Nagreact si Anand Giridharades, TIME editor at MSNBC political analyst, sa essay ng Ateneo cum laude graduate na si Reycel Hyacenth Berdeña.
Ayon sa kaniya, humanga siya sa naging essay ni Berdeña kung saan ibinahagi niya ang kaniyang mga naging karanasan bilang anak ng jeepney driver hanggang sa makamit ang tagumpay– makapagtapos sa Ateneo, ‘excellent education’ at pangalawa sa nangungunang unibersidad sa Pilipinas.
Sa kaniyang thread ng tweets sa Twitter @AnandWrites:
“Recently, Robert Smith gave the generous gift of paying off the @Morehouse graduating class’ debt. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a college valedictorian in the Philippines was giving us another, less heralded gift: a soaring reflection on the limits of generosity.
I’m about to quote from an essay that Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña, the daughter of a jeepney driver and the class valedictorian, wrote. An essay that I can hardly believe was written by a college student.
“My success is an exception, not the norm: rarely do we see a child from the poorest of the poor climb her way up to one of the top universities in the country, and become its highest student representative. What was difficult for me is still unattainable for others.”
She doesn’t use her success to justify the system. She uses it to question it. She understands that most people like her will never be so lucky.
“I am here because someone, by the grace of their heart, gave generously to fund my education,” she says. But, she says a moment later, “generosity is not enough. The success of one person should not depend on the virtue of another.”
“Ateneo taught me the limits of what individual virtue can do. A generous Ateneo alone cannot make up for a society that does not provide fair access to opportunity for all, and a decent path to success for those who are like me.”
She itemizes the ways in which bad systems have failed her family, systems that generosity alone cannot fix:
“Mine is the story of a grandchild whose grandmother died because three hospitals refused to operate on her without down payment, and whose grandfather tilled land that wasn’t ours for 60 years, because land reform failed us…”
“Mine is the story of a daughter whose father is jobless because the government phased out our jeepney in the name of hollow modernization, and even before the very policy for it was passed. Generosity is the exception, not the norm in this country.”
And then she goes there, really goes there:
“As long as Ateneo needs to be generous, it means society has not overcome bigger, deeper problems: social inequality, lack of opportunity, and the concentration of economic and political power in the families of many of my schoolmates.”
Imagine having the courage to use your valedictorian essay to condemn the concentration of power. In. The. Families. Of. Your. Own. Classmates.
So many societies create just enough Reycels to keep things from boiling over. Just enough to generate a narrative that anything is possible. And the world’s Reycels are asked to play a role. Rise. Give back. And don’t condemn the system that let you rise and locked out others.
.@CaseyGerald has spoken with dazzling eloquence about this role. The role of being the exception who is trotted out to justify the rule. pic.twitter.com/L1kD8tnKc1
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) May 31, 2019
Well, Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña never got the memo, apparently, and the world should forever be grateful. Because this is what the truth sounds like when it tumbles from the lips of someone who has known the bottom and known the top and isn’t afraid.
“If my story can help make Ateneo even more generous and, at the same time, help others go beyond generosity and act for systemic change, I know I am doing things right.” Trust me, Reycel. You are doing things right.
“We need a more generous Ateneo, but that is not the solution to this nation’s problems. What we need is a country that resembles a generous Ateneo.” Amen. Same here in America, Reycel.
Well, Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña never got the memo, apparently, and the world should forever be grateful.
Because this is what the truth sounds like when it tumbles from the lips of someone who has known the bottom and known the top and isn't afraid.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) May 31, 2019
Nagtapos si Hyacenth Berdeña ng Management Economics bilang cum laude at naging president ng Student Council sa Ateneo de Manila University. Nauna nang nagtrending ito noong 2017 dahil sa post nito tungkol sa modernization at strike ng jeepney drivers.
