Triumph over tribulation

Triumph over tribulation

By: Morillo, Erwin

    A pleasant day to everyone, it is very often that I get an opportunity such as this to speak in front of you. This moment reminds me of prominent people I’ve witnessed carrying themselves on stage with great confidence and inspiration despite the unpredictable reactions of the public eye. I have seen and heard them speak with conviction and sincerity giving people what they need to feel. So, it is of great honor to stand before you today and contribute something relevant to the society. Ladies and gentlemen, I am just like you. A person who has dreams, a person with great love and care for his family, a person who suffers the cruelty of life and simply, I am just one of all the billion people living their lives as they should with doubt and fear in their hearts. Despite this similarity, I saw myself living a life of mediocrity and I’ve always ended up blaming myself because I can’t do everything. I can’t do things to make myself a better student, writer or a speaker. I was once held on to the fact that I’ll always be at the bottom of the sea, incapable of emerging, drowning myself with fear, doubt, hopelessness and anger. I was surrounded by these negative energy that I found it hard to move forward and continue my life. I’ve demoralized myself because of failure. Always minding what other people have achieved. I was aware that the more I look at them, the more I bring myself down.

     But that was then, because I have sought hope in my life and found inner peace and confidence. I knew at that moment of realization that I have to believe in myself, no matter what life throws me. Because the only person you’ll ever know that will help you prevail challenges in life is yourself and no one else. There will come a time in your life that those people you love and trust won’t be there to give you a hand. You look around and find only yourself to rely on. I know it, because I’ve been there and that’s why I’ve learned to trust myself and I’ve learned to believe in what I can do. I’ve finally accepted my flaws and weaknesses. These weaknesses that we have within us will help us become a stronger and better person as we pursue the long and winding journey of life. You may say that weaknesses remind you of imperfection but I say you don’t have to be perfect to be able to achieve your goal and you may ask again, what does weaknesses have to do with my life. I believe that God created us with weaknesses to teach us to love and trust not only ourselves but other people, teaching us to love others without conditions and exemptions. Most importantly, teaching us to trust him that everything is going to be ok at the end. Let us not look at what other people can do instead believe in what you can do as a person. To be triumphant over tribulations is to learn to believe in you. I am reminded of this simple quote from Napoleon Hill that says a lot, “You can do it if you believe you can”. Your life continues to move forward when you start to believe in yourself.

     Let us not waste time crying over hopelessness for hopelessness is present only if you think it is. I know for sure, that we’ve undergone certain situations in life where we felt like we had no choice but to give everything up because it was hopeless. It was a mistake to conclude that early. It was a mistake to think it was hopeless. It was a mistake to believe that there was nothing you can do for in every life problems has a solution. I remember Martin Luther’s quote saying, “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope”. Let us not be doubtful instead be resilient in every tribulation. Don’t allow tribulations ruin your hope. If you think the burden is too heavy to be carried, don’t give up; don’t let the light of hope be blown off by the cold wind. Instead stop and rest, when you find your inner strength that’s the right time for you to continue sailing forward. How can I say this? I am still young to lecture about triumphs, hope and faith. Let me tell you my dear friends that our everyday life teaches us something important regardless of our age. If we learn to keep them and apply them, we’ll be able to make ourselves equipped with wisdom that others ignore. I have to say, that I am defined by my life and who I am right now is because of what I’ve been through and what I say to you is what I’ve learned from living. At this very moment, I continue living as I should and I may say that whatever is ahead of me, I am prepared to face it. Thank you and God bless everyone.

THE SPEECH CHOIR PRESENTATION

     It was one of those activities in school that I was excited about because a speech competition such as this will show not only how a group can deliver a speech wonderfully but also showcases their creativity and talent making even the simplest speech into an amazing speech choir performance. For some, they may say a speech choir is just a bunch of people reciting a piece of poem or story but adding color and spice to what we deliver on stage is just one the things we do to put up a great performance.

THE PREPARATION

     It's actually a competition but I'd rather call it a presentation because I believed that what happened that night was more of giving our all to come up with a good show and I should say it was successful. The preparation was tough as we struggle making time for our ourselves, for our assignments and projects and for the rehearsals. It tested our skill on how will we be able to pull everything together without losing our balance. I really felt the pressure when everyone started to brainstorm about what their piece is going to be, when and where will they practice and the props and costumes they will use. Every group showed enthusiasm to the point where they kept secrets and made sure that the other groups won't find out their plans about their performance. It wasn't an easy road to take for us because aside from the preparation, of course, we have a life to live, chores to do, assignments and projects to finish, exams to get ready for and other things to do that make us human.

This speech choir competition is being held annually headed by the director of our university/professor in Speech Communication. This year the President of BSIT II-I wanted it to be bigger and greater as compared to the past years that had passed. So as the Vice president, I tried to help him out in the planning and preparation. We had to make sure that the venue, the sound system, the chairs, tables and food for the judges, and everything that will help us come up with the best atmosphere for the competition are set and ready to go. We had some mishappenings before the day of the presentation but everything went pretty well as we try not to be stumbled by problems. We also encountered misunderstandings. A type of misunderstanding where it was either we die or we live (not literally). I mean we encountered this situation where we thought what we've worked so hard for will all be worthless at the end of the day. However, everything worked out fine and we all worked together to prevent that from happening.

The videos you will watch below were a few of the performers in the Speech Choir Presentation 2009. The performers you're about to witness are my talented classmates.

"Like the Molave" is a piece which gives hope to every Filipino. Telling the people to have the characteristics of the "Molave". Be staunch, resilient and firm in every obstacle along the way. The performers of this piece had shown that good will always win over evil no matter what and even if there's darkness in our every day lives, always remember that even if the sun falls it always rises to brighten up the horizon.

"Peace Not War" is a prominent composition obviously advocating PEACE. It's very inspiring as you read every word and every line of the composition. You could really feel the sincere emotion of the writer. The performers had shown a dramatic interpretation of the piece and successfully conveyed the real message of "Peace Not War".

"REVERSE CREATION", the performers gave me goosebumps as they deliver their hair-raising introduction. I think everyone really paid attention to this piece because of the performers way of delivering it. Just watch and find out.

"The Musical Story" is a fun and entertaining story about four talented musicians. These performers are the champion in the Speech Choir Competition. They wowed the panel of judges as they hit every note and deliver every word from their piece wonderfully. I myself enjoyed as I watch them perform.

PS: I am aware that a lot of you guys are asking for the copy of some of the speech choir pieces. I'm sorry to say but I don't have the copy of most of the pieces. I understand that most of you want to have a copy of PEACE NOT WAR which I don't have. However, I'll try my best to ask my former classmates and see if they still have a copy of it but as of now I don't have it yet. I'm sorry again.