take not the road less traveled

Take not the road less traveledMikaela Irene Fudolig – BS PhysicsSpeech at the Commencement Exercises, UPDApril 22, 2007One of the things that strike me as being very “UP Diliman” is the way UPDstudents can’t seem to stay on the pavement. From every street corner thatbounds an unpaved piece of land, one will espy a narrow trail that cuts thecorner, or leads from it. Every lawn around the buildings sports at least oneof these paths, starting from a point nearest to the IKOT stop and ending atthe nearest entry to the building. The trails are beaten on the grass by manypairs of feet wanting to save a fraction of a meter of traveling, no matterthat doing so will exact some cost to the shoes, or, to the ubiquitousslippers, especially when the trails are new.What do these paths say about us, UP students?One could say that the UP student is enamored with Mathematics and Pythagoras,hence these triangles formed by the pavement and the path. Many among you woulddisagree.Others could say that the UP student is naturally countercultural. And therefusal to use the pavement is just one of the myriads of ways to show hisdefiance of the order of things. This time, many would agree.Still, others will say that the UP student is the model of today’s youth: theywant everything easier, faster, now. The walkable paths appeal to them becausethey get to their destination faster, and presumably, with less effort. Nowthat is only partly true, and totally unfair.These trails weren’t always walkable. No doubt they started as patches of grass,perhaps overgrown. Those who first walked them must have soiled their shoes,stubbed their toes, or had insects biting their legs, all in the immovablebelief that the nearest distance between two points is a straight line. Theymight even have seen snakes cross their paths. But the soiled footwear, soretoes, and itchy legs started to conquer the grass. Other people, seeing the yetfaint trail, followed. And as more and more walked the path, the grass gave inand stopped growing altogether, making the path more and more visible, more andmore walkable.The persistence of the paths pays tribute to those UP students who walked themfirst – the pioneers of the unbeaten tracks: the defiant and curious few whorefuse the familiar and comfortable; the out-of-the-box thinkers who solveproblems instead of fretting about them; the brave who dare do thingsdifferently, and open new opportunities to those who follow.They say how one behaved in the past would determine how he behaves in thefuture. And as we leave the University, temporarily or for good, let us call onthe pioneering, defiant, and brave spirit that built the paths to guide us inthis next phase of our life.We have been warned time and again. Our new world that they call “adulthood” isone that’s full of compromises, where success is determined more by the abilityto belong than by the ability to think, where it is much easier to do aseveryone else does. Daily we are bombarded with so much news of despair aboutthe state of our nation, and the apparent, perverse sense of satisfaction ourpoliticians get from vilifying our state of affairs. It is fashionable tomigrate to other countries to work in deceptively high-paying jobs like nursingand teaching, forgetting that even at their favored work destinations, nursesand teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals. The lure of high andimmediate monetary benefits in some low-end outsourcing jobs has drawn evensome of the brightest UP students away from both industry and universityteaching to which they would have been better suited.Like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths are the easiest to take.But, like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths take longer to traverse, justas individual successes do not always make for national progress. The unceasingcritic could get elected, but not get the job done. The immigrant could get hisvisa, but disappear from our brainpower pool. The highly paid employee would beunderutilized for his skills, and pine to get the job he truly wants, but is nowout of his reach. And the country, and we, are poorer because of these.Today, the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to reverse our nation’s slide todespair. Today, we must call upon the spirit that beat the tracks. Today, wemust present an alternative way of doing things.Do NOT just take courage, for courage is not enough. Instead, be BRAVE! It willtake bravery to go against popular wisdom, against the clichéd expectations offamily and friends. It will take bravery to gamble your future by staying inthe country and try to make a prosperous life here. It might help if for astart, we try to see why our Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why,as many of us line up for immigrant visas in various embassies, they getthemselves naturalized and settle here. Do they know something we don’t?Do NOT just be strong in your convictions, for strength is not enough. Instead,DEFY the pressure to lead a comfortable, but middling life. Let us lead thiscountry from the despair of mediocrity. Let us not seek to do well, but striveto EXCEL in everything that we do. This, so others will see us as a nation ofbrains of the highest quality, not just of brawn that could be had for cheap.Take NOT the road less traveled. Rather, MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FINDnew routes to your dreams. Unlike the track-beaters in campus who see wherethey’re going, we may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiantsearchers of excellence, we will go far. Explore possibilities, that others mayget a similar chance. I have tried it myself. And I’m speaking to you now.But talk is cheap, they say. And so I put my money where my mouth is. Today, Iplace myself in the service of the University, if it will have me. I would liketo teach, to share knowledge, and perhaps to be an example to new UP students inthinking and striving beyond the limits of the possible. This may only be asmall disturbance in the grass. But I hope you’ll come with me, and trample anew path.Good evening, everyone.