs of beautiful destinations, delicious and great-looking dishes as well as drinks (well, I only order apple or orange juice most of the time).  

Actually, my FB friends just can’t believe that in between my FB and Instagram postings, I’ve also been seriously mastering the art of visiting a piggery, speaking with the farm owner, manager, staff or their consulting veterinarian, listening and counting the pig’s cough, checking the herd’s poo, collecting some blood samples, cutting dead pigs up, closely examining their internal organs and saving some thumb-size tissue samples if necessary—keeping these in small, transparent jars containing formalin solution and submitting these to the laboratory… Then when the test results come in, interpreting and coming up with a comprehensive case report.

Of all the activities I’d enumerate, listening to and counting the pig’s cough has been the most interesting and exciting thing for my friends, so far!  Some curious ones would innocently ask if I’d auscultate a pig’s chest using a stethoscope like what their GP would do to them while being asked to deeply inhale and exhale when they or their kids are examined for respiratory issues.  I’d politely reply that because my patients love to squeal when manually handled, and modern-day pig farming involves hundreds or thousands of pigs on one site, herd examination is more appropriate—thus attentively listening to the pigs’ cough—whether it’s dry or moist, long or short episode, and at the same time counting them are equally important.

IN THE PHILIPPINES, there’s this dish with Spanish origin called bopis which is made out of boiled pork lungs and heart—patiently cut into bits and pieces and sautéed in onion, tomatoes and chilies.  Unlike most of my friends, I, honestly, don’t like eating bopis and my repulsion from this Filipino-favourite pulutan (a dish that is slowly eaten while enjoying some bottles of beer or shots of spirits) started even before I became a veterinary student.  I just can’t handle chewing a spoonful of this smooth, soft and rubbery dish with those tiny, cartilaginous prickles from the pieces of offal tickling my tongue.

http://pulmonaryfibrosisresearch.org/nsip-2

Only when I enrolled in vet school and started studying veterinary anatomy did I learn that those rubbery portions that I felt when I chewed a spoonful of bopis were part of the functional tissues of the lungs that, when examined under the microscope, are actually tiny sacs made up or lined with flat and cuboidal cells.  These are called alveoli, which are perfectly known as air sacs because this is exactly where blood oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange occurs!

Oxygen, the life-supporting gas in animals, is actually taken in by the pig as it inhales air through its nostril.  The air will then pass through the left and right nasal passages—each of these contains lower and upper curled bones called turbinates.  Dr. Lumbao, my Veterinary Anatomy lecturer said they’re like turbines, while Muirhead and Alexander in their book Managing Pig Health described these turbinates as four hair curlers strategically placed inside the pig’s nose; these nasal ‘scrolls’ warm the inhaled air and at the same time creates air turbulence as the pig breathes.  As a result, larger particles (such as dust) are thrown out and attached to the mucous lining the airways.

https://www.pig333.com/pathology-atlas/rhinitis-and-turbinate-atrophy_94

Toxins produced by bacteria called Pasterurella multocida in synergy with the Bordetella bronchiseptica can lead to failure of the turbinate-bone growth and at the same time promoting its destruction—in the end the pigs’ snout will look distorted, affected pigs may be heard sneezing—a disease called atrophic rhinitis. 

The pigs’ airway, like other mammals, starts off as a series of 30 cartilaginous rings making up a windpipe or trachea.  This tube gradually branches down into three smaller tubes (bronchi)—actually unique for pigs because other domestic farm animals only have two.  These tubes continue to branch in right angles until it gets very tiny and microscopic pipes (bronchioles) that terminate into each of the air sacs.  These cartilaginous airways, I’ve learned, are the spikes that actually tickled my tongue the first and last time I had some bopis!

https://www.pig333.com/practical-experiences/evaluation-of-pneumonia-lesions-at-abattoir-with-lung-score-assessment_10946/

The airways are lined with mucous membrane where there are microscopic structures that resemble a pedantic display of 'goblets in a cupboard' thus aptly called ‘goblet cells’.  These cells produce mucous which, with the help of another microscopic feature of the airway—the hair-like projections (cilia) moving in a wavy manner, helps carry the nasty particles out from the lungs to the throat.  This is called 'mucociliary escalation'.

https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/chapter-4-the-tissue-level-of-organization/deck/5452448

A PIG’S COUGH IS A DEFENSIVE REFLEX, considered protective as it aims to clear the lungs and the airways from irritants and foreign particles including harmful microbes that cause diseases.  Unfortunately however, coughing is also an excellent way of spreading pig respiratory diseases especially when the animals at risk and with varying status of immunity are sharing the same air space.    

photos from: www.carrsconsulting.com and http://www.merckvetmanual.com/

Viruses are too small; they can survive the mucociliary escalation and still reach and invade the pigs’ air sacs.  

