…on Perseverance

Ningas – kugon.

I bet every Filipino is very much familiar with the word. Why not? It is one of the distinctive negative character traits that (according to some sociologists) we Filipinos possess – a habit of starting but not finishing a task resulting to mediocre or no work at all. It is sad that when we feel like reaching our limits already, we give up.

On the other side of the coin, Filipinos are also known for persistency. Perseverance obliges us to keep motivated until we have attained our goals.

A personal story I could relate to this happened during my college days, when I was struggling to finish my education despite the many shortcomings. I have experienced budgeting P200.00 (two hundred pesos) for two weeks. The allocation includes the food, projects, fare and all other expenses you can think of. As what I remember, I only eat in the morning for a budget of P22.00 (egg- 6php, hotdog- 8php, and 1 ½ rice – 8php).Luckily, the owner only requires me 20php. There were also times that some professors would notice me not taking lunch and dinner so they would give me a portion of theirs. In return, I check some papers, do typing jobs, and run some errands for them. It’s quite hard for I also have other duties as a student assistant. Up until now, I couldn’t think how I had let the days passed without eating.

The reason why I am here posting this blog was because of PERSEVERANCE. If I had let my morale down during those hard times, I would still be in that situation. But because I had continued pursuing, I am proud to say that me and my family can have meals more than 3x a day now. I have proven that perseverance is a great component of success.