Conozco Pablo

Moving to a new country can be both exhilarating and challenging. When I arrived in Norway, I faced the daunting task of adapting to a new culture, a foreign language, and building a life from the ground up. In those early days, the mantra "en dag om gangen," which translates to "one day at a time," became my guiding light. The Arrival: A World of Uncertainty Stepping off the plane in Norway, I was immediately struck by the unfamiliar surroundings and the realization that I was far from home. The Norwegian language, with its melodic but mystifying sounds, posed a formidable barrier. I had no work lined up, and I didn't know a soul I could trust to help me navigate this new chapter of my life. It was a daunting prospect, to say the least. Learning the Language: Babysteps to Communication One of the first and most crucial challenges was the language barrier. Learning Norwegian was essential not only for daily communication but also for securing...

This was a speech delivered at the First Recognition Day of my university, Father Saturnino Urios University last August 31,2006. I ranked first among all dean’s listers from all levels in all courses after the first year in nursing. For more than 100 hundred years of nurturing students in various fields, developing a standard of topnotchers and high passing rates in the board examinations, Urios College was converted into a university last July 12, 2006. The long wait has come to an end as the day of celebration for all Urians has come. That late afternoon, each student was indefatigable as they jubilate the momentous event. Many were excited to experience the privileges of being a university student. However, after the deafening sounds of cheers, what was left was the realization though still many questions and uncertainties are left unanswered that Urios truly has attained the university status.  Uncertainties? Why? Does this mean that for me Urios is incompetent to b...

In a beautiful garden, a man found a cocoon of a butterfly. It has a small opening in it. Very eager, the man sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then, it seemed to stop making any progress for although it appeared as if it had gotten so far as it could, it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly using a pair of scissors by snipping the remaining bit off of the cocoon. The man saw as expected the butterfly emerged easily from the cocoon but to his dismay, the butterfly it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. Moreover, the wings never enlarged and expanded to be able to support the body. From then on, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around and never was it able to fly. The man in the story did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body...

At sunset, a tourist was walking down a deserted beach. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed the man he saw was a local native. The native was leaning down, picking up something and throwing it out into the water. Time and again, he kept hurling things out into the ocean. Curious, the tourist approached even closer, he noticed that the native was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing back them into the water. Puzzled, the tourist said, “Good evening friend. I was wondering what you were doing.” “I’m throwing these starfishes back into the ocean. You see its low tide right now and all these starfishes have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen,” the native replied. “I understand” the tourist said, “but there must be thousands of starfishes on this beach. You can not possibly get to all of t...

This speech was delivered at SOCOTECH Nursing Program, Agusan del Sur Capping and Badging Ceremonies 2012. Have you once said to yourself, what if everything we want will come true? Imagine?! Having a house and car of your own? Getting the job that really suits your character while enjoying your time with your loved ones who are in good health. Perfect?! Possible or impossible? There are some instances that we can really say to ourselves: “That can never happen! It’s gonna end up just a dream Anyway, Libre naman ang mangarap!” Right? In this capping and badging ceremony, for sure the parents and candidates are anxious whether they can make it. For the candidates, you may have told this to yourself, “Kaya ka ha nako ni? Dili man nako choice ang mag-nurse. Kayanon lagi! For the parents and the relatives, “ Bahala na. Basta magtinarong lang gid siya.” Ladies and gentlemen, can you relate to these statements? Very common, I must say. Seldom you see a student nurse wh...

One of the most complicated truth is pretending to be someone because it makes things more vague. For what seems real appears not, while what we expect to be fake is rather genuine and absolute. According to Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory on Human Moral development, when we reach six years of age, we base our decisions as well as our behaviors on others reactions, hence, before doing something, we seek first for others approval due to our fear of committing a mistake. In fact, our parents, teachers and even elders have contributes for us to become presentable and good at all times, even if we know we cannot. Worse, they compare us with others to compel us to comply with what others like us to become. As a result, it is indeed inevitable that we put ourselves in other shoes- a forerunner of a complex system of pretensions. With these, at our age, my dear friends, the truth is we have been unconsciously pretending for more than a decade or most of our lifetime. However, who...

Allow me then to relate to you a story of an American war naval hero named John Paul Jones who dreamt of giving glory to his nation by engaging in warfare at sea. In one of his daring raids on the enemies' homeland on the 23rd day of September 1779, he encountered a convoy of ships, which were superior in crew, armament, speed and maneuverability in comparison to his old small warships. Because of this big disparity in ammunitions, an impending desperate sea-fight was about to happen.  When the battle began, due to the enemies' advantage, many of Jones' crew were killed and became of no use as the battle continued. Furthermore, his ships became vulnerable to the assailant's attacks and started to sink. As Jones' fleet becomes defenseless, his crew started to lose confidence in their pursuit that they initiated a call to surrender. Upon hearing the call for surrender, the enemies yelled across to Jones if he as the captain was prepared to give up the fight...