ORA STUDE ET LABORA (The pride of every SANO)

by Yayes Basares

During the wake of Nono’s mom, we were able to talk to Mayor Roque Sr. Glad to note the good mayor is still up and trim, vibrant and still as handsome as he was before. He asked us this question?

“So how does it feel being a sano? What if you did not come from OLPS and instead say came from a high profile reputable and distinguished school, would you still feel the same pride you have now of being a sano?”

ORA
Yes our voice were too low to reach the gates of heaven that when God prepared the list of who shall serve Him in the ministry we were thought to be absent, but we prayed. The rituals and doctrines practiced and professed continue to guide us. The daily meditation and weekly benediction taught us reverence, the monthly retreat made us value silence in communion with God, the daily rosary and mass built in us the walls of Troy that many sect tried in vain to penetrate, the confessions and counseling made us realize that the runner has to stumble sometimes necessary to redirect its focus for the long run, and the novena taught us devotion and loyalty.

Yes during the roll call we were absent, but never astray!

STUDE
We were prepared well. The mind honed razor sharp to conquer and did conquer; in arts, education, medicine, public service, law, business, music,….. Success came in varying levels. For some can be measured by well lit mansions, a fleet of cars, a fat bank account, for others none of these but with a feeling of contentment in the company of their own families and/or in the exercise of their professions.

We did not grow up merely as intellectuals, we grew up as educated men. For OLPS taught us not to let academics interfere with our education. Along side the wealth most earned came the values of civility, of compassion for others less fortunate, the selflessness in rendering service, the fair play in personal and business transactions, the fortitude to stand up in every failure.

LABORA
We learned to value work no matter how menial. Inside OLPS we scrub lavatories, polished and mop floors and cut grass. We learned to accept responsibility in a communal spirit. We realized we cannot simply drive down the roads and say to hell with the barbarians killing themselves on the country sides. Many of us today in exalted positions at one time or another perspired, cried and literally drag his body to work.

Yes, Mayor Roque Sr. sir, there is pride in being a SANO. And yes you are correct in saying that the fact that we are SANO tend to put limitations on our acts and ways to conform with the values of OLPS, like children thinking of how our acts and lives would affect family reputation, that we sometimes negate ourselves with the little luxuries and pleasures of life because we are SANO.

And yes mayor, Roque Jr is SANO. He may be more handsome than you now but be assured that such is an improvement of the father.