c r o s s+r o a d s

Article: A Life Accustomed To Nothing But The Best

I received this article from one of our readers. After he read "Corporate World: Jungle or Paradise", we exchanged text messages. And since we share the same interest, he sent this article with the intention to also share the lessons he learned from observation and personal experience.

Thank you Jefferson, keep it up.

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A life Accustomed to nothing but the best.
by Jefferson Arante
19 years old
Field of Study: Business Management major in e-marketing


THEY say that adversity brings out the best and the worst in men. What they fail to Mention is that it is also a great teacher. When caught in any adverse situation, we tend to focus only on overcoming it. We often overlook the importance of learning from the problem. And when we are battered by another storm, we act like sailors who have never sailed on a stormy sea and not mariners hardened by countless storms.

I have learned that famine can render a man’s tongue insensitive to the foul taste of spoiled food. When our refrigerators are bursting with provisions, we spoil our taste buds by eating only the most delicious and preferably the most expensive food. When poverty empties our cupboards and refrigerators, we are forced to eat food that would never touch our lips in better times. Being perennially broke, I have learned to appreciate the value of a peso and save for a rainy day. But don’t pity me because I am parsimonious and I know how to live within my means. Pray instead for the paupers who is already living like kings. If they will not mend their ways, bankruptcy will force them to tighten their belts with painful and sometimes permanent results.

I have also learned that adversity can effectively deflate a proud man’s ego. Success, wealth and power can make a person believe that he is a demigod until he is demoted to the ranks of ordinary mortals when he fails. Then he will realize that like all men, he is bound to commit a major blunder once or twice in his life. That history is littered with the names of mighty and proud men, who were brought down to their knees by a single mistake, a lesson that the more gifted among us should never forget.

Adversity, like death, is a great equalizer. The only difference between the two is that we only die once while we are buffeted by many problems while we live. Even though nobody is assured of living a trouble-free life, some of us are given a heavier burden to carry than others. This unequal allocation of misfortune can be negated by how we deal with the challenges that are hurled at us. That is why some people triumph over impossible odds while other kneels over after suffering a brief bout of bad luck.

Adversity is like a double-edged sword that can bring both harm and good. Some people emerge from a turbulent chapter of their lives stronger and wiser while others become weaker and more stupid. It is unfortunate that only a few of us care to etch the lessons learned from adversity in their minds. We Filipinos are known for being Patient even under pressure. “Matiisin”, so they call us, we tend to adjust to different circumstances, a character which is mistaken for resiliency. However, we Filipinos have learn to differentiate “pagtitiis” from our understanding of resilience. Resilience is the act of overcoming a crisis by doing something about it. Averting Disasters through proper planning and challenging the future. Now is the best time to bring this character of “pagtitiis to the higher level – “Pagsisikap”. The need for personal change is a must on this journey. This must be guided by the core values of enlightened discernment rooted in the acceptance that change must begin within the self. An understanding of the self is truly basic before anything else can happen. Now is the best time to act on effecting positive and peaceful change within and within one’s sphere. William Rosenberg, Dunkin Donuts founder says, “Improvement is a result of Dissatisfaction”.

In my personal sights regarding Entrepreneurship, are (1) to teach the Filipinos and everyone to be in business rather than being an employee. (2) That instead of being a “tambay” in the streets properly use their talents, skills, enhances and further redevelops what they have. (3) That we should not be mentality imprisoned in the thought of satisfaction like a dog given a bone. Yes being satisfied is good but it is not good for a long-term solution. To illustrate, what would happen to a family that did not save and invest in for the future of their family for the next five to ten years. What if they do not have any plans of elevating their lives and especially in regards with finance, Dollar Value Increases, Peso Devaluates. Their children would suffer in the deteriorating market value.

In the books that I have read especially in the books of Mr. Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the continuing book - Cash Flow Quadrant, He mentioned there what if the employees are no longer needed by the company, what if the company have hired someone younger, someone more intelligent, someone who has more skills and talents than you. Definitely the company will hire the better in terms of Job Market Value. What if that poor employee is sick - definitely the company would not pay for the days that he is absent but the bills, electric, water, credit cards, etc. will keep on coming-in. It is the loop-hole of the old school of thought that they focused more on Financial Security in the means of Job Security. They taught that one should go to school, get good grades, get masters, have a permanent job and the retirement benefits just get even better, but that is not right. One should go to school to learn important things to be able for him to run and have a good business.

Another problem in the Philippines is that in this country there is too much of religion. As it is written clearly in the Bible it is not religion that could save you it is your personal fellowship and relationship with God. Choosing Him as your God and Savior. Being in Business cannot be achieved in an overnight procedure. It both a science and an art that will take an enormous amount of time, research, devotion, faith, finance, and dedication. One must be a zealot in his chosen path. It is the road less traveled nowadays.

