‘HIS DREAMS WITHIN A DREAM’ (THE LIFE OF AN IPED TEACHER )

JAYSON A. TORRES

Before everything had moved further, it was a painful and surreal experience to jeer in.

He was amidst annihilations. No idea about what happened.

‘till he submerged with them.

He got thousands of realizations.

He grasped the point that there are three things to consider:

Call for a Mission

Whenever he sees people who are embraced and composed with their work, wealthy of materials, enriched with fully-structured and air-conditioned classrooms, he is jealous. But that was before.

Walking for more than two hours in a lumpy road, brisling and ticking the chords of time going to the dregs of the people, he supposed, proved to him that cries are heavier than sweats this time.

Aeta children are gifts of the motherland. They are the products of the cultural understanding of the people. Immersing with them and teaching them what life is, really completes my life. It is his mission to meet them and help them.

He never dreamt of becoming a teacher to them. Across months, they are becoming so attached and closed, which made him so purposeful. He is blissful. He knows his mission in life.

Call for a Vision

Returning to the fact that Deped has envisioned the children of today of becoming a good citizen of the country is more than what an IPEd teacher sees.

Being committed to the teaching profession takes more than an hour to teach, more than a year to understand, and more than a life to inspire and change a person. Being in the field helps him to envisage the exquisiteness of life. He helps the aetas to really appreciate education being the most potent tool in distressing poverty.

Being a teacher to them, he dreams of becoming their inspiration to whatever causes. Most of them are dreamers. They dream on becoming a teacher, an engineer, a dentist, a farmer, and the like. But others think that education is just a requirement in their early years, they will soon be living a normal life with. Being with them makes him more sensible. He teaches them to appreciate education as their ticket to their future. He envisions them to dream big, to dream higher. He is idyllic. He knows his vision in life.

Call for a Vocation

Having been in this field where he is right now, for him, is a blessing. He considers himself as the chosen one who will illuminate the lives of the dear children everyone always admires. Being a teacher isn’t just about the position being rendered. Being in the field makes him more valuable. He appreciates every single detail of how Aetas live, how they dream, and how they share their voices. He calls it as a vocation.

Let us always remember that teaching will always be a vocation, a mission, and a vision to us and to other people- in whatever ways. Having been tagged as the noblest profession of all, we must embody that whatever our task is, we are inclined with our promises when we got our diplomas, when we pledged our oaths, and when we were welcomed aboard in our professional world.

Being involved in this noble mission and vocation, significantly builds satisfaction in my soul. It gives me the chance to believe in myself, find the very purpose of my life — which isn’t easy at all.

Letting yourself love what you are finding is tantamount to the purpose of what you are looking for.

— oOo—

The author is OIC of Sitio Target Integrated School, Angeles City