by: Norberto Betita
At least the SNNHS ‘69ers have given a special and distinctive treat and recognition to two of our living teachers during one of our high school reunions. But it is very sad to note that in many of our reunions and reunion feasts, we seldom talk or even remember our most noble teachers as we enjoy the memories of high school life and reminisce the wonderful experiences that we shared together during those youthful years. Sometimes we are choked by the excitement to relive and revive the happy days---singing the old songs, dancing the old hops, eating sumptuous cuisines, glugging expensive wines, partying with the rest of the alumni--- and so forget about the men and women who built the foundations of the bridge which allowed us to safely cross the “chasm, vast, and deep and wide” into our journey to success. But remember we should as an expression of our deepest gratitude for the great and perhaps just little things that they did which brought us into the glory that we now enjoy.
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| Old Photo with teachers Ms. Glorina Tremedal, Ms. Alma Lugo and Ms. Elsa Eviota |
When I think of those old teachers---Mr. Benjamin Quinto, Mr. Zoilo Rodriguez, Mr. Rodrigo Doblas, Sr., Mr. Edilberto Behagan, Mr. Secilliano, Ms. Carmen Silay, Ms. Raganas--- during our four-year high school term at the Surigao del Norte National High school, I am reminded of the old man in a popular poem written by an acclaimed poet Will Allen Dromgoole entitled “The Bridge Builder.” I quote:
"An old man going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
"The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
""Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"
"The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
"This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_Builder
Whether young or old all our most noble teachers in high school ought to be remembered with heartfelt gratitude for they are the builders of our bridges to the future. My battle with college algebra and accounting subjects, which my classmates thought to be the toughest, was easy for me because the foundational knowledge was strongly built from the teachings of Mr. Zoilo Rodriguez. History was even interesting as I remembered our old History teacher---Mr. Benjamin Quinto---who can read our history textbook almost from first chapter to the last with covers closed. Sociology was easier for me because of the competent teaching performed by our social studies teacher Ms. Irennita Creencia Montinola. My good performances in English grammar and composition, Argumentation and Debate, and winning an Oratorical contest, reminded me of my English teachers in high school---Ms. Silay, Ms. Elsa Eviota, Ms. Lugo, Ms. Victoria Andanar. My finance and business subjects brought to memory my dear little cute teacher Ms. Raganas. My general education subject in Pilipino reminds me of Ms. Norma Ereño Rodriguez and Mauricio Uy, and my Spanish subject brought to memory Mr. Secilliano, our 4th year Spanish teacher.
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| Batch 1969 Reunion 2012 |
I am sure SNNHS ‘69ers have their own wonderful unwritten memories of these bridge builders---noble teachers---which may have been safely and silently kept in the secret libraries of their hearts, in which are inaudibly expressed their heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciations.
“The story is told of a group of men who were talking about people who had influenced their lives and for whom they were grateful. One man thought of a high school teacher who had introduced him to Tennyson. He decided to write and thank her. In time, written in a feeble scrawl, came the teacher’s reply:
““My Dear Willie:
““I can’t tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my 80s, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely and like the last leaf lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has for years.”” (Thomas S. Monson, the Profound Power of Gratitude, https://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/09/the-profound-power-of-gratitude?lang=eng)
O, I wish I were a Warren Buffet who can easily release billions of dollars in charity. I wish I could build a building and create a monument as a memorial for these great bridge builders---the noblest teachers---and carve their humble names and inscribe the two most important words in the English language “THANK YOU” in a golden colored brass plate. I wish that many of them will see beyond the veil; and those who are living will be able to personally witness the unveiling of the monument in their honor. But I am just a nobody whose resources are limited for the needs of my own. I felt like C.S. Lewis as he said: “All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ.”
Yet I know that there are many among the SNNHS ‘69ers or any batches of alumni for that matter which represent the one among the ten lepers healed by Jesus who returned to thank the Lord for the miraculous healing and His tender mercies, while the nine left. (See Luke:11-19). To them I extend my invitation to join hands and sponsor a plan and design of a memorial and share surplus resources in expressions of thankfulness. I share these words of wisdom which for years I read inscribed on the cornerstone of the gate of Surigao City Pilot School from Etienne de Grellet: “I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
"We will meet again my friend,
A hundred years from today
Far away from where we lived
And where we used to play.
"We will know each others' eyes
And wonder where we met
Your laugh will sound familiar
Your heart, I won't forget.
"We will meet, I'm sure of this,
But let's not wait till then...
Let's take a walk beneath the stars
And share 'this' world again."
"Let's Not Wait"
by Ron Atchison http://www.inspirationpeak.com
As we again gather in our high school reunions, I pray that our hearts will be filled with feelings of gratitude to our most noble teachers who built the bridge for us to be able to cross the wide gulf along the path to the delightful shorelines of our lives. For my dear teachers these thoughts I penned:
I wish this message reach to heaven
For those beyond to read with tears
May also the living, their doors be opened
Expressions of love and gratitude to share.
It's been almost fifty years since our graduation from SNNHS in 1969. As I checked and write a few of the achievements of the students of long ago, I marvel at the humility and love, and the great sacrifice that these teachers made to prepare for us the foundations of our future. As we savor the glory of our attainments, I wonder if we ever take time remembering our most noble teachers and the great good that they have done in our lives. In my deepest reflections of the memories of their guiding hands extended during our high school life, my heart overflows with profound gratitude.
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