It was an hour and a half before they called a halt to the essay writing contest. My mind was a total blank. I merely rested my forehead on my hand and thought of the chance of getting the first place slipping away.

As a teen, I very much like surfing the net, playing video games or watching television, usually MTV's, basketball games and cartoons.

           But then, I am still wondering what has caused me to become this way. I mean, I am supposed to be studying my lessons and doing what I want. Not that I am here, trying to write an essay about an inspiration for my life passion and aspiration.

            How on earth I am going to write about my Calapeño role model? And they required “As a Student”. I mean, come on! There’s got to be something else to write about, right? Why couldn’t they just let us write about the latest gadgets in town, the new trends and lifestyles, computer games and on-line chatting, food, and life’s simple pleasures? The stuffs youth nowadays are into?

            In this very moment, I don’t know what to do. I can’t think of a person that will serve as my Calapeño role model. Will it be Honorable Mayor Doy Leachon? Why not? I can write many things about him. I mean, as a mayor of Calapan, he does lots of things for the improvement of the city as well as the lives of many Calapeños. Through his administration, he has proven that Calapan never had it this good.

            I am also thinking of my adviser as my Calapeño role model. Yeah, she’s really nice. She does lots of things for me and my classmates. I idolize her for being a teacher, a sister, a friend, and a mother to us.

            Why couldn’t I just write about a very successful Calapeño who was once a sampaguita vendor or a waitress or even a maid turned business personality and successful on her own way. Isn’t that interesting?

            As a last resort, I closed my eyes, relieved the documentation and tried my best to picture myself living in that world.

            I relaxed and let my imagination run wild…

            I turned myself into a passenger on one of the hundreds of tricycles in the city, wearing white shirt and blue jeans, holding an old map and a small pouch.

            I am on my journey in search for “the one”. The one who has all the qualities of an ideal person. The one who could serve as a role model not just for me but also for the citizen of our country.  And the one who could be an inspiration. The one who has the ability to touch one’s heart and the one who could transform one’s life into a whole new package.

            My journey begins...

First Stop: Sto. Niño Cathedral

            Three steps before I got into the Cathedral, I saw a young boy, wearing tattered clothes with white and yellow plastic bags as his slippers, holding an empty can, begging for some coins from generous hearts. I saw it! The horrible reality slapped me straight in my face. I saw the monster that haunted every Calapeño’s heart. I looked around and there were many people, but I guess, no one intentionally gave him even a centavo. While looking at his eyes, I can’t help but think how lucky I am that we have food on our table and clothes on my wardrobe.

              Unexpectedly, a girl, cute at her pink dress and long curly hair, about the same age as the boy, shared her food with him.

              With that, I realized that not all are changed by modernization. I believe that behind this technological world, there are still hearts that love, care and sympathize.

              Before I totally entered onto the cathedral, I got twenty-peso bill on my pocket and put it on the boy’s empty can. Then I sat down on the front seat and prayed.

              I thank God because as a student and citizen of our country, I am continually blessed to be constantly reminded by my parents, teachers, and friends that God must come first before anything else. He should always be on us. He should always be in our hearts. And I guess, that’s the most significant quality a person should possess in order to become a role model- faithful and God-fearing.

              But still, I am puzzled by the big question “who is the right one?” I mean, everyone loves God. Everyone has fear in God. And everyone is faithful to God.

              Then, afterwards, I left the church having a very great lesson as a start of this journey.

 Next Stop: Calapan Wet Market

              Known for its alluring milieu and garbage-free environment, Calapan, being one of the outstanding cities in the Philippines , has shaped every Calapeño’s personality, molded everyone’s attitude, and imparted values every Calapeño should be proud of.

              A Calapeño role model is HONEST. He admits his mistakes. He returns the things that he knows are not his. He accepts responsibility for his own actions. He doesn’t blame others. He never cheats. He is honest even if others do not, even if others cannot and even if others will not.

              Furthermore, a role model is sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine, and loyal with integrity. He believes that there are great reasons to always tell the truth. Telling the truth lets everyone know what really happened. There's less chances of misunderstandings, confusion, or conflict. Telling the truth protects innocent people from being blamed or punished.. Telling the truth helps you feel secure and peaceful inside. And of course, other people will trust you more when you tell the truth.

Next Stop: School

              A role model gives value to education. He knows how it is important not only for his future, but especially to his motherland’s future as well. After all, the Philippines is the land that gave him life. With education, he knows he can stand firmly and face the world, for he knows that he has powerful weapon at hand that will bring him to different places and enables him to make positive changes for the development of the community.

              Moreover, a Calapeño role model believes that education will free him from the bondage of false principles and lead him to the road of success. And most especially, he puts education on his top priority in battling the crises in life.

