Forever blue
That’s like telling a girl that you love her and then going off to marry another woman!”
On the eve of my high school graduation, I told a Jesuit priest that I had decided to go to another university for my college degree. I thought that the change in environment would be good for me. I also thought that it was the most practical thing to do, as I would be getting a comparable education for about a tenth of the cost. Still, it was not an easy decision. The Ateneo had been the only school I had known since Prep. I also told him that even though I was leaving, my heart will forever be blue. That’s when he came back at me, as only a Jesuit can, with the soap-operatic riposte above and likened my decision to infidelity. Looking back at my college years, however, he was right. For although I also grew to love my new school and do not regret the move, it was indeed like an adulterous affair. Together with other high school classmates, we visited our old campus so often that some people actually thought that we never transferred. And of course, during UAAP basketball games, we were always vociferously on the side of the Hail Mary quintet even when they were up against our new school.
I suppose that this situation was, and is, not unique to me or to the Ateneo. I have always believed that it is also true for most people who spent their grade school and high school years in one school and then transferred to a different school for college. Nevertheless, I will leave it to the alumni of other schools to talk about their own alma maters (Incidentally, alma mater in Latin means “nourishing mother.” In the Middle Ages, Christians also used the term to refer to the Virgin Mary. Mary, of course, is the Patroness of the Ateneo.). I must admit, however, that Ateneans do have a unique rabidness, about their school in general, and with their basketball teams in particular. I am no exception. It’s funny because I once more found myself in the emergency room a few weeks ago with another rabies scare. This time it involved my niece instead of my son and a dog instead of a cat. Fortunately, neither of them got infected and only had to take some shots. But if you saw me watching the UAAP games recently, you would have thought that it was I who was infected with the fatal disease. Many of my symptoms were the same, such as, “violent movements,” “uncontrolled excitement,” “periods of mania,” “inability to swallow water,” and “respiratory insufficiency.” Some might find the behavior foolish and they’re probably right. I can’t help it though. It’s hard to explain but, after some reflection, I think it’s because it’s really more than just a basketball game for me. I’m not just rooting for the players on the court. I’m also exalting a shared bond that goes back centuries all the way to Saint Ignatius de Loyola. Most of all, perhaps, I’m also cheering for the memories of my entire childhood and puberty as well.
And so in the aftermath of Ondoy’s great deluge, I was just as worried about how Norman Black planned to stop UE’s sensational point guard, Paul Lee, as I was about the computer box of my car and all my other possessions that went underwater. I even dragged my wife to watch the final game of the High School championship series between Ateneo and La Salle Zobel at the Araneta Coliseum. There I fretted about La Salle’s towering Arnold Van Opstal. Still in high school but already 6 feet and 8 inches tall, I sure could have also used him during the flood! After the match, I could not help but ask one of the Ateneo high school students, “Since when did you guys start wearing school uniforms? We never did during my time.” He gave me a quizzical look that said, “When were you born?” Later that day, I took my son and two nephews with me to my father-in-law’s house. He’s bedridden and I had promised to watch the Ateneo-UE Seniors sudden-death playoff game on TV with him. He’s an Atenean too. On the other hand, the dad of my two nephews went to La Salle Taft and they could not fathom my excitement. The six-year-old asked, “Why are you for Ateneo?”
I always thought that I’d put my son in Ateneo. But just as I did almost 30 years ago, I decided that it would be in his best interest to enroll him in a non-traditional school up through high school. I do hope, however, that he and his sister will decide to go to the Ateneo for college, but that will be their decision to make. As for me, well… I never did get any rabies shots. And so for better or for worse, blue blood will always run through my veins. The Ateneo is certainly not a perfect institution. There have also been more than a few Ateneans who have come “down from the hill” and who have been found wanting by our countrymen. Be that as it may, in the very end, nothing puts it more eloquently than the last few lines of our graduation song…
…Win or lose, it’s the school we choose,
This is the place where we belong.
Mary for you,
For your white and blue,
We pray you’ll keep us, Mary
Constantly true.
We pray you’ll keep us, Mary
Faithful to you!
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