Ateneo (short for Ateneo de Manila University) is a premier Jesuit educational institution in the Philippines, where I had served for 34 years as faculty member and administrator, before I retired from service in 2009.
While I was reviewing my old computer files yesterday, I stumbled upon this speech I delivered to a group of newly hired teachers in 2004. I thought that it would be such a waste, if it is allowed to sit in my hard disk to gather cyberdusts over time.
I find it pitiful to just relegate it to oblivion. The teachers who heard me speak must have forgotten it by now. Even I have forgotten that I delivered this speech.
Now that I have a blog, I can preserve it here, and allow all who happen to be passing by to read and hopefully be influenced by it.
Here then is my speech, as it was delivered in 2004.
I ENVY MY COWORKERS IN ATENEO WHO HAVE IMBIBED AND INTERNALIZED THE VALUES that this institution upholds. Values like generosity, excellence, social involvement. Some friends I have talked to tell me that I have them and that I just do not realize I do. Perhaps, they see these values in me, but unfortunately I don’t see them in myself.
But let me just talk to you about the values that I think are true of me, and perhaps in these values we may find some links to the values that the Ateneo upholds.
I have learned to value criticisms.
In the course of my 30 years of service at the Ateneo, I have come to welcome (and on some occasions, love) criticisms, realizing that through them I am able to see the aspects of myself, hidden from my own view. I welcome criticisms, be they sugar- or vinegar-coated and whether they are true of me or not.
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