Last Stop: Home

              Finally, I’m going home. The journey is over. But the torch is still burning, because the search is still going. If you will notice, I haven’t decided yet who “the one” is. Who is my Calapeño role model? This was only unlocked when I looked at the mirror. I am the one! You are the one. No matter who you are, and where you came from, a common thread runs through us. If we will look at the bottom of each and everyone’s heart, we will see the qualities that we are looking for. We are the youth. We are an inspiration. We can be role models. Through simple things that we do each day, we inspire others.

              Being a role model is not that easy. It takes courage. Sometimes we learn by imitation. We look around for somebody who is doing what we want to do in a way that we admire or at least accept. And then we take that person as an example to follow. But I believe that all of us can be a role model to each other. Not because you’re famous or rich, but because you are what you are, and you are what you should be-a son of God.

              Then a light flickered. Why am I worrying about this contest? It isn’t just about winning anymore. More than writing this essay or winning it, I’d be much more motivated to do things to help other people find their ways to become a better citizen of Calapan and our country.

            Something really happened to me today. I changed! I am the one. I am a role model. I want to inspire others. You are the one, too. Then, be a role model. You and I, together we can be Calapeño role models: an inspiration for life passion and aspiration.

Open Category: A Worthy Motto Stella by Francis Emralino of University of the Philippines

My stays in Calapan have been always too brief, too brief indeed for me to fully embrace the whole of the city and its life – the people and the activities that engage them and the traditions and culture they have learned to preserve. But despite being a mere frequent visitor, I know for myself that this city has wholeheartedly welcomed me, took me as a part of its happy family, and would gladly share the aura of joy of the city in this beautiful island province the next time I would come to stay again.

            And so I don’t feel being an outsider when I stay in Calapan, much like the same way that this Calapeño whom I revere felt in his stay in the city. Having been immersed in the unique living found in Calapan, he left it not to leave behind the life that has shaped his being during his formative years. But instead, he shared it amongst his fellow Filipinos and carried it through the expanse of the world. Through his words that took the form of literary works, I gathered that I have not made the wrong decision to love the city itself and take it as a second home. He himself showed the resilience and courage of a true Filipino, rooted and honed in Calapan. And this nature of him has been my guide – a motto stella – in this proceeding life.

Maestros

            No other Filipino writer has made a closer touch in me, a kind of connecting thread from heart to heart, than Maestro Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez. More known to the rest of the world as NVM Gonzalez, he made a lasting mark in our history as a writer – journalist, essayist among other. Plain as this calling might seem to some, his career and all the embodying details of his journey as a writer, both here and abroad, became a living testimony and a personal example to me. Writing connects me to this consummate writer, a passion that we both share.

            A seeming outsider, he actually hailed from the neighboring province but later moved to Calapan with his family. Written

accounts tell us that here he aided the family to make a living, and was in fact a musician. Having attended the then Mindoro High School which I have personally visited, we could then read from his biography the transfer from the idyllic life in Calapan to his academic and writing career in Manila. of Romblon

            From such a short note, one would naturally think that it was a simple migration – nothing more than a change in the mode of his living. But from here on, I would like to express my intent to expound on the personal study I have made on his life and works. I would then share the distinct qualities of his life that I found in them and which are now shaping me into a new being.

The Gap

                 The simple and curt reference to his leaving of Calapan would apparently equate to a mere event devoid of significance. And yet this particular passage in his life, presented to me in such a very simple manner, led me to believe that there was something more in it.

                 The thought permeated my reflection moments. ‘Perhaps it was because there were no substantial notes which I could read that I became bothered by this event?’ I asked myself. And on another occasion I turned to the question: “Did his life in Calapan bore any meaning to him after he left it? Did it, in any way, influence his works later in his career?”

                   I decided to proceed and find all about it. It was a personal aim of mine to clear this seeming gap – unclear and evasive – that separated his Calapan days to his Manila life. The undertaking appeared to like a quest for missing puzzle pieces in my understanding of this master.

Written Images of Calapan and Mindoro

            Indeed there was a gap that I have surmised and it has taken the form of silence. It was silence in the sense that it reached me in a seeming subtle manner, unheard and unnoticed in many ways. But hail it is found within us! Rummaging in the past years through the available materials which are his works, there lay my sought-for puzzle pieces – the bridge in that gap I have personally noted. In silence indeed he left Calapan but he gave birth again to everything about it into a legion of words, far louder than any acts of noise barrage. He has recreated vivid images of Calapan, Mindoro, his birthplace Romblon, his experiences, and his life. This very act which he carried on for the rest of his life engraved in me the pattern for passion I have learned to internalize and live through. Writing has inevitably connected me to him.

My Motto Stella

            Living up with one’s origins and identity, letting people know about it through the use of many forms of communication, and carrying it in one’s own heart wherever one goes are what have made Maestro Gonzalez a true and deserving model for me. In this age where attempts for sharp cultural identifications become more and more trying, a need to stand out and be proud of our roots is expected from each one of us. In these times where the media is dragging each one of us, luring us into one collective identity, we Filipinos are moved to do the individual tasks of maintaining the Filipino identity.

