 |
| L-R: Dr. Mercedes Planta; Dr. Trina Tinio; Prof. Rey Ileto; Dr. Nikki Briones-Carsi Cruz and husband Oliver. |
Most people have teachers. A lucky few have mentors. In this regard I am luckier than most. I found a mentor in Reynaldo C. Ileto. And last Thursday, July 19th, he was honored by his alma mater, Ateneo de Manila University, with the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi Award, for his scholarly contributions to furthering scholarship in the Philippines and beyond! He received his award at the 2012 Special Academic Convocation held on campus at the Lee Irwin Theater, and it was, for me, a memorable affair. I went to the event thinking the afternoon was going to inspire me in terms of my career life - I went home taking an important lesson about parenthood. I did not expect to learn something important about being a mother from my academic mentor. But that's what happened.
 |
| Prof. Rey's photo, with fellow awardees, along Katipunan. |
Prof. Rey began his acceptance speech by sharing a most unexpected piece of personal trivia: that he failed the entrance exam to enter Ateneo Grade School when he was a little boy. It was through his mother's earnest pleadings and display of unwavering faith in her son that a compassionate headmaster decided to give the young Ileto a chance. That gamble made by a kind-hearted Jesuit more than fifty years ago paid off. Now, Ileto comes home to his alma mater triumphant, after a distinguished career here and abroad, as one of the country's most influential historians of all time. This awardee, with his face on banners posted all over the campus was once deemed "not good enough" because he failed his first entrance exam.
 |
| On campus, Prof. Rey's banners. |
Listening to his speech, I felt a wave of inspiration running through me. I am being taught an important lesson and I am listening with my mind, body and spirit. And the lesson is this: a mother must always believe in her child's greatness, no matter what external exams, tests, or other mechanisms accepted by society declares that her child doesn't measure up. A mother must be the source of unshakable faith, the fiercely loyal supporter who is forever in her child's corner. I had to be reminded not to pay heed to the dictates of convention at the expense of personal conviction. Mrs. Ileto did not privilege "official facts" over what she intuitively knew to be true. In her heart, and in her gut, she knew her son was far more than what his exam results implied. And now, her intuition is proven right, isn't it? Unwittingly, with his anecdote about his mother, Prof. Rey has empowered me as a mother. I am ready. If Narra and Guijo "fail" at anything at all when I release them to the world, if at any point society declares them "failures" in any way whatsoever, I am ready to be that kind of mother who will see only their greatness, who will stubbornly refuse to be disappointed. I will be a firm believer in their unique genius.
 |
| Prof. Rey delivering his acceptance speech. |
Ileto's speech was riveting from start to finish. It sounded deceptively simple. But with Prof. Rey, things are rarely simple. Seemingly innocent anecdotes are loaded with multiple meanings. I found his sharing about his mother's refusal to give up on her son a fitting metaphor for Ileto's scholarship. Just as his mother refused to give up on him when he failed to meet official standards - so too did Ileto refuse to dismiss the "pobres y ignorantes" of Philippine history. He paid attention to what the masses had to say, by listening to their songs, and reading into their words - and these things he studied - the pasyon they chanted with fervor, the awits that shaped their dreams, the literary wellspring of knowledge once deemed inadmissible as "official history". It was this "history from below" that became the offspring for whom Prof. Rey made his plea. Like his mother before him, he must have felt in his gut, that those who "fail" exams shouldn't be dismissed so easily. The thing is, what the masses had to say were always in the archives, but they were systematically overlooked, until Ileto came along and taught us a way to better appreciate their meaning.
 |
| A video-documentary on Prof. Rey's contributions. |
Throughout my doctoral studies done under his supervision, he would often encourage me to tease out what I can from a single word, or from an event - he believed the scholar could be rewarded with knowledge if he exerted effort in wringing out substance, squeezing out every bit of learning he can get from the sources and subjects he scrutinizes. This too, was his attitude with the students he took under his wing. Unlike some teachers who dismiss students with poor language skills - Prof. Rey persevered in reading and editing awkwardly constructed drafts that contained brilliant ideas nonetheless. He took the time to sincerely try to figure out what his students were trying to say, and he painstakingly mentored us to develop our own ideas. And if any of us simply regurgitated theory, or tried to rehash the usual, no matter how eloquently written and elegantly presented, he would return our work to us with the directive to try to write something that adds value and actually has something to say that allows us new ways of seeing things.
 |
| L-R: Liani (exchange student from National University of Singapore); Me and my husband, Oliver; and Prof. Rey Ileto, at the reception dinner, Singson Auditorium, Ateneo Grade School |
Just as Mrs. Ileto refused to give up on her son, so too have I felt that Prof. Rey refused to give up on me. When I failed to submit my thesis on time; when I failed to write anything at all for 2 whole years because of marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth - throughout my dark thesis-writing years - he was my light, and source of hope. Tanglaw ng Lahi. How befitting it is that he received this award. Tanglaw means a light in the dark, an illumination, a torch! And Lahi means breed or race, but also family and lineage. And I trace my intellectual lineage to him. As I said at the start of this post. I am luckier than most.
Congratulations Prof. Rey!
Related Post:
Receiving my Wang Gung Wu Prize
http://nikki-mama.blogspot.com/2011/10/receiving-my-wang-gungwu-prize-and.html
No comments:
Post a Comment