My sister’s keeper
Every day, even though her classes start at normal hours like 9 or
I know she goes to school early because a certain someone is waiting for her. I think that’s one of the strongest motivations to go to school.
It makes me wonder, being loveless and single, though: what do I go to school for? Well, I can tell you a thousand things in jest. I can say I go to school to escape the constant company of my parents! Or I can say I go to school because all the malls are closed around the time I wake up and I have nothing better to do. I can also tell you that I go to school to get an education, but that’s a given already.
So what really has me dragging myself out of bed before the sun even comes up every morning? I think it’s the possibility of an adventure. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, ‘cause what adventures can you really have burying your head in functions and the elements of writing an essay? I don’t go to school just for pure, printed knowledge. These days you can get that education on the Internet and even get yourself a diploma. I go to school because it’s the place where I meet the most interesting people. School — and college in particular — is where you get to catch all the future presidents, CEOs, prima ballerinas and other famous-to-be people before they’re anything! I find myself talking to a block mate who dreams of making it big in Blue Rep and a guy who wows everybody in the school’s mini-version of American Idol, wondering if I’ll see these people on TV one day and tell my kids, “Hey, I knew that guy!”
A lot of people think that school can’t be fun at all and that we could use all the class time for better things — like more Internet surfing or movies. But I look at all these interesting people all around me and I think, “With folks like these, who even needs a TV?” School isn’t just a place. It has a heartbeat, and a vibe and a soul. And maybe, in the end, that’s what all this suffering through homework is for.
Ever since daycare I have always hated going to school. I found it a drag to have to wake up early every day to share toys with annoying, glue-eating kids and to have to listen to boring, seemingly insignificant lectures all day. In high school, I was always the first one out of the gate once the bell rang. I despised school so much that one time I braved the road and walked home because my driver was 15 minutes late.
Now college has come and things have changed. Lately, I have been doing things I could never imagine myself doing before such as going to school at 7 in the morning when my class starts at 10 and trying to stall after class to stay in school just a few minutes longer. My parents are even starting to wonder if I have a hidden motive for wanting to linger at my university longer. Well, in some ways I guess I do, but I do not think that this motive is harmful to my health or immoral in any way. The reason school has become more tolerable for me is love... or maybe strong infatuation, if you think love is too strong a word. I go early every day just to see one face out of a thousand faces and find comfort in the arms of someone who makes all the stress from long tests and term papers disappear into thin air. People try to talk me out of this, saying “Books before boys,” and warning me with threats like, “It’s hard to balance priorities when you have a boyfriend.”
I admit it was hard at first not to get tempted to cut class to see my special someone; but after awhile there were positive effects, too. It can actually be a good source of motivation. I find myself starting to love my Physical Education class (a subject I always hated) because even though it tires me out like crazy, at least I can burn calories and maintain a healthy body for him. When it comes to academics, I try not to slack off in class anymore because if I get kicked out of my college I won’t see my boyfriend anymore.
Small things like that seem so shallow but they can really change a person and their outlook on life. There is a term in Pinoy culture for this kind of behavior: “Inspired.” The person I love inspires me to love the very thing I once hated eons and eons ago.
