Love Ko 'To

          It's already 10:36 PM and I'm still waiting for my wife here at McDonald's Katipunan.  

          I've been observing people for more than an hour.  Most of them are university students in groups or pairs leisurely munching on their fries and burgers, drinking coffee, talking, exchanging smooches, studying, working on their laptops, listening with their black or white earphones.  I hear all sorts of sounds from chitchats in English and Tagalog, laughter, murmur from a few who are memorizing notes, kitchen counter clunks, and cash registers furiously accepting and disbursing coins and bills.

          Since I arrived, I couldn't explain how I feel as I watch these mostly Ateneo and UP students living an ordinary fraction of their day.  I couldn't help but wonder if they realize how privileged they are for being counted among the few who are living their university years in the most beautiful and wide campuses, with the best education in the country and the cash to enjoy extra benefits of a Love Ko 'To McDonald's study and social hall.

          I remember the lowly two year old community college in our fourth class municipality of Manito, surrounded by rice fields and marshland, separated from Legazpi City by a nearly two-hour jam packed jeepney ride along the Albay Gulf.  

Nipa huts with one of the two  Community College buildings at the back

          Lord, please bless my country and please help the blessed bless those who have less.  May this community college be a step into the right direction for the development of our countryside.  

          Please help the privileged dream dreams beyond Boracay, Dubai and Manhattan.  I'm not even hoping that our young people drop their personal dreams.  I'm only wishing their dream vaults expand to accommodate the dreams of the less fortunate, that their horizons go beyond the virtual world of smileys and RPGs and into the real world where real people in primarily agricultural towns are happy enough to hope for a future in community colleges.