Products with a certificate

My very observant friend Paul commented that STC sanctioned six teenage seniors for, among other things, allegedly engaging in lewd behavior while posing in bikinis in separate family outings based on photos in their Facebook accounts. To the STC officials, the students clearly broke some of STC’s internal rules on conduct and behavior, hence the decision to ban them from joining the commencement rituals on Friday, March 30.

Following CDN’s articles covering the unfolding of the events, my friend says that would be startled about how adverse and controversial the views of those involved apparently are on the issue. For STC, posing in bikinis is an obscene, sexually provocative and an immoral conduct.

The parents, however, found nothing alarming in the photos taken during a private birthday celebration.

For STC, being a Theresian is 24/7. A student is supposed to uphold the virtues and values of the school wherever she goes. For the parents, under the family code, the school exercises special parental authority only during school activities.

STC officials said that they acted with respect, kindness and civility to the parents and the students. The students, on the other hand, complained that they were severely humiliated in the principal’s office. The parents filed criminal charges against the principal and four teachers for grave oral defamation in relation to the Anti-Child Abuse Law.

Then, STC’ lawyer said on Thursday, March 29, if the court rules in favor of the petitioners, they will comply with the decision and allow the students to join the graduation ceremony on Friday. “Well, if the petition is granted, we have no choice but to follow. We are law-abiding citizens. St. Theresa produces law-abiding citizens.”

On the next day, Friday, March 30, however, the same law-abiding citizens defied the court’s TRO, rebuffed the court’s sheriff and had their guards instructed not to open the gates. Barred entry, period. The next day’s comment on this was that it might create a bad impression that some people can just ignore and not respect a court order.

So far, so bad.

Now, for the six graduate girls in love with their life, we will not have to worry too much. Once the tears will have dried and the disappointment swallowed and digested, they will be over with it and life will go on. Focus on the next goal: graduation from college. STC’s Principal Pe, however, was quoted as saying: So much more than just marching and going on stage is involved here. It is the school’s certification to the world that these students are our product.

That is probably the key to understanding what was and is going on. The school’s first priority, according to its principal, is not to educate adolescents who still have to find their way into adulthood. It is not to guide young and fallible teenagers who still have to struggle with their God-given drives, who are still testing their boundaries, who still have to become “fermented” as Goethe put it in his Faust:

And yet these fellows put us in no danger,
For wait a few more years and things will mend;
The vat may hold a ferment strange and stranger,
There’ll be some wine to bottle in the end.

While God created humankind in all its fallibility and gave us sinners ample time to become good men, while Jesus Christ said to those who wanted to stone the woman-adulterer, a real “slut”, so-to-speak: “Who among you is without sin may through the first stone on her,” the first priority of the school, according to its principal, is to make products. STC-branded products come with a certificate.

We are celebrating this week the most important part of the life of Jesus. True Christians will naturally make this week the most important part of the year too. It should be a week of prayer, of meditation and of reflection. Why are we here on earth? What is the purpose of living? How can we make this life useful not only for ourselves but also for others? How can we show our love for others? Jesus shows his love for all mankind by going through the ultimate sacrifice of being nailed to the cross? How can we show ours?

These days, unfortunately, the holy week celebration is no longer the same as the one I know when I was small. We never go out except to the church or attend to certain matters related to the holy week celebration. Now almost everybody wants to go out but to where? To the beach resorts if you will or to some vacation places like Baguio, where many rich people from Metro Manila go. What is holy there when you are vacationing?

Yes, the world is fast changing indeed and it is changing not necessarily for the good in the eyes of the Lord.

Happy Easter just the same!