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhyo), a pig respiratory pathogen, loves to colonise and infect those tiny projections (cilia) lining the airways— so these will eventually stop moving, and start clumping together.  The first branch of the windpipe that's closest to the external environment— the extra-bronchus that is unique in pigs supplies the right cranial lung lobe which is most commonly affected by this disease initially (photo above).
  

http://www.allwidewallpapers.com/swine-disease-prrs/

I knew what you're thinking, the pig’s immune system naturally secretes antibodies against Mhyo [Em-hayO] but these supposedly counteracting proteins can’t reach their ‘targets’ that are comfortably sitting on top of the clumped respiratory cilia.  So Mhyo will progressively multiply, white blood cells that serve as soldiers turn feeble and can’t keep up, and the mucosal lining will eventually peel off leaving the pigs’ airway devoid of goblet cells.  Loss of goblet cells simply means loss of mucous production resulting to a pig suffering from a dry, non-productive cough with very long episodes!      

SO WHENEVER OUR competent technical representatives and I are doing our job in the pig sheds or shelters, we’d wake the pigs up, continuously disturb them to stimulate them to cough.  With our tally counter and stop watches on, we’d then patiently listen to and count the coughing bouts within nine minutes.  Based on previous studies that checked the DNA of the microbes and the specific antibody level in a herd, a hundred pigs that cough twenty-four times or more in nine minutes would simply mean that a herd is unhealthy.

Sometimes it could get a bit complicated, as Mhyo is a primary invader—the damaged pig airways are now open to secondary respiratory pathogens!  Glasser’s disease, mostly occurring in weaners, is caused by a bug that damages the walls of the blood vessels in the lungs and other vital organs.  'Leaky' blood vessels result in a chest cavity containing fluids and appear like they're covered in feta cheese or spider web.  APP (Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae) infection can also occur, mostly in grower or finisher pigs, and the toxins produced by this bug shatter the red blood cells, and create injury to the smooth covering (or pleura) that lines the chest cavity and the lungs.  The clinical signs could start as quick as 12 hrs after the disease agents have been inhaled by the pig... and with the characteristic feature of the condition where parts of the lungs are attached to the rib cage, this pleuropneumonia is obviously very painful— the pigs adopt a dog-sitting position while gasping for air and can only manage to cough once or twice per episode!  Microscopically, the air sacs will then be filled and densely packed with white blood cells; so to sum it all up— these are basically the reasons why a pig's lungs are dark, firm and swollen, uncollapsed, attached to the rib cage, and most of the time the cut surface is oozing with blood upon examination!    

Yes, pig veterinarians, unlike companion animal and equine vets, or even unlike physicians, are highly privileged to be able to see the changes secondary to disease (or lesions) in their patients' internal organs by cutting up a representative pig—either dead or alive then euthanised—from a sick herd.  We can conveniently examine their 'plucks' while on the field or even in the abattoirs—just like what the vets and meat inspectors in the slaughter lines would routinely do as part of their post-mortem check to ensure that meat, including edible offal are fit for human consumption. 

BY VISITING THE herd, listening to their cough, looking at the lung lesions, and interpreting the lab test results, swine veterinarians can formulate solutions and give recommendations which, I believe, can provide assistance in promoting pig health and in producing more ‘pork’ for Australia and the world. 

…and when I say ‘pork’ it includes a healthy lung, as well.  That would mean more pork lungs for the bopis recipe of my friends, too!

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Mi Corazón

It’s already mid-spring but this late winter nip seems to linger…

Breezy.  Chilly.  Gloomy.  My nights and days in the Goldfields have been always like this since you left.  Ever since you left me.

While desperately longing for your presence, all I could do is to wish; to wish that the sun will finally find its way out and start shining— not only to brighten my days but to, also, keep me warm!

Absurd as it may seem, your warmth as we snuggled up was a shelter of my heart.  A sanctuary that was destroyed by the ruthless storms of your goodbyes.

