Road Less Taken

I could pretty well remember when I was obliged to choose what course to take up in college. I was a fourth year high school student then when I was about to spend my last few days at Saint Charles Academy, seemingly getting ready to take off the portal of my sanctuary and fly in the wilderness of uncertainty. It was a turning point of my young life from being mediocre to being aspirant. Graduation day came as it just passed by to formally proclaim an end to start. It turned out a very usual celebration for an introvert person like I was.
To choose a course in college was probably the hardest decision I had to do that time. I had completely no idea what guiding rules to follow. I could be easily swayed by anyone who would give me a simple description of a course. Well, how weak I was as a decision maker. Nevertheless, despite this dilemma I encountered, I was still able to make a list of courses from which I should refer to whenever the final moment to select would come.

Since, it was the time of growing cognizance on computer literacy, I dreamt then of becoming a computer engineer someday. In fact it was first in the list. I was so fascinated by performing operations on a computer and designing modern computers probably. Next in the list was Mass Communication. I just loved to imagine myself being in front of a video camera while giving out the latest news in the country or out in the field looking for some situations to cover up. With a flashlight at hand, the simulation was complete in front of a body mirror. The last – and definitely the ‘least’ – was Education; for a reason that choices always come in three maybe. Besides, it was suggested by my sister who had lived a stereotypical life. And though I used to play the role of a teacher with my childhood friends as my students, I never imagined myself becoming one in real life.
On account of financial instability, the first one was definitely not an appealing course anymore. Should it materialize, I could not have finished a bachelor’s degree. No more dreaming of becoming a computer wizard. The second one, on the other hand, gave me quite a hard time to think of its plausibility. Since news on killing or kidnapping of reporters or journalists became rampant, I immediately abandoned that idea. Eventually, I came to realize that I got no choice but to pursue the last one – Education. Apparently it seemed as the only course suited to a less fortunate like me. Whenever my cousins would ask me about my course, I would automatically express discouragement with a statement of promise to take up Computer Engineering when I could already earn my own keep.
Left with no choice, I made a deal with the Lord that if ever I did not pass the examinations at Pangasinan State University, teaching was not really written as part of my destiny, thinking that He had prepared something better for me. It was a point of either to make or unmake it for my future. Momentarily, to my surprise, of all my peers who had dreamed to become a teacher, it was only I who was admitted after passing all the examinations. It was probably a sign from Him that teaching was the track I should traverse – the thing that I could hardly embrace during my first two years in the university. However, the moment that I became used to the customary endeavors a pre-service teacher had to experience, I started opening myself to accepting the fact that teaching was the calling God had prepared for me. The years I spent in college turned out to be the opportunities that metamorphosed me from the cocoon of contentment to what I have become – a dignified person with a role to perform, that is to become a teacher. Now, I am counting years in practicing the profession and have even committed myself for professional advancement. I have learned to wear the authority figure of my identity with a shield of respect from the people called students. I have learned to learn and make others learn. I have learned to love this profession, which I used to abhor. I cannot hide that I am now a full-fledged teacher by action, heart, and soul. And whenever I reminisce moments in my life, I always look back to the road I have learned to traverse – the road less taken.