The year of the rat is greeted with mixed feelings by many. Pessimists think 2008 will be a time of misery and squalor (ever heard of the expression ‘as poor as a church mouse?’ Technically, though, rats and mice are not of the same species but they come from the same family). Optimists believe it’s going to be a year of opportunity and free stuff, obviously because of the rodent’s talent of stealing. Whichever it will be, whatever you make the Rat Year of depends on each of us and how hard we work to either get free stuff or to give in to poverty. Predictions are only there to give hope, not to be made as a guiding principle.

~o0o~

The recent commemoration of our country’s EDSA revolution was quite overblown because of the emergence of the issues involving the catfight among Lozada, Neri, Gaite, etc. whose faces dominated our televisions and airwaves for almost a month. The inevitable happened; anti-administration people grabbed the opportunity to underline their accusations and try to invoke another revolution. Well, their insurrection plans are useless and are possibly even damaging to the country. People from other nationalities will not take us Filipinos seriously if we keep putting a leader in position and ousting him anytime we like. Weren’t those bigmouthed so-called nationalists the same people who marched along EDSA a few years back to remove the – let’s be honest – unintelligent president and replaced him with the current one who now they are trying to banish again? Is national stability worth risking just to promote the saying that history repeats itself?

~o0o~

No form of corruption is acceptable. Abusing people’s trust, especially for personal gain and which no one could stop because of power and position, is despicable. It is one of the worst forms of dishonesty, because it affects not just one or two persons but an entire country. However, how can anyone be sure that the clamor to remove an allegedly dishonest official would not result to more unfortunate effects in the process? Our economy is improving; even the very opposition cannot deny that, they just attribute it to everything else except the administration. If they continue making trouble, are they sure the economy will remain stable? Is it worth it? If not, then they better stop and try to think of another means of demonstrating their ‘nationalism.’ This is not to suggest that we all should just turn a deaf ear to the corruption issue. The person concerned, if proven guilty, should be held accountable, and there are procedures for that. Not another revolution, for cripes’ sakes. It’s not good to be a laughingstock of other countries. We are as fickle-minded as a woman on hormone therapy.

~o0o~

In a more local focus, one hundred three nurses of DMC College Foundation successfully sailed through the most recent Nursing licensure examination given by the Philippine Board of Nursing. This is a wonderful accomplishment. None of the other local schools has ever managed to produce even half of that number ever since. These are one hundred and three fully qualified Nurses who are just about a yard away from their dream of reaping the glorious benefits of their education. The college is really slowly realizing its vision of making the dreams of a lot of people come true. Having huge turn-outs in board exams are a characteristic of big universities, so the college is actually approaching that level of competency, a clear indication that it is absolutely serious in its mission to become the first university of Zamboanga del Norte.

~o0o~

The physical improvisations of the campus these days seem unstoppable. The new auditorium is awesome. The walkways and halls are nice and clean. And various offices are now slowly being renovated. Soon there would be no eyesore in DMC. Hopefully everybody would cooperate to maintain these pristine conditions.

~o0o~

As the population of DMC grows, its students also become more diverse. Consequently, the number of those who have an unfavorable attitude towards studying also grows. There are some teachers who try to do their best, but they are sadly hindered by no less than attitude itself. Going through college, especially in a course that deals with human life, is never passed the easy way. It seems as though some students think that as long as they are present all the time, passing their subject is guaranteed. This might be true if the subject is something inconsequential, or something called Avoiding Absenteeism 101. Perhaps immaturity is a factor, such that being 17 does not ensure a full understanding of the relevance of Primary Health Care or Human Anatomy to the career of taking care of patients in the hospital. But taking these subjects for granted, or assuming that they can be passed the easy way out, is inexcusable for anybody serious about becoming a nurse. And the burden of impressing on them the importance, notwithstanding the tediousness, of studying these subjects cannot be borne by the teachers alone.

~o0o~

Attitude is very important, and not only of students but of everybody in the academe. A student does not have to be a genius to know what his responsibilities are, and they are pretty much what the teacher would make as bases in computing grades. A teacher’s responsibilities, however, are somewhat larger and more complex, because obviously aside from helping the student learn academically, the teacher must try to first of all awaken the interest to learn. Tough, but that’s reality.

~o0o~

For some people, attitude is a result of a myriad of factors including educational training, environmental influences, familial background and breeding, among others. Someone who deals with a group of people coming from different backgrounds must be sufficiently open-minded to face the challenge. Let’s face it: educated people can be distinguished from those who only appear educated by their manner of speaking, interests and sense of responsibility. A person who thrives in gossip, for example, is someone whose does not have anything more productive to do with his time, so he must have no sense of responsibility nor any other area of interest.

~o0o~

Well, congratulations to the 2008 graduates, the board passers, the NCLEX passers and to all those who in one way or another have achieved something extraordinary in their own right. Keep up the good work. To our Pulse Staffers who are graduating this month, Ms. Krisjane Regencia & Ms. Eliza Abalanzar, Pulse will surely miss you. Good luck as you embark upon your journey as nurses!