'Bata sa garapon' (Child in the canister)

A spark of insight can happen anywhere, anytime. It can happen while you're in the comfort room. It can happen while you're standing in the waiting shed. Heck, it can even happen in the middle of fornication.

It happened to Paul while he was on his way to Damascus. It happened Archimedes while he's in the bath tub.

Mine was during our Cooperative Learning Strategy Seminar. Our invited resource speaker, Mr. Ritchie Sermon, gave us an activity---the second of the three activities---called "Community Circle."

It is one of the cooperative learning strategies a teacher can use in the beginning, or in the middle, or at the end of the class. To use it, a teacher need only group the class into, say, five groups. Let each group choose between two things. Then give each group time to discuss what they chose.

In our case, Sir Ritchie asked us to choose between "Love in the Family" and "Special Relationship with Someone." The group to which I belong chose the latter.

After our discussion, Sir Ritchie told us to share to the class what we had just discussed. Of course, the group one shared first. Then our group, the group two, followed.

Other participants went kilig when Christine, our group representative, spoke. Perhaps it's because they could somehow relate to the topic that we chose.

"Our group discussed about 'Special Relationship with Someone,' " Christine said. "As our group mates shared, to make the relationship work, it is important that both of you should make it work because nothing will happen if only one person will work."

But what struck me most was the next group's sharing. The next group, which was represented by Aileen, chose to discuss "Love in the Family."

Ailen began by explaining why they didn't choose the other one.

"We chose 'Love in the Family,' " she said, "because if you come to think of it, the family will always come into our aid whenever we are in distress. Just look at what happened when the typhoon Ondoy visited the country. No one was looking for their BF and GF or special someone when Ondoy hit. It's always the family that comes first. That is why we should be thankful for our family, especially for our parents."

She explained that even though we say that they always scold us, let us still thank them.

"We should thank them because they gave us a chance to live, na dili ta parehas sa bata sa garapon (that we are not like the child in the canister)," she said, referring to those unborn children inside the canisters, which can be found in the Science Laboratory.

As I listened to her, I thought she's right. There are times that I hate my parents. And during those times, I feel that they don't love me. But, as Aileen said, all of us shouldn't hate them. Instead, we should be thankful we are not one those bata sa garapon.