23/07/2025
"AMAzing Grays" by; Amir M. Aquino
๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐๐๐
I must believe without any iota of doubt that those who trained me in various skills can be best immortalized by me in doing the same to the younger ones.
I recall with deep gratitude how the late Prof. Juan Atara and Prof. Estanislao Caldez mentored me in two of my most loved prowesses that I am now sharing with many people: Public Speak-ing and Journalism.
Prof. Juan Atara was both very stern and strenuous in training me in public speaking. It was he who titillated my brain neurons in extemporaneous speaking and activated the same in oratory. While I was more exposed to oratory because of more opportunities, I did not lose any compas-sion in extemporaneous speaking, which, in fact, has become my prevailing attitude when given an opportunity to speak. I recall with a sigh of relief and sweet smile how he managed to infect terror in my heart everytime we scheduled practices. As I would approach the room where the training would take place, I would almost lose my breath, knowing fully well how his strict tute-lage has been one of the bywords of many older students, and even teachers. But it did not take me much time to see the softer, more compassionate side of him. I have been a witness to how he would angrily spit out his own issued with the world, his deep scorn for politics and his im-measurable wrath for some politicians. But, I too, have seen how a loving husband he would transform at home, and an endearing teacher during our plain banters in between practices. In my entire college years, I was under him in the most number of minor and major subjects. He, for me, is a man of principle, a maker of winners, whose own life he has fought heroically and won.
Prof. Ilao, as sir Estanislao Caldez was fondly called, was my professor in only one major sub-ject. But as fate would have it, he became my unequivocal adviser in the student publication. My first encounter with him was not pleasant: he was furious that some students did not do their assignments, entered the publication office and to my utter fright, he delivered his privi-leged speech. I was the only one in the office then, and I would not know whether I would deliv-er an interpellation or just remain glued doing the mannequin challenge. Before I could even say a single morpheme, he approached me, tapped my shoulder, told me to study well, and left. That was the first time he actually became a great teacher to me. And you could only imagine what great thought he had shared with me in the next years of my college days. He endeared myself to the field chosen by very few: journalism, and as the years went by, I learned to pour my energy reserves to the same field and help educate other people. He has always spoken his mind, and in many of our private encounters, I was made to realize that dwelling in the heart of this very straightforward man is his love and concern for the youth. He, for me, is a man of selfless service, another maker of winners, whose life he lived with integrity until the end.
Being trained by these two masters of their own crafts is a quantum leap to the future. Now, they are both in the embrace of our Creator, but whenever there is opportunity to speak and write, they are remembered.
โDo not read good books. Read the best!โ Prof. Atara delivered his lessons in an oratorical man-ner, and that made the sessions very exciting, and in my case, very life-changing. I would turn into a champion orator myself, and my manner of teaching would reflect his. โI can barter my other rights, but not my right to speak.โ His lessons were not only confined in the books. He was actually sharing his own life. It was always with a gem to pick when he attends classes.
โYou have taught lessons long forgotten in the academe, even those who profess to know it all.โ That read the piece of paper that Prof. Ilao gave me and my editor in chief after we both suc-cessfully defended him against those who tried to destroy his reputation. It was handwritten, and I quickly had it photocopied for my own keeping, like a treasure that is worth a diamond. โJust laugh it outโฆand make sure itโs loud.โ He has been very jolly, contrary to how he was known in the campus. When I visited him in his home, I was introduced to his wife, and looking at how they teased each other, I realized what a good life they have been living.
Verily, these two masters of mine are not perfect. Like all of us, there were times that they also succumbed to the whims of worldly compulsions and impulsiveness. Their human frailty has not separated them from all of us, did not make us better than us, or above us all.
But I believe that when one student stands to salute and pay tribute to his masters, let the world know that at the very least, these masters had done something good and right when they had the chance. #
