Last week had been a hectic week for the family. Aside from the post-end-of-school-year tasks that usually keep teachers from fully enjoying their vacation, my firstborn, Jethro, graduated from Maritime Academy. There is also the anniversary dinner for this paper which, unfortunately, I could not attend as it coincided with our travel plans. Academy graduations are somewhat different from your usual college graduations.
The priest who led the baccalaureate mass was both humorous and insightful. His homily, which emphasized on gratitude and perseverance struck a deep chord within me. We do complain most of the time. Even our prayers tend to ask for material and personal gratification. But when was the last time we prayed just to express our thanks to the Lord? I know I have not done so for a long time.
When we look at how our life is, we might think that there isn’t much to be grateful for. It gets worse when we compare ourselves to other people. Some of us become embittered that way.
And yet we do eat three square meals a day. We always do manage to get from home to work and back even on days we are financially broke, which is most days for most of us. Most importantly we still have a job that sustains us. This same job makes it possible for us to feed, clothe and provide shelter for our families. Our children can go to school because we can somehow afford it…because we have a job. We take it for granted that having a job makes it possible to live decently and keep our hopes alive. We take it for granted that having a job is one of the best things in life.
There are a thousand and one reasons to be grateful for, but we’d rather focus on the things that make us feel envious or bitter or just simply sad.
Since we’re on the topic of gratitude, I wish to express my thanks to this paper’s management for keeping an open door for me despite my many years of writing inactivity. While nearly every Tabuk-based newspaper could only go so far as to come out with their maiden issue, the Guru Press Weekly lasted for 20 years. I’m proud to say that I had been a part of the paper during its formative years. The only other paper in Tabuk to last longer than the first issue is The Weekly North Luzon Times, which was published by Mrs. Monica Wangdali-Oras. That last paper lasted for about six months and boasted of an awesome roster consisting of the late Augustus Saboy, Sr. as its editor-in-chief, Estanislao Albano Jr. as the news editor, yours truly as the associate editor, and Scott Saboy as a columnist and crossword constructor.
Gus Saboy is the pioneer journalist of Kalinga while Estan Albano is presently regarded as the dean of Kalinga journalists. Scott is now a professor at the University of the Philippines – Baguio City Campus. We also had contributions from the Philippine Information Agency courtesy of Peter Balocnit, Larry Lopez, and Gigi Gacuya. It was a lot of fun working with those guys. My only regret is that Apo Gus did not get to see the Guru Press grow into the paper that it is today. He would have been so proud.
But then, just last week, I saw this post from former broadcaster turned teacher-cum-correspondent Jessie Maguiya. The Midland Courier is no more!
It was hard to believe at first. The Courier has always been there for as long as I can remember. Not even Martial Law could shackle it. Then, my other journalist friends posted the same over the next two days. That’s when it sank in.
When all is said and done, the fate of the Courier is really nothing strange. For a newspaper to be viable, it needs advertisers. And to entice advertisers, they need to be assured that the newspaper is being read and that their ads will be displayed where it will be read together with the news and other stories printed all over the newspaper’s pages. Like many other newspapers before it, the Courier lost its readership to the advent of digitalization and technology.
We will have more on this topic next issue.
This is a worrisome development, one that the Guru Press management team better take seriously. If a newspaper that’s as formidable as the Midland Courier eventually folded because it could not keep up with the changing times, what are the chances that something similar happens to the Guru Press?
Anyway, let’s get back to the topic of graduation. Have you ever wondered why graduation programs are called commencement exercises? To commence means to begin or start. As for the Midland Courier, shall we say it has graduated or do we instead call it joining the commencement?
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