have you found your existential question yet...

we touched on this a little bit in my philosophy class today. from what i learned so far, the existential question is something that you have to confront and face, otherwise you will not be able to go through the rest of your life...

my teacher shares his experience that as a young graduate of the Ateneo (i'm thinking that was the post WWII era, 1950s or so... yeah he is a grandpa teacher) he went through several interviews with a then budding international company--- Proctor and Gamble and was offered a job. of course this was to the delight of his parents... his American Jesuit dean however pulled him aside one day and gave him a talk and says he thinks my professor has what it takes to be a teacher in a Belgian missionary school in the province... and that maybe he should go there to not only be a teacher, but also to experience life outside the ciudad.

so after much inner struggle, he chooses the province... his parents disappointed, more like angry... he was crying while he was packing all his stuff... they did not even help him go to the bus station to divisoria and it was raining...

so he gets to bayombong to this missionary school... and to cut the long story short... he was briefed with all things he has to do in the school--- teach philosophy, theology, literature, and was the basketball coach (he wasn't even a good basketball player, they put him there however because Ateneo won that year and that upon finding out that the new coach is from Ateneo, the teams in the competing schools would be demoralized--- alam mo naman sa probinsya he says...)

then he was taken to the place where he would stay and sleep. he says that the floor of his room was actual earth... and when he saw the bathroom... that was it... the same night he was off to manila. he arrived early the next morning and his dad says "what happened to our missionary...?"

so that day he goes back to Ateneo and talks to the dean, about how that life was not for him... that he'd rather work for Proctor and Gamble, etc...

then the Dean said, "Well, it's your decision. But just think about it, 20 years from now, will you really be proud of all the soap you helped produce in that company (at that time the main product of P&G was soap)?

that afternoon, he was on the bus, off to the Belgian missionary school and stayed there for two years... he has been teaching philosophy and theology ever since...

so there, figure out the moral of the story...

i love philosophy... makes u think... and thinkin frees me...

and what's even greater is when you find people that know what your talking about.

then you realize hey, maybe i am learning something in college haha!

Life!