40 days for Christ, 45 for cadets

What date is it today?” I ask my staff. “March 29,” comes their reply. How time flies. Graduation has left the Philippine National Police Academy a ghost of what it is eight months of the year with all the cadets standing in formation before entering the Academic Building. Upon entering the classroom a class marcher knocks at the door three times to ask permission from their teacher to enter. 

Cadets occupy their respective seats according to the seating plan arranged by the Dean of Academics, their head gear is placed under their seats and their black uniform bags at the right side of their chairs, hands folded in front of them on the desk. All done in complete silence from the formation to alertness in an un-airconditioned room.

I remember my classes. Before the bell rang, all us girls would be chattering, laughing out loud. Dogs would be barking but no one would hear them because of the pandemonium we made. When the bell rang the impact of our high heels or flat shoes sounded like woodpeckers against the floor and we would drag our metal chairs to be near our best friends.

During graduation we’d see our seniors leave and even if we were sad at their departure we were happy to assume a higher status — and the same goes for my students.

Last week, at the Academy Seniors or First Class Cadets received their rings of solid metal with a center stone symbolizing triumph over the rigors of education, training, remedial exams. Finally, they now possess tangible rewards — a graduation ring and sheepskin diploma. Their mothers were given mini-bullrings from the graduating cadets, a salute to their perpetual sacrifices, agony and prayers through four years of limited visits. A ring full of love with no beginning and no end to the gratefulness. That graduation ring reminds me of my own, which I decided to give away and could never get back even when I changed my mind about the boy I liked.

Graduation is a time when, finally, those who were once lowly caterpillars have painfully unwrapped themselves from their protective cocoons and have emerged as a tough bunch, not just tough from muscle tone and legs firmness from marching and holding a garand or a pistol or armalite to shoot accurately. They were reared and indoctrinated for four years to save your lives.

They can’t wait to fly away, yet they sit patiently, awaiting orders, with their wings clipped. Not even graduation can make them run and spread their arms. Restrain is their practice but they possess a human bond like any civilian who has lived in a dormitory and refer to each other as roommates. At the academy they live in barracks and call each other Boks and Mates.

Graduation is like sunset and sunrise. An ending with a new beginning. It is a stepping stone, an end to stressful, nerve-rocking days in the classroom, it is wishing to be cuddled yet wanting to go forward with the joyful memories.

It seems like yesterday, but it has actually been four years ago since these scholars arrived clueless of their initiation rites, duck-walking and given duffle bags with clothes to wear for their 45-day breaking period.

Hard? Tough? You bet, but now they step out proudly. They have become the erect confident police, jail and fire inspectors/officers. They challenged themselves and they succeeded after a terrible welcome to exercising and marching as the beginning of their 45 days.

I just had my favorite mango ice cream, which reminds me of sacrifices and lent… it took 40 days of Christ’s sufferings for me. Why did I get all these calories and not sacrifice and feel better about my tummy and myself? Funny how cadets go through 45 days of breaking period, which is their indoctrination to the scholarship program. Catechumens underwent a 40-day period of doctrinal instructions and fasting before being baptized on the evening before Easter. It was the appropriate number of days required for discipline, testing and separation prior to achieving a goal or new beginning. Moses communed with God on Mount Sinai for 40 days before receiving the Ten Commandments. The number 40 in the New Testament is an account of Christ’s ordeal in the desert where he fasted, prayed and was tempted by the devil.

I can’t wait to feel less guilty about someone else, like Christ paying for my sins. So hurry up Easter Sunday. It’s such a sad season that comes all too soon after Christmas. So I’d rather recall my students and my children cadets on the field who have made me feel young and exuberant, like my granddaughter Ina’s texts that made me laugh. Ina is becoming independent abroad, out of necessity, reading road signs, taking cabs, trains and airplanes by herself. 

My cadets will be out in the streets, in barangays and crowded cities. That’s why I don’t stop praying for both Ina and these young teens in uniform. Both will absorb their college years as a source of pride and stories to amuse their children one day. 

Parents can truly serve as an inspiration that nothing is impossible with God around.