That heartbreak was drowning!  I almost believed that I lived no longer until I felt my heart beating…

Yes, it is still beating only for you.




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Drenched

Things don’t always happen according to plans, he thought.

Just ten minutes earlier, the late afternoon, mid-springtime sun was boasting of its splendour and the blue sky beyond was visible through a huge hollow of low, thin, and fast-moving white-grey clouds hovering above Lake Weeroona.  The weather had been unfriendly for almost a week now—there were heavy rains and flooding but the condition a little earlier seemed to have gotten relatively better.  So James decided to run around this beautiful ornamental lake as if making a bold statement that he’s serious about his goal of shedding those pounds he’d gained over winter.

But after taking a few trots down the pathway, a strong gust of southeasterly wind started blowing; the cloud cover suddenly changed—it had gotten darker, instantly brought unexpected showers and freezing temperature around this man-made reserve.

James stopped running and stood on the boardwalk gazing across the lake while allowing himself to get drenched.  The people in the park—men and women, including the children on the playground nearby seemed to have vanished into nowhere as they quickly sought refuge from this unforeseen cloudburst!  All that’s left were flocks of Australian white ibis braving the rain and cold, perching on the sycamore sprigs and on the Japanese bamboo culm down the grove.

Now soaked, James closed his eyes and took a deep breath, unexpectedly inhaling the foul stench of ibis dung instead of fresh air!  Though that was much stronger, the smell reminded him of petrichor—that earthy scent emitted as the rain drops on a dry soil after a spell of drought.

Like this continent Down Under, James’ solitary existence had been through constant drought and flooding… It’s certainly uncertain; it hadn’t always gone according to plans.  His physique had gotten thoroughly wet now, almost frozen—pretty much like his spirit that’s been dampened by those unexpected storms in life.

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Coming 'home'

"So, where is home for you?"   

That is the question that I have, frequently, had to answer for almost a decade now. I admit I find it quite difficult to answer especially that I have lived under sixteen different roofs since I was fifteen years 'young'.  From a cramped to comfortable boarding houses when I was studying at the uni in the Philippines, to some small rental rooms and farm accommodations when I started to get employed in Luzon; and in Australia-- in some old country town residences, in a caravan, in a relatively modern room and a few apartment units.   

Having been granted with an Australian residency and eventually with an Australian citizenship didn't make answering the same question easy at all.  It has, honestly, made it a bit challenging to answer especially that (I have accepted this fact because I could never change it, I don’t mean to discriminate myself here that) my skin, eyes and hair colour is quite unique from the majority of the people living in this country where I work and live. Besides, I have this very strong accent and sadly, no matter how I tried, I still communicate using my broken spoken English.   

I have been living in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia for more than a year now.  This is a lovely regional city with elegant architecture and has been proud of it's history (Victorian gold rush, mid-1800's) to have been literally founded on precious gold!  It was recorded that the first dwellers of Bendigo moved to this place because of their desire to, obviously, find and accumulate treasure.   

For almost fourteen months of being a Bendigo resident, I have never been sure if this is where I actually live... still quite uncertain if this city is actually 'home' for me.  Yes, it feels great to be coming 'home' to my unit every weekend but I also feel 'at home' in those countless motels, hotels, serviced apartments and other accommodations where I would stay every time I'm off for a fieldwork on weekdays.  The drinks and the familiar musty and beery smell of the carpet at the small-town pubs, the meals at RSLs, those take-away lunches from the fast food while on the road and those refreshments onboard the aircrafts- all these make me feel ‘at home', too!   

I am yet to meet a few great friends in this community; it has never been easy to establish friendship especially that I have been always on-the-go. Don't get me wrong, though, because I love who and where I am now, and I definitely enjoy what I have been doing for a living.  Honestly, they're more than enough for me to confidently say that, somehow, I have found my treasure in this 'place'!   

So, where is home for me, then?   

For now, I'd say that that 'place' is this earth. The world is my oyster!  Yes, this is my 'home' because I live in this world.    



[Typed on my phone while on flight QF 679 Melbourne to Adelaide.  20.08.2016]

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Midsummer Wish

Hundreds of tiny lights were glittering over the lawn!  As I gently sipped the red wine while sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the spacious front porch, I knew they were fireflies that, like me, were trying to find their way through the balmy midsummer evening.