            Even during his time, NVM Gonzalez has identified this problem. He mentioned the introduction of the English language to the country solely as an instrument for the colonial administration of some Westerners during the early twentieth century. But accompanying it, he further noticed, are traditions and cultures that are set to be given to us; set for us to adapt and accept.

            But as I see it, he only took the tool aspect of the language but went passed the invitations to a new identity. He stuck with the own characteristics and features of his homeland – its people, culture and traditions. And through the use of that ‘tool’ language, he set forth to put his identity, the Filipino identity, obtained from his early life in Calapan, into a zenith of prominence.

            And so here with us now are his notable works bearing scenes taken from his home city of Calapan, parts of Mindoro, Romblon, Manila and the rest of the Philippines. Through the collections of essays, short stories, novels among other, he immortalized his homeland and personally introduced me into a genuine yet transferable role of giving life to a country plagued by problems, insecurities, and identity crisis.

            It is necessary at this point to clear the seeming ‘simplicity’ of such a writing job that might arise to other people’s minds. Without endowing one’s self with a sense of history, we cannot gain an appreciation of his works. He worked toward the reconstruction of a nation being submerged into a foreign rule. By writing about the places and people in the country, he helped in disseminating the truth about our lives, sharing even the smallest details of our daily activities, our emotions, and outlooks in life as Filipinos.

From here we should realize already that it was indeed a mammoth task. Not only did he have to make extensive recollections of his past life and experience back in his province, not to mention his possible personal researches, but also to face the world in which he has found an audience. He even encountered a stern challenge, which he mentioned in one of his books, of making the literature from Southeast Asia ‘seductive’ in the eyes of European circles. Certainly this marks him as a man of sustained resilience and courage. It was resilience that he showed when he continued to take his passion abroad despite some setbacks and to hone his skills. And it was courage beyond what the word normally conveys when he actually introduced his works to the world.

He is really a worthy motto stella, a guiding star which I must follow to the very ends.

As For Me

As for me, Maestro Gonzalez only made things a lot easier for me, thanks to the light that his life and works has cast upon my path in life.

I am still in the university, working my way into a science course for a number of years already. Within these years of studying I found the harmony in this field I have chosen to pursue and my passion for writing discovered back from teenage years. Here, I could only convey what we are studying through the medium of writing. And in taking a closer look, the tandem results into an elegant role – I could actually write about nature, taking with it the knowledge obtained from studying. The difference here is that, in setting to do this that term ‘nature’ pertains to my country – its people, culture, traditions, life, emotions, among other. It is, in many ways, the same as with Maestro.

Having seen and experienced the invigorating life in Calapan, I daresay that I am equipped, as just Maestro has been, with a close connection to real Filipino life and would just as well write and talk about it. Decades separate me from what his eyes have beheld in Calapan. Decades could have altered greatly the form of the city we both came to appreciate. Decades might have been an instrument in resulting different outlooks towards our respective origins. But still I came onto good terms with him; we are of the same roots anyway. The Filipino kinship has taken over domestic differences and the works of Maestro NVM Gonzalez indeed possess a thick identification of him being a Calapeño and a loyal Filipino, in every essence of the word.  

As for me, I would dwell in that resolve to utilize passions and skills for a national cause. I felt in his works. Maestro Gonzalez did it. I have the same desire, and I would want to do it.

Model

            Each one of us has the tendency to look up to someone or to someone else’s acts. Be it academic, political, heroic, literary, or scientific works, this inclination to make an inspiration out of other somehow mirrors what we ourselves what to accomplish or what we want to become. The concept for me of a model is for one to have an image in which to pattern our actions, our outlooks and our courses in life. And we would always test ourselves against this chosen model or models in order to maintain the integrity of our desire to be more like our role model to the best that we can.

            I have to admit that choosing Maestro NVM Gonzalez as a deserving model is a giant leap already for me. He has raised his craft to a pedestal which would take years for anyone to reach and seven surpass. The way he has utilized writing in subduing the waning concreteness of the Filipino identity during his time is a remarkable feat. But I do not feel restrained by such a big personality. For me, it humanizes him even more that I could only think that his actions are inviting anyone to do the same, even in different forms or approaches. I still have a far stretch of road of experience to tread considering the fusion of science and writing that I recognized and chose to develop. It is a whole new different form. But with a constant mirror in his person, there is an invariably self-check that would set my goals in their proper courses.

            NVM Gonzalez is a Calapeño, a Filipino, and a man of the world. Across the seas, he took us into a journey of unfathomable estimation. He has placed the Philippine life and scenery in its deserving place – a world-recognized place. And I am quite proud that in one way or another, I have followed his steps, somewhere within the confines of the beautiful city we both appreciated.

Congratulations to the winners!