Saturday, February 20, 2016

#ForeverGrateful: How a certain Simon Ogbac Changed My Life

This was for my 24th Birthday last Year

There are things in my life that I do not know if I deserve to still keeping, The blessings that God has kept me floating: The life I have, I was blessed with tremendous love from my parents who supported me throughout my 25 years of existence, the friends that stayed with me, one of them I describe thoroughly here: I was blessed to have this guy with me for the last 6 years that goes by the name of Mr. Simon M. Ogbac for practically the span of time I was in FEU.

We go way back, 2009 in particular, the charming La Salle Math graduate happened to be my professor twice for Probability and Statistics and Mathematical Methods. Yes, My best friend was my professor, that being said, I enjoyed his Math classes and believe to exceed what I thought I was a couple of Math subjects later. His classes were never the walk in the park, but you know you could approach him everytime you do not understand something.

Fast forward to 2015, the part time professor and I caught up with each other as the need for a Statistician arose, who else but somebody who was within my reach. We had a chance to work with each other for Alumni Tracer with Decision Support for Universidad De Manila, that time, I had to squeeze in to his already cramped schedule to which he stays with FEU-IT. There were times where he would face me yawning but would say *you need to do this, ilan ba population mo, ilan ang kailangan?*. He had adjusted his time going home late when he knew I would be coming. He wanted to help, moreso he didn't asked me for anything when I already passed and graduate, "I just want to see you happy, yun lang." 

I dedicated a portion of my thesis to him which writes: To the person who has always showed support and inspiration, thank you for putting back the faith and for helping the proponent not to lose patience within the project, this would not be possible without you. He had this attitude that he never gave up on me despite how annoying I get. "Andito lang ako and I would be here to support you in whatever way I can."  At the time where I felt I was left alone, he would always remind me on how much he believes in me. I graduated on the 8th of December and asked where he would want to go for the usual "libre",  he just said, Huwag na, pro bono anything for you.

He actually changed my point of view on Health as he often tells me, "Pang-ilan na yan? Masyadong matamis yan". He would be first in asking me, "Okay ka pa ba Chi?" because he knew what I felt with my workload and my real health situation. We don't see each other everyday, but we do ask if we are both okay. He's the friend who would go straight to the point, "Diet ha." which others may seem find hard to do because it may somehow get in the end of the other's reaction "Sino ba naman matutuwa na pinupuna eating habits mo di ba?". I was strucked with VSD my entire life, but never did he treated me differently, just the CONSISTENT thought of, "KAYA MO PA BA?"

He has accepted every bit of what I am - without hesitation, although there are times when I try to find the reason, "Bakit ba sobrang bait ng taong to?" to which up to now I can't explain (I guess things are better that way). If I find things that bothers me between the two of us, he tries to clarify it all, even if sometimes he doesn't need to.. For those who knew him on a personal level, he was the best Ninong, the best teacher and the best kaibigan. For me, he was the truest person I know. I am grateful I have (Sir) Simon in my life and inspite of me not understanding things, I never question God why he is still with me. He's probably one of those people God gave me saying, "You gotta love yourself more, before others do unto you". 

Statistics will never be my forte, I would never like SPSS as much as he does but in those days where I wanted to just start teaching, I look back at whatever I have at the moment: a heart of gold and the best person whom I try to learn the craft from: Mr. Simon M. Ogbac. 

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