A live band was playing in the backyard-- entertaining the partying crowd over there but the sound was gentle enough for my eardrum to handle.  I was alone but didn’t mind the seclusion.

Gazing across the road, I noticed that there were actually thousands of fireflies around-- swarming and sparkling over the lush soybean field!

I could only wish you were here!  We could've enjoyed that beautiful sunset together... that lovely vista as the old, red family barn gleamed in the rays of the setting sun, casting sharp shadow on the little vineyard and its adjacent cornfield.

Oceans away, continents apart...  I couldn’t stop thinking about you.


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Parting Ways

I wish this is only a nightmare... or a page on a novel manuscript of my life that I can simply tear away.  But this is real, I am certain... this is not a dream.  This is where we part ways!

Why can't you stay?  Why can't I make you stay?

All I can see now is a silhouette of yours-- gradually fading away in the dense, winter fog.  Amidst the softly falling flurries that's been filling up your foot tracks, here I am, left standing alone, watching as this heartbreaking scene is unfolding before me.  Absolutely crushed, I am, like the snow beneath my sole!  All I have now are those warm memories of ours-- flickering like these vintage street lamps through the early evening snowfall.  

Good luck on your new job assignment and may you find someone to love somewhere out there.

Letting Go

I KNEW THAT THIS WOULD happen but I just didn’t expect it to be so soon!  You’re moving overseas to follow your dreams, unaware that there will be a lonely heart left behind.  Australia will never be the same again.  Never!

I’m one of those sycamore trees lining the streets of the city of Bendigo—whose patchy yellow and brown autumn foliage has been thinning out for more than a couple of months now…  Nights are getting longer, and the days—cooler and dull.  Like the season of fall that’s coming to an end, I couldn’t hold it off; I couldn’t make you stay.  No.  And the thought that I will never have the right to do it has been making it hurt even more!

It won’t be long until these leaves that have been holding on to these sycamore branches will fall off… Even the frost in the morning couldn’t hold them back; and that only a puff of a crisp winter breeze could blow the final leaf away!  

Unlike the bare branches in winter that promise a new life in spring, mine will surely gonna need pruning when you leave. 

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Sunset Safari

HOLDING MY 7mm-08 CALIBRE RIFLE, I was crouching, walking slowly and moving quietly through the thick eucalyptus woodland.  I’d deliberately stop to look around and would proceed carefully while stepping on top of a pile of soaked fallen leaves and branches.  I was trying to avoid disturbing the magpies that must’ve been seeking refuge in the warmth of the canopy after the heavy autumn rain earlier this afternoon.  Having been exposed to quite a few hunting safaris in Africa I knew that birds taking off would scare the game animals away.

She was following right behind me, dolled up in my other pair of camo-foliage suit—awkwardly mimicking my steps and posture.  I extended my right arm and using my palm, I gave her a signal to stop walking.  Then I peered through the gum tree branches hoping to see a herd of deer but what I saw was a vast and lush lucerne paddock on the other side of the fence and a massive flock of sheep grazing farther afield.  There were no deer...

Though obscured by a few streaks and bunches of hovering clouds, I knew that the sun was setting behind.  The sky above the western horizon had been gradually painted with magical shades of pastel orange and black—a beautiful remnant of that watery vapour that decided to keep sailing up there after the rain.

“James, can we sit down for a moment?  I feel so exhausted.”  

We crossed the fence, and sat next to each other on a small bed of rock.  I laid my rifle down beside me and wrapped my arms around her.  She rested her head on my shoulder.  Underneath the mud-covered sole of my hunting boots I could feel the drenched soil beneath the dewy carpet of lucerne.

A flock of wild ducks instantly flew low over the man-made canal next to the paddock—creating some moving silhouettes against the final glow of the day.  Then she broke the bad news to me!

“I only have six months to live; my oncologist discussed the test result with me the other day.” 

I was lost for words.  I didn’t want to lose her!

I looked straight into her eyes and I noticed the gleam of the scarlet sky reflecting off her pooling tears.

A cool, gentle breeze swept through.

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Fajita Sandwich

A SUDDEN BUMP ON HIS right elbow had awakened Rogelio mid-flight. Gradually gaining his consciousness back from that nap, he’d now started to get aware that he was occupying an aisle seat on his flight from Melbourne to Sydney, noticing that the flight attendants of Qantas 737-800 had been taking the airline service trolley down the aisle for refreshments. There was a delicious aroma wafting through the well-lit cabin.

