Monday, November 10, 2008

SPEECHES

Over the years I've been asked, requested, tasked, ordered to speak at special events in schools, gatherings, work. I hate public speaking! I'm not that good with crowds. But sometimes you just gotta do what you have to do. And of course, I had to write my own speech! I have no problem with that, I'd rather write than speak. Still, it's a reality I just have to contend with -- that as I go along, there'll be speeches to write and well, deliver...

The following was the speech I delivered during our Nursing post-graduation ring-hop ceremony which I wrote in the wee hours of the morning, just hours before the event. Yeah, I know, last-minute chores and multi-tasking is a nurse's specialty...

We stand here today at this junction in our lives as proud finished products of four years of hard work, patience, and dogged perseverance. Like malleable metal forged through time, we were molded and polished into what we are today.

Our four-year stay in the Nursing program can never be described as one that was easy. We gave should I say more than our share of hardships and difficulties. Sleepless nights, countless requirements, mind-wrecking examinations and not to mention the dreaded pink slips…all these have helped in making us more competent, disciplined and much more prepared for the professional path ahead of us.

It wasn’t however all pain. As with life, our experience in the program is bittersweet. Undeniably, we have had happy and happier days. The friendships we have formed, the skills we have mastered and that we never thought we could do, and the compassion we have nurtured within us, are some of the things that have kept us going. Most importantly, we could never have made it without the untiring guidance and support that our administrators, faculty and family have unfailingly given us throughout the years. It is with this that I, on behalf of the pioneering batch of the College of Nursing, extend this gratitude to all these people.

To the administrators of the College of Nursing, headed by our beloved dean, Dr. Patria V. Manalaysay, we thank you for your unwavering support and belief in us, and your determination to make the Ateneo de Davao University College of Nursing at par with or even the best of them all. It is with fervent hope and prayer that we will do you proud.

To our Clinical Instructors, I have this to say: through the years we have seen clinical instructors come and go. Some of them old, some of them young, some big and some small, some cute and some not-so-cute, some very, very kind and some never-mind. It cannot be denied that perhaps a lot of you are more hypertensive now than when you first started, or that a few of us have caused your hair to turn white. But then again, the same can be said for us, for some of you also caused our blood to boil especially when it comes to grades and pink slips. But we’re past all that now! Look at where we are right this moment… we survived. Our dear clinical instructors, you have become more than what your job descriptions called for, we thank you for being more than just our teachers, you have become our second parents, mentors, friends, counselors, and allies all the way. From all of us, thank you.

And of course, to our families who have taught us what unconditional love is all about and how it sustained us all these years, through all the out-of-town duties, overnight stay for case presentations, long hours spent away from home, and the financial burden --- for putting up with all these, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. No words can ever describe our heartfelt gratitude for all of you.

At this point I would like to share these words from Albert Einstein: “A hundred times a day, I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellowmen, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving.”

Ladies and gentlemen, everything that we have become, and everything that we will be we offer it all to The Man Upstairs and to all of you. Thank you very much.
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