Memoirs of an Amnesiac

It is inarguable that God wonderfully and fearfully made us, as what most religious persons would propitiously affirm. To an existentialist, we have probably sprang up from nowhere and our existence would have been probably brought about by no less concepts more complex to explain (than believe) as the BIG BANG Theory.

This dauntless belief (or disbelief, whichever favorably applies), about being created (or recreated, as the Hindus would aver), often excites a believer (or a non-believer) about the complexities inherent in creation. For the entity (for lack of a better word), is constantly undergoing a process of BECOMING. The shaping and molding take its early roots in the classroom (whether we consider it to be conducive for learning or not). The evolution of a human being's psyche probably had its early stages at home. But since most children these days start pre-elementary education (to the detriment of the children because I still believe that play time should never be deprived from children in their formative years), at ages 2-3 years old, most of what they conceive to be who they (the children) think they are start rolling at Nursery stage.

Their awareness and innocence are slowly becoming translucent as they learn the colors of the rainbow. In their young minds, the idea that even when things are created equal, their uniqueness should be celebrated because they laud variety and abhor sameness, is ingrained. As John Locke's Tabula Rasa principle applies where children's brains are likened to sponges that absorb information, they learn that where school and learning are concerned, it is always, "My teacher is correct, Mommy," even when the mother is the school principal.

As constant and changeable (an irony of sorts) lessons are in the classroom, they are always in the process of learning, relearning, and even unlearning everyday. They pick up little unobtrusive habits from people around them and acquires them as their own even when they defy the guise of genetics.

They develop their characters and lose their innocence, realizing with finality that when all things are said and done, all one really needs to know in Physics is that "gravity pulls one down and that man's pursuits are always geared towards defying that gravity."

We throw order at their faces, like some traffic light waiting for a pedestrian to stop, wait, and go. But somehow we know there will come a time they will have to break free from order in order to build beautiful organized chaos.

We value their uniqueness and yet program them to be uniformed individuals, in the nuance of grades, honor's and dean's list. There was always a perfect score to reach and that there was no room for mistakes. We wanted them to look at a glass as half empty and not half-filled, making sure they develop a mindset that not all appear as they seem.

We urged them to be mature individuals to make decisions of their own, do things without our constant supervision, yet there are times we crave for them to seek our guidance and listen to our advices.

If they did something wrong , they always have an imagery in our heads like a preset slide show of the offense they made to us. Yet, in our every class, we tell them to not tarry in forgiving someone just as their Creator have always been forgiving.

If we could only transfer our neurons into their brains, make them see how we perceive the reality around us, we would have done so. But hey, that's not even possible and we could only blame it on poor old generation gap.

We would have sounded like a dead record telling them to always, "Look at the board" (the green dusty and incomprehensible with gibberish markings) when their minds are stimulated by loops and pop-from-nowhere information (thanks to Google).

We teach them to greet every time a teacher comes in (even when she/he looks like she's/he's had a bad day, solving issues with great concern).

And when all are said and done, we contentedly think that as they leave the four walls of the classroom, they are equipped and ready to face the world ahead with all its deception, lies, and empty promises (totally different from what their soft-bound books illustrate to them).

We're only proving ourselves wrong in the process. They never will.

But we can always put our hopes up.