“Would you like a chicken roll, Sir?” The scarved crew quickly handed him a piece of warm bread roll before he could even say ‘yes’.

“Thank you!”

Rogelio asked for an apple juice and water as he would normally do, then wore the airline complimentary headset on. ‘This Love’ from Taylor Swift’s 1989 album started playing as the aircraft was cruising smoothly 38,000 feet above sea level.

The snack was wrapped in a transparent plastic which was sweating—making the food label easier to read: Lime and Coriander/Fajitas Chicken. As Rogelio tore the packaging away, a Texan-Mexican whiff puffed out and a tiny piece of sliced Turkish bread revealed itself. Dashes of crumbs were falling on the tray table as he started biting and chewing his sandwich—almost closing his eyes while enjoying the heavenly blend of Tejano herbs, melting mozzarella cheese, pieces of chicken, onion and red capsicum bursting in his mouth! For his massive appetite, the delicious snack was relatively small!

He took a gulp of chilled apple juice.

After the fourth and final bite of fajita, he noticed a tiny piece of ground chicken caught in the plastic wrap. He lifted the empty packaging close to his mouth, quickly stuck his tongue out to drill it into wrapper and prehend the leftover. Then he noticed a dice of red capsicum stained with melted mozzarella at the bottom of the wrap—he patiently pushed it out with his thumb and index fingers and nibbled it away.

Instantly, somebody gently tapped him on his shoulder. It was his seatmate—a sophisticated woman, probably on her early fifties! She handed an unopened, warm pack of Lime and Coriander/Fajitas Chicken to Rogelio.

“You’re more than welcome to have it,” his seatmate said, smiling…

“Oh, thank you!”

Thinking that his seatmate was observing him while he was eating his snack a minute earlier, he was a bit embarrassed. He now carefully opened the pack of fajita sandwich given by his seatmate and started eating it with finesse.

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2016 S.B.C. Commencement Address

"SBC at 63: Unwavering Commitment to Quality Christian Education

Responsive to the Needs of the Nation and the World"

by Ruel P. Pagoto

23 March 2016 

57th Southern Baptist College- Annual Commencement Exercises

To the members of Southern Baptist College’s board of trustees—represented by the B.O.T. corporate secretary Dr. Silvius Jude Alon, SBC president- Prof. Alvin Lynn P. Bergante, to the former SBC president- Dr. Pedro S. Gape, to the SBC faculty and staff, graduates, parents and guardians of the graduates, friends, and the entire SBC family—good morning!

The Recessional...

It is such a beautiful morning and a lovely day, indeed, especially to the SBC graduates of 2016.  Those years and semesters that bore the need for burning gallons of midnight oil are, finally, over!  Now that you have achieved what you had been aiming for, please accept my congratulations.  You deserve it!

Graduates, I am sure that behind the great story of your current success is even a greater story of support.  I know that there are people close to your heart who have been unwaveringly standing as your pillars of strength.  I would like to sincerely recognise their massive efforts in taking you this far in your life.  So whether they are present here today to celebrate with us or not, because of their responsibilities and commitments overseas, I offer my warmest felicitations to them!

My task today is to give you some inspiration.  Honestly, standing before you to deliver a message that’s expected to help illuminate your path to becoming a valuable citizen of this nation or even a notable person in this world is a very challenging assignment.  But turning down the invitation of Pres. Bergante to give a graduation keynote speech for you was never an option for me.  I left no stone unturned to organise everything in Australia so I could grab this opportunity to speak to you because I feared that declining such would mean missing out on my chance of fulfilling another purpose in life.

Back in 1995, the twenty-fourth of March—that was my high school graduation, I was occupying one of those folding chairs in this gymnasium like where you are exactly sitting right now.  After twenty-one years, it’s nice to be back to SBC—my dear alma mater!  I feel greatly honoured to be entrusted with this meaningful mission I have today!  Honestly, I initially felt that I am too young for this task; but when I calculated the average age of this year’s graduates and compared it with my years of existence in this world, it showed that I definitely have more than sixteen years of extra experience in life than what you have had, so far.  Sixteen years may not be long enough but please allow me to give it a try.

