April's Fools: A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

"High station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." -- Tennessee Williams

Here is a lesson I have humbly learned throughout my 4th year in IMC. Yes, it is very much applicable to life in general. Yet, it seems to speak of 4th year life in IMC specifically. I'm sure outsiders won't see the sense in this. But undoubtedly, those who are travelling the same path as I am (just a few more days guys) as well as those who have been blessedly cursed to both enjoy the joys and endure the sorrow of IMC can relate well with this quotation.

No other time during the course of this course (tama ba naman yan) does the incredibly ironic feeling of "bittersweetness" smack IMC students right on their puckers than during the special period known as "Pitch Week".

Oh yes, the mere mention of the name evokes strong emotions. Fondness and pride arise in the minds of the victors. Frailty and pity creep in the minds of the vanquished. Mixed feelings of jubilation and humiliation intertwine in those who have experienced both possible outcomes of the battle.

Indeed, each and every IMC student has metaphorically gone to hell and back many times during the schoolyear. Some have been fortunate enough to return virtually unscathed, while most others got burned and now have scars they must carry with them even as they leave. Nonetheless, no one can honestly say they have escaped without feeling the intense pressure of IMC life. (Yup, not even myself and my fellow Pressure Cookerscopyright - *note: please wala na sanang kopyahan ng terms ng may terms, konting originality naman, tsk tsk..)

Still, like the quotation says, appalling experiences must be survived with grace. Granted, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing graceful at all at the sight of two grown men, both talented and proud, running like chickens with their heads cut off towards the shelter of a big tree. But be that as it may, how would somebody else, given the same situation and the same shipload of pride to lose, react to witnessing firsthand the mother of all David-and-Goliath scenarios?

Minds were racing frantically and words were being mumbled incoherently as we struggled to keep reality from sinking in. The reality that on April's Fools Day 2005, we were made out to be the biggest fools of all.

Yes, there was still room for humor here and there, as when my friend wondered aloud on the possibility that all that has happened was a big joke. After all, he mused, today's April Fool's Day. But before he can continue and give us extremely false hope, I cut him off and told him that our worst fears had come true. What we talked about the previous day about karma coming back to kick our behinds had actually happened. Sad, but true.

Where we go from here is yet to be determined. Painful as it may be, there is a lesson to be learned in this experience, and as long as we learned that lesson we'll be alright in the end. Perhaps the director of IMC is right when he told us "you win some, you lose some". Perhaps, it is really possible that on any given day, David can come up to Goliath and cut him down. Perhaps, all this is just a taste of more to come as we go through life. Or maybe, just maybe, my friend could be right. What if this is just the biggest, most elaborate and well-planned April Fool's Day joke?! Nahh....