Today, We are bombarded heavily everywhere by advertisements that there is a greener pastures abroad, everyone must be a nurse or a caregiver. One in every fifty human beings – more than 150 million persons – lives outside their countries of origin as migrants or refugees. They are highly vulnerable to racism, xenophobia and discrimination. The extent and severity of these phenomena are becoming increasingly evident in the reports of mistreatment and discrimination against migrants, refugees and other non-nationals, which are emerging from every region in the world. But for me, I was so blessed that I was given business lectures and my mind had paradigm shifted to a business mind. I was taught during my childhood day’s Basic English then to answering crosswords, then to the basics of business. Life is good especially if you are in Business. I didn’t say that being in nursing and caregiving industry or rather to be more specific being an employee is not good, but rather I chose for my life to be in business.

I do not want to ride in the slow train that the employees and self-employed people are into, rather I wanted to ride the train that the businessmen and investors ride. An oyster is a very good example of effective positive change from within. Irritated by an internal substance and invaded by deadly microorganisms, the oyster could just opt not to do anything but to die. But nature is the best teacher indeed! The oyster took it upon itself to convert the irritation and the discomfort into an opportunity to create as it proceeded in the marvelous creation of the pearl. It is not a natural act of any creature, most especially of human, to reinvent oneself and improve oneself. Abrupt and permanent changes that leave gaping holes in our lives. Abrupt and permanent changes that leave us wondering what can we do? Besides grieve, strike out, and retaliate?

Change is often painful. Yet change is part of life. Such abrupt change shakes us out of the slumber of our daily semi-conscious lives. And such change does offer us the opportunity to change our world and ourselves for the better. I mentioned change is part of life. In fact, life is the process of change. Everything is in the process of becoming something else. A tree releases a seed that grows into a seedling and then into a tree that eventually offers new seeds. The seed does not remain the same. It changes and grows and becomes something else. We can ask ourselves, Who are we becoming? And if life is the process of change, that change can be gradual or abrupt. Change can be gradual: The seed sends out roots and a stem and leaves sprout from the stem. This change unfolds gently over time. Change can be abrupt: The field in which the tree and the seed live catches fire and burns, changing the field forever. We cannot always control which it will be, gradual or abrupt. Clearly, abrupt change is painful. It forces us to re-examine who we are. Whatever the type of change, we are left with new possibilities. That destruction is not a mournful event but a glorious event to celebrate that it opens the doors of opportunities. We can ask ourselves, are we changing gradually with purpose? Or must we have abrupt change wake us up? If we are to change gradually with purpose, we need to be open to change. That when one is criticizing us of what he thinks should be developed, let us not have a stubborn close minded that condemns critics but rather analyze and scrutinize his ideas to which if it would be for the better of our lives and for the common good. Like our tree’s branches, which sway back and forth in the strong wind, we need to be willing to adapt to our new circumstances. Not passively, but with the flexibility and willingness to change ourselves without losing the essence, the spirit, of who we are. We can ask ourselves: Can we learn to change? The answer depends on who we are. Governments can learn. Businesses can learn. Communities, families, and friends can learn. You and I can learn. There’s something in this for all of us. I am not pleading with you to make changes. I am telling you, you have got to make them - not because I say so, but because old father time will take care of you if you don’t change. Advancing waves of other people’s progress sweep over the unchanging man and washes him out. Consequently you need to organize a department of systematic change making. ~ Charles F. Kettering, General Motors From the Book “Engines of Tomorrow” by Robert Buderi, 2000 So what does it takes for a young man like me to earn my first million having in mind that I do not have enough capital to build a systems oriented business. Where will my Ten thousand pesos in pocket will bring me? (1) Do I have to start my business in investing in a fish-ball cart business or a BBQ-business? Or to be more timely a puto-bungbong / bibingka business? (2) Or Continue our family business – apartments,
(3) Or continue my profession as a web-page designer / graphic artist / newsletter layout artist just like my work in UPMBA.com and ABEJPIA (4) Or Maybe I could join in the lucrative cash prize of game shows. But that is not the true meaning of Business but rather it is called “self-employment”. Well if I will start that kind of activities, it means that it will consume most of my time preparing the products at day and selling it by night, how could I study by that situation. Banks would not lend me money; I have neither collateral nor any established name with them that could give me more capital. Even if graduate it would not give me my first million in six months as I have seen it, that some companies sometimes does not have the money to pay for the salaries of their employees The dilemma is there, what will I do? Where will I be? The future is uncertain.

The future holds no security no matter how elaborately planned. There are numerous situations that are beyond our control. I do not know what the future would look like, what opportunities it would offer, but definitely we will live together with my lab-lab, Macy de Leon in a life accustomed to nothing but the best, avert disasters, challenge the future, and live in a life in accordance to God’s will. Thy grasp shalt not exceed thy reach. The only constant in this world is change.

Let go of the imperfect to connect with the one.

posted by ASKSonnie @ Tuesday, March 15, 2005