Now that you have reached the pinnacle of formal education, breathe and take time to savour the moment!  Now that you’re on the summit, you are standing on an excellent angle for seeing the real world around you!  You are endowed with the best sight that only those who persevered could attain.  Behold and enjoy, and let me remind you that your journey to greatness has actually just started.  Yes, you will soon receive your degree parchment and that is an absolutely fantastic achievement; but having been conferred with that piece of paper entails an enormous duty for you to perform.  Of course when I say ‘perform’, it goes well beyond your performance on the upcoming board examination—if you have one, but most importantly, your execution of the role you picked to play in this beautiful yet formidable world of ours.

Armed with Southern Baptist College’s guiding values and ideals—truth, faith and service, and having been moulded and forged with our school’s Christian teachings, I am sure—based on personal experience, that you’ve got what it takes to be a truly invaluable person.  For nearly sixty-four years, SBC has been committed to teach the mind and to touch the soul.  Like you, I am one of the living witnesses on how this school has transformed—physically, with all these relatively contemporary, well-equipped buildings around; and academically, with our competent, qualified, and most of all—highly-committed SBC faculty.  Having been trained in a school that continuously seek for improvement to meet the demands of the modern world… to have received an education founded on the highest principles of Christian faith will surely make you stand out among the rest.  I studied in SBC in the early nineties and I’ve made it, I am sure that you—who have enjoyed all the amenities a more modern SBC has to offer can make it, too!  So pick up your suitcase and start your quest in finding some more success.       

What is success, by the way, and what makes a person successful?  Success is actually very subjective.  Some would equate success to power—which means that if they possess the power to rule over a crowd they believe they are successful.  While other people would associate fame with success; that if they appear on TV or if their name has been broadcasted over the radio or written on the front-page of a paper, they’d consider themselves successful.  A fast-growing bank account and owning a lot of properties make other people feel successful, too!  When we see people who have power, are famous or rich, we may think they are successful.  Yes, I know what you are thinking; having all these three would be great.  Of course you can!  The possibilities are endless as long as you are ready to hit the road to success and face the challenges along the way.               

Let me put it this way, if one of you becomes a school principal or a municipal councillor one day, I believe your peers will consider you successful.    If one day you get invitations to speak across the globe as a religious minister, or when you own and run your own business with a few employees under your care, or who knows, someone among you can own a copyright of a computer software—you will then be considered successful, too!

Achieving a goal in life is not the end of our quest, though.  A living organism naturally grows, multiplies and would actively respond to stimuli.  It is our nature to seek for further personal and professional development.  I was once very exhausted because of the challenges at the university in Australia, so I made an international call to my mom to vent my troubles.  She told me to stop being so ambitious—relax and humbly enjoy the fruits of my current achievements and stay away from the pressures of pursuing some more in life.  It is the world, however, that stimulates me to keep on dreaming!  Every day, every month, every year, the needs of my loved ones, the requirements of my profession, the demands of the society, my country and the whole world keeps on changing—and I know that it is my call of duty to be responsive to this constant revolution happening around me.

So ten or twenty years from now, if the world needs you to step up to the plate, I expect you to be ready and willing to take the commitment.  Go for it!  If the province needs your experience as a seasoned midwife, be ready to give up your position at the rural health unit.  If the world needs your skills as an electronic or automotive technician, be ready to pack your gear and explore overseas.  Be ready to move out of your comfort zone and seize the opportunity to grow. 

Sometimes, opportunities for growth are not that obvious or they may just take time.  Perhaps it might feel like you have stopped growing but it could be because the next big thing that the world would want you to do is to bloom.  Should there be fewer chances for you to grow, be like a lovely tree—bloom where you are planted and have your branches teeming with fruits!  Who, then, would dare to say that you have never succeeded at all?

Once you start making and leaving your own mark on the universe, you may become an object of envy; you may receive criticism, and encounter opposition.  Don't be surprised, nature tends to balance our existence, there’s always a pressure to challenge or to accept the status quo.  So please learn to gracefully handle these issues and utilise these to regularly check your character and your behaviour because at the end of the day, your relationship with your peers will always matter.  Be kind to those people who make your coffee, deliver your pizza, tidy-up your desk and to all those who are yet to fulfil their dreams.

Performing our duties and responsibilities on earth can be arduous, indeed!

