With the touching is a process of attachment. Yet the final irony is this. As the bond becomes stronger, the time looms closer when each must let go. It's unfair that just when I've managed to let you all in, I have to break my heart all over again to let you all go. The irony of love is that it comes with an equal degree of pain. The stronger the love, the more the pain when the loss comes. But the point is not the pain. Pain just lets you know that you are alive and that you are human. The pain allows you growth and should make you stronger. It is the love that gives meaning to your humanity. And when you have found meaning in life, then the pain becomes worth its while.

I have long realized that to be a teacher means so likely that I will never be financially at par with my classmates who've gone to the business sector. But it doesn't mean that I'll be poor. My wealth is way beyond some my contemporaries could ever appreciate or even begin to imagine. Teaching for me is that proverbial road less traveled. Others have their nice cars, salaries beyond actual brain activity, stocks, and all, they can have all that. But me, I have grad songs, barkada adventures, textmates beyond comprehension, heroines for my stories, laughter each day, the most beautiful to be with, and even tears secretly shed in solitude.

Teaching is not a mechanical, automated thing. For me it has become more than just instructing students; it's about molding leaders. It's about the joy of growing up without getting old. It's about learning from each other. It's about suffering to reach the stars (ad astra per aspera). It's a relationship between mentor and pupil, a lot of times between friends, sometimes a kuya and a little sister, and always, always a relationship of souls on a journey. Teaching has given me so much more. Through this experience, God has allowed to touch and be touched by the human soul. You are my wealth. Though I could not exchange you for a new car (God knows I need a new one), that wealth has allowed my to live fully. They can build business empires, but me, I'm building the future.

Now I can re-organize my usually cluttered desk as I also restore order in my mind. I save all the things that are worth keeping. I pile all that have become unnecessary . . . and smile at how very little has changed.g

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ALLAN ROI C. ROÑO
has been teaching high school in the Philippines; two years in Southridge School, and currently on his tenth year in St. Scholastica's College Manila. He teaches debate to the seniors and has handled the Debate Club for the past seven years. Teaching has become his way of life.

Visit Allan Roi's online journal.