Peace and graduation

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

This week, and up to next week, schools and colleges all over the country will be holding their graduation exercises or what some now call as a “moving up” ceremony. In Negros Oriental, public elementary and high schools are urged to hold their graduation ceremonies until early next week, with austere but meaningful rites being emphasized.

The closing of yet another schoolyear comes at a time when the country is experiencing huge problems largely because of wrongdoings committed by the elders of these graduates, our leaders whom we have installed in office with our votes and our hopes for a better Philippines through what we hoped to be leadership by example.

If there are people with the right to demand so much from our leaders, they are our young graduates. If there are those whose voices should be heard and listened to by our leaders, they are our graduates. They are, after all, the future leaders of the country, the hope of our motherland, the individuals who can, hopefully, make a difference.

However, even if these graduates may have acquired a good education, land good jobs in the future, or become entrepreneurs or their own bosses, when the time comes, no good will emerge if they do not anchor themselves on a deep-seated faith in God. Only out of that faith will come a conscious effort to promote peace and goodwill in our midst.

That is, after all, what the country sorely needs today – peace in everything we do, peace in the work place, peace in our government, peace in our community, peace in our families, peace within ourselves and in our hearts, and peace all over the world.

Seeing the excited faces of our young graduates will belie an eminent philosopher word that “youth is wasted on the young.” These graduates hold a lot of promise for the community, the country, and the world in general. When their time comes, let us give them the opportunity to prove their worth. And let us remember the moment when we shared this important event in their lives.*