Honestly, fresh and straight out of this campus, the world is expecting a lot from you but is, unfortunately, not ready to compensate you well, financially.  But stick to your guns; as long as you are happy and you love what you are doing, stay there and go the extra mile.  Passion has the incredible power to take you even farther than where you think you can only be.   

To satisfy the increasing needs of my loved ones, I took the risk of giving up the job I really loved as a Swine Veterinary Epidemiologist.  I left the country in January 2007 for a better-paying job as a Piggery Farm Worker in Australia.  I knew that it’d be hard work but I thought that I am physically fit and strong to perform the job. 

My first three hundred sixty-five days on that job were never easy.  I realised that being physically strong was not enough. Fighting against the emotional torture of performing all the menial tasks that I was not used to in the piggery was harder than I imagined.  But I believed I could be an achiever—and this thought had pushed me to keep going; I didn’t want to just simply quit and consider myself a loser in Australia.  Despite all my efforts and my previous pig production experience, my job knowledge was rated unsatisfactory during the performance review.  With a wounded ego, I bravely decided to leave the company.  Luckily, I instantly got a job offer to work as a poultry farm attendant.  It was a stationary assignment so it could get extremely boring at times.  I tried to make the most of the opportunity, convincing myself that it could be the perfect time to flourish.   This optimism had, thankfully, prevailed; I was entrusted to lead the team that could produce half a million chickens every sixty days.  Four years of perseverance—working in a dusty and itchy environment, either through very hot and dry summers or very cold winters, had granted my eligibility for Australian citizenship.  During my employment, I got free accommodation—including power, internet and water bills; but despite the relative comfort I was longing for something else.

My passion in promoting the health and welfare of food-producing animals had persisted.  In Australia, only a few veterinarians were interested in dealing with pigs and chickens.  Apparently, the country had been in need of swine and poultry practitioners to help produce more meat to feed Australia and the world.  At all cost, I wanted to respond to this need and at the same time follow my passion. So I decided to pursue my dream of becoming registered as a veterinarian in Australia.  The requirement of the university to finish the degree in 3 years, full-time, had left me jobless during the entire period.  The clinical training was full of challenges and hurdles.  I experienced levels of stress that I never imagined I could have.   With a limited monetary assistance and massive moral support from my family overseas, with the company of my friends in South Australia, the Australian government’s financial aid, my fervent prayers and faith—and of course after shedding a few buckets of blood, sweat and tears—I weathered the storm.

Just recently, fate and destiny had taken me back to that piggery where, nine years ago, my job performance was rated unsatisfactory.  But this time, it was a different story; I came back as a veterinarian to conduct a vaccine trial with them.  In short, I have vindicated myself.

Like everybody else, I, too, have my own share of failures and pains.  I once made the error of sacrificing my passion, which made me unhappy and lead me to a much longer journey that took a lot of hard work, dedication and persistence to get back on track.  But I have no regrets because the decision that I made had, in the end, allowed me to confirm what my passion is.  As a new graduate, you might be confronted with similar situations.  Well, everything happens for a reason, so as long as you continue learning new skills and meeting people—nothing is in vain, it is not a wasted time.

The academic degree you have right now is not just a piece of paper from SBC that has to be enclosed with your resumé and job application letter.  It comes out with a greater power and it is more than enough for you to start on your chosen career.  The world is your oyster!  Enjoy this achievement and use it wisely; and remember that you have the professional responsibility to morally, legally and spiritually respond to the needs of our society.  Southern Baptist College has, definitely, prepared you well for that.

Make SBC proud… make your lecturers and mentors proud… make your family and friends proud of you… or at least make yourself proud of what you would have to contribute to this world.  

Before I end, I wanted to share with you an analogy given by Jesus M. Dureza-the keynote speaker during our commencement exercises in USM last April 2001.

There are a few interesting geographical facts about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.  They are both lakes—the Sea of Galilee in Israel is a fresh water lake that’s abundant with life.  It is teeming with various flora and fauna and has contributed much to the region’s commercial fishery for more than two thousand years.  While the Dead Sea which is situated just 141 kilometres south of the Sea of Galilee is a salt lake—and its salinity makes it such a   harsh environment that plants and animals cannot grow. 

The most significant difference between these two lakes:

The Sea of Galilee is fed by its major tributary—the Jordan River that flows into it, plus the underground springs.  The Jordan River then flows out through the Sea of Galilee to the south, which means that the water has been continuously flowing in and out. 

