September 8, 2014 :
As I write this down, I am thinking of a girl from my high school class, her name is Recca. She died today. We all learned about her passing through another batchmate’s post on our facebook group. For a batch of about only 200, we all knew each other somehow, although I never really had a chance to get to know her better.
| Recca Noelle Monte, Manila Science High School |
Always among
our top sections, Recca moved on to be an Iskolar ng Bayan in the state U and I
never heard of her again, until today.
Today, I
learned that Recca has passed away for reasons unclear, and that she was a
“tibak”- an activist. She chose to live a life of active compassion, fighting
injustice for the marginalized farmers and other oppressed communities in neglected areas in the Philippines.
Apparently,
it was not enough for her to sit still in the comforts of the University. She left and let go of an engineering diploma
in her attempts to make real, concrete change in lives of many other Filipinos. Such as introducing the simple concept of Hydraulics and doing a D-I-Y solution in a community who waited decades to have electricity, obviously abandoned by our useless corrupt government.
In her only
article online she quoted the words “a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love”, and I feel for her.
We don’t
have the details as to how she died, but I reckon it had something to do with
having followed the great revolutionary road.
Recca’s life (and death) reminded me of Che Guevarra and Gandhi, of going
out there and “being the change that you want to see in the world”.
Incidentally, and not to take away any credit, this had me
thinking again about the reason why I want to write, and why I will always be
grateful to people who have given me a chance to air out my thoughts. I am especially thankful to those who read my insignificant blog among many others out there. I hope you find in it some spark of motivation, or at least some sense of belonging, enough to realise that we all share the same struggles and aspirations.
I remember
having written an article not too long ago, and hearing the words “you are a
movement” from our editor at Illustrado magazine after she read it. I was very humbled to hear this, but also I realised that it was true. She is right, the same way that Recca, that girl from my high school
class, is right.
We are all,
in our selves, a movement. We have the
power to mobilize our fellows to be that positive force that can inspire
change that can pave the way for the next generation of dreamers and doers.
In this mini-piece of writing, allow me to celebrate the life of Recca and the triumph of
the proud, passionate, compassionate, ingenious Filipino spirit that cannot be contained.
"Hindi nyo kami mabibiliang,
At hindi din maikakahon
Madami kami, ngunit iisa lamang
ang aming pasyon -
Ang Awit ng Kabataan.
Ito na ang ating Panahon."
