Theme: Kabataang Pilipino para sa Matatag na kinabukasan ng bagong Pilipinas
Don't Waste Your Life
A commencement speech that was given on May 29th, 2024, at Morong National High School — Senior High Graduation Ceremony.
Distinguished guests, teachers, and graduates, good day to all of you. It is my absolute pleasure to be here and to stand before you all. I want to mention first and foremost that what I am going to say is addressed not only to the graduates but also to all of you who are present here this morning. I desire that your ears will be attentive and that your heart will be receptive, and be moved to ponder about the things that I’m going to tell you.
By way of introduction, I want to ask, What is the status quo today? What is the norm? What does our culture consider as normal when it comes to living? Isn’t it be born, study, graduate, get a job, enjoy vacations, get a car, get a nice house, be married (or not), have a family, work as long as you can, retire, be entertained in the process, then die. This has been the norm. This has been the pattern of living that almost all of us are familiar with.
Maybe some of you here just want the simplest life, and maybe some of you want the grandest life that anyone can ever have. Perhaps some of you don’t even care about your life. Maybe some are discouraged or just want for this day to be over. Maybe some of you are living the life of another. Maybe some of you just want to be liked, wanting instant gratification, thinking that you must be understood by everyone or that their world should revolve around you. Now, I do not know who you are. I do not know your story and what has been going on with your life. We just met, right? But it is my desire that through this address, I will be able to provoke your heart to think about what you MUST do with your life.
We are living beings. We are not merely existing. There is a life that we ought to live. Now, there are two ways of wasting our life. One, we waste our life if we do not care about our life. Two, we waste our life if we are only living for ourselves. These two are the extremes when it comes to valuing life. Sadly, many people are in both extremes. Alright, let me play a bit with this commencement’s theme:
"Kabataang Pilipino para sa Matatag na kinabukasan ng bagong Pilipinas".
Let me ask this question, How can you be a Filipino youth for a stable, firm, and strong Philippines if you do not care about living? How can you be a Filipino youth for a stable, firm, and strong Philippines if you only live for yourself? You see, wasting your life by not valuing it and by only living for yourself is not the answer for us to have a firm and stable nation. If your youth is spent with vices, if your youth is spent being self-centered, if you live like a prodigal, if you live only for your dreams, then our nation just lost a stone for nation building.
It was King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, who said,
"I became great and excelled more than all who were before me". He had all. He lived for himself. But then he said, "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.".
He saw the futility of a life that was lived only for himself, only for his own desires and pleasures. All was vanity, like grasping for the wind. Just like how the wind doesn’t stay in your hand when you grasp it, so is a life that’s lived only for one’s self. It has no eternal value.
You may be now wondering, "Then how MUST I live my life?". Good question. Right question. I’m glad you’re now contemplating this. Here’s what I know and believe to be absolutely true: the best way to live our life is the way that our Creator has prescribed how it should be lived. The One who gave us life is the One who knows how this life must be lived. Every other way will fail. Every other way is not the way at all. Graduates, please hear my urgent call. Your life has value, don’t devalue it. Your life has meaning, don’t waste it. Your life has a purpose, don’t miss it. These things: value, meaning, purpose - they all came from God who created you. I was 16 years old when I stood and sat on where you are now. But now, over a decade has passed since that day. All I can say is that life is indeed like a vapor, which is here now and gone tomorrow. Like a flower, it quickly fades. Like a leaf, it withers. Life is too short to be wasted. Life is too short to be lived only for ourselves. So may all of us be taught to number our days, to consider the brevity of life, and to live in light of eternity.
I could have told you my life story - you know, my array of achievements and my life now - but I decided not to. It is my firm conviction to tell you these things. Maybe some of you simply don’t care about the theme, or that some of you just want to graduate. But for me it is so serious. If we really want a firm, stable, and strong Philippines, then our life should never be taken lightly and lived wastefully. It must be lived with all valuing, celebrating its meaning, and embracing its purpose.
People say, "You only live once", so enjoy. Yes, we only get one life to live. But how to enjoy life is the question. Consider this: Isn’t what’s rare has the most value? So, if we only get one life then how much value does it have? Therefore, it must be lived right.
It is our Lord who said, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.". Therefore, as King Solomon also said, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." Living all your life for your Creator is the only way to live and enjoy this life and it is the only life that is worth living for. A life lived for God is the life that this nation needs in order for it to be firm and well-founded.
Graduates, as a brother that you never had, I urge you, don’t waste your life.
Parents, teachers, and guests, as a son that you never had, I implore you, don’t waste your life.
Live for Him who created you. Live for Him.
Thank you, and to God be the glory.