The Dead Sea, on the other hand, is receiving its water supply from the Jordan River—its only major water source, plus, of course, a few perennial springs under and around it.  And the most striking feature of the Dead Sea—there are no outlet streams!

So if you want to be like the Sea of Galilee that is full of life, as you continue to receive the blessing that’s flowing in, remember to share some of it.

Congratulations, good luck and God bless you all!

Appreciated.

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Nine Years in the Making

TODAY MARKS HIS NINTH YEAR in Australia.  It was 8:45 AM, 16^th of January 2007 when a China Airlines’ plane carrying him and the other passengers from Manila and Taipei touched down at Brisbane Airport.  He was very excited, to be honest, to experience another country (it’s his first time overseas) but at the same time equally anxious about his future as a piggery farm worker in next four years. 

Others might have thought that he gave up his job for the sake of the dazzling silver Down Under… Little did they know that leaving something he was so passionate about was never easy, and that he decided to do it to gather some more mosses to cover him in pursuing his dream of becoming a globally-competent pig vet.  He was looking forward to that entire four years of pig-production experience under temperate condition—hoping  that it would be an additional feather in his cap.       

His first day at work, the first week, first month and first year in that job were never easy.  His brawn was not enough, and fighting against the emotional torture of performing all the menial tasks in the piggery farm was seriously harder than he thought it would be.  But he believed he was once an achiever—and this thought had aided him to keep going; he didn’t want to just simply quit and consider himself a loser Down Under.  

A performance appraisal stating that his knowledge of the job was unsatisfactory had upset him!  So out of self-respect, he bravely decided to leave the piggery, and was so blessed to get a job offer to work in a poultry farm in South Australia. 

Despite the scorching hot and dry summers, his days in the poultry farm were relatively manageable compared to his previous job.  He had to stand up against the dusty and itchy environment, had to work at midnight—even during wintertime, though… But he had gradually learned to focus on the brighter side of things.  He kept on traveling interstate to explore the country and he had started to discover more about Australia and its people out of these short trips.  The original plan of going back to Philippines upon the expiry of his working visa had changed to targeting to get the residency so he could eventually settle in this country. 

He missed his family and friends ‘back home’ (and he was aware that they terribly missed him, too) but there were times when the sacrifices of living-apart-together could undeniably fill-up the pecuniary necessities they had in this life.  Regular visits at an average of every couple of years were, of course, not enough to compensate the memories they could’ve made together but he (and he believed, they) had eventually accepted the fact that his fate must be shining on this distant shores, and as what the song goes, ‘they have no right to make him stay…’  He started meeting people, and had made lasting friendship with the real people he met along the way.

BEING a human, he desired to continuously grow personally and professionally.  He envied his friends who showed happiness and satisfaction out of their employment and he hated himself for being too ambitious!  To have been given the opportunity to run the poultry farm operation had, somehow, made him feel vindicated from that distressing work-performance assessment he received from his previous job but he knew that he could do something more than just looking after a million of growing birds to feed Australia and the world. 

The Australian residency he'd been aiming for was granted and after a year of shedding more drops of sweat, tears and blood, he eventually became eligible to take the Australian citizenship oath—which he humbly did with sincerity.  Days had become brighter since then, dirt roads turned into concrete road surfaces that obviously paved his way into who he is and what he possesses right now. 

Well, there are no suburban properties under his name at the moment, no personal vehicles parked in the garage of his rented unit and no hefty bank account.  On his ninth year Down Under, all he got are mere document pieces signed by dignitaries; plus, of course, a healthier physique, a sound mind, a stronger faith and a happier heart that loves and being loved.


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Fallen...

An excerpt of an entry from Rogelio's diary a year ago: 

10 January 2015 

It’s my fault.  I was the one who started making those friendly advances just for fun, incognizant of the fact that I’ve been digging myself into a hole. 

My playful behaviors have naturally unveiled your kindness.  Those regular SMS exchanges that have eventually become more and more frequent... and your casual invitations to hang out together have made me realize you have a good heart.  And now I have fallen into the pit—I myself have dug! 

Like a drum in my chest, my heartbeat’s been gradually getting stronger yet still seems not loud enough for you to hear.  Now that we’re friends, how can I tell you that I’m honestly longing for more than that?  

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