Home.  Family.  Students.  Parents. Lessons.  Money

Like anybody else who works for a living, making both ends meet until the next pay envelope comes is a daily challenge, a struggle especially when unexpected costs threaten to empty pockets and maybe further consume what are set aside for other plans. 

The challenge has always been to spare not a single peso for the most important needs while feeling better off without spending on much wanted things.  The difference between wants and needs are often narrow and blurred.  The real challenge is the choice between changing careers or jobs to balance the budget and keeping the job a teacher is passionate about and settling for just right and just enough compensation.

Keeping a home and a family, although the source of love and inspiration, is also a challenge.  Whether owned or rented, it is the upkeep that breaks piggy banks and letting go of some comforts to pay for mortgages and rentals.  A growing family is a real challenge that nurturing it is a round-the-clock concern.  It all adds up to family and ends up with family.

Students and parents, these are the people we have no choice but to teach and those we should not disappoint.  Our challenge is to help our students help themselves and make parents understand that while we teach students, we can not do the learning for them.

Lessons we need to master.  Lessons we need to study more to be updated and get abreast of what is happening outside the walls of the school and the home.  Lessons we need to learn ourselves for the values.  Even for lessons that we continually learn to break the glass ceilings and topple ivory towers in the present fast-changing world.  The challenge is in being ready to effect change and be changed.

And while we are being challenged, these rewards just might be enough to motivate us to keep going:  Happiness.  Love.  Graduates.  Gratiude. Knowledge. Contentment.

 

By: Gemma M. Manalo | Teacher III | BNHS | Balanga City, Bataan