Mobile Social Media: Redefining Professional Development and Collaborative Scholarship

In today’s generation of learners in schools and universities, there is still a clear manifestation that the ubiquitous use of mobile technologies in classrooms are usually seen as hindrances in the learner’s education. However, in this paper, the researchers have rather focused on using this situation as an advantage and benefit of the learners.

It was described that the use of mobile devices inside classrooms are disruptive. Lecturers would frown and question this situation, “How can I stop students from updating their Facebook status on their phones while in class?” Nonetheless, there was an initiative to use it to encourage the use of mobile devices in learning environments and enable new pedagogical strategies.

The paper clearly points that the use of mobile devices has really been advantageous since there is an evident manifestation of its outputs such as rich-media production and the sharing of images, audio, and geolocation information. Using these outputs for the benefit of learning may also lead to the expanding of reach and equity of education, enabling learning anytime and anywhere, support to situated learning, and a bridge for formal and informal learning.

Additionally, there was a presentation of a framework built from various concepts and the aligning of theoretical frameworks such as the Pedagogy-Andragogy-Heutagogy (PAH) continuum, Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model and that through these concepts there is a possibility for mobile learning to enable authentic learning.

In the methodology of the paper, there is a focus on the ontological shift of paradigms from teacher-directed content delivery mode towards a student-determined learning paradigm (heutagogy). Then, there was an initiative to materialize the motives. A framework for implementation changes was plotted to determine the mobile social media project stages, timeframe, process, and outcome.

The paper also highlights the implementation framework which is the modeling of a community of practice, redefining pedagogy, and designing appropriate technology infrastructure. It was possible with the help of Google Plus and Hangouts applications. They then stated that one of the biggest shift is the revision of curriculum activities and assessments to suffice the need of mobile social media without affecting the concepts of currently existing practice and pedagogies.

Overall, the paper was able to produce a blooming output since they found out that establishing communities proved to be effective in supporting lecturers in the exploration and integration of mobile social media in the curriculum and pedagogies. It is but joyous to know that the paper is interested in using mobile learning as a catalyst for enabling new technologies. Also, it is praiseworthy to mention that the paper does not negate the concept of using mobile devices in learning environments because they do believe that there is a need to adjust with technology and its advantages can be integrated with learning disciplines and pedagogies. With the current situation, most generation in other countries are experiencing in their classrooms today, this paper would help to enlighten the minds of the lectures and consider the possibility of enhancing learning with mobile social media and try to remove the concept of disruptive nature of technologies in the learner’s education.

Authentic Learning

The idea of the paper presented is to clear out the confusion between the authenticity and mobile learning, as well as identify the importance of the two concepts. The paper was developed through the statement of data, the definition of the concepts, and the conclusion.

Statement of Data

One of the problems that were stated in the article is the confusion and paradox a survey conducted from schools and universities. There is said to be an 82% or with a descriptive equivalent of ‘high’ authenticity to the result of the test describing the construct of authenticity in a learning scenario where teachers had utilized mobile technologies for pedagogical purposes. However, it was said to be “inauthentic” and paradoxical since the result turned out ‘high’, yet it was rather inauthentic for their [schools and universities] settings.

This paradox then became the focal point of the paper, clearing out the confusion and stating the differences among concepts of authenticity and mobile learning within the paper. Additionally, there was an initiative to clearly identify the rarely articulated underlying concepts and approaches of authenticity to learning theories alongside mobile learning.

Definition

As described in the paper, Authenticity came from the Greek term authentikos that mean “undisputed origin” like the words genuine and original. Given these definitions, we can then relate it to the topic of the article that although authentic learning is usually invoked with mobile learning, scenarios in this ubiquitous platform are but simulated and not interacted directly. This idea would create confusion since the definition of authenticity and the concept it is applied on does not really coincide.

Moreover, authentic learning describes the context of learning activity participated by students to re-enact and practice the tasks in and for a real-world scenario. Furthermore, it was stated that authentic learning needs to tackle real-world problems located in the contexts that mimic the works of professionals and discipline experts.

As the paper went further, models for authentic mobile learning were presented discussing context, planning design, and personal relevance.

In conclusion, the basis for comparison between schools and universities and genuine real-world settings in terms of context for learnings is no longer applicable. Therefore, the paper proposes a learning design possible for mobile environments. The proposal discusses the conceptual model, as well as the three critical vectors that highlight the authenticity of any learning mobile experience.

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What stood out to me is that the rapid change in technology does not only affect per se, but it also affects other disciplines given that technology is interdisciplinary. Given that, even in the field of learning and its pedagogies, there is a need for environments and designs to adjust to technologies. Though I am aware of the mobile environment and the learning pedagogies, the topic between the paradox of authenticity and mobile learning is new to me.

In terms of the arguments presented within the paper, I do agree that there is a need to propose a new learning design that would emphasize the authenticity in mobile learning since the simulation that exists in these technologies conflicts with the traditional learning design that seeks to interact and portray the real-world setting.

Overall, the paper broadened my idea of learning pedagogies. It challenges me to further look for possible ways to replicate the realness of the real-world scenario in a simulated environment. This interesting topic helps me to understand that all disciplines that involve with technology adjust and there is also a need for them to catch-up.

RASE – A learning design framework

August Reflection

Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of the framework is RASE itself. As stated in the early parts of the reading, mobile technology has truly been useful in the field of learning and education, especially for students. With mobile technologies, education is delivered effectively inside or outside the classroom; learning platforms have widened with the help of social media and cloud computing; and that learning has been empowered with interactive multimedia, such as video, graphics, audio, and integrated graphics. However, it was also stated that these paradigms are insufficient or as described in the text, “incomplete.” Nevertheless, it was emphasized that RASE, a comprehensive and applicable framework for learning design, can be integrated to the said learning technologies and utilized for a better context in teaching and learning.

Aside from that, the RASE framework emphasizes the following theoretical work and concepts that could be considered as a factor for its strength: (1) The constructivist learning framework, (2) Activity theory, (3) Problem solving, (4) Problem-based learning, (5) Rich environments for active learning, (5) Technology-based learning environments and conceptual change, (6) Interactive learning environments, (7) Collaborative knowledge building, and (8) Situated learning.

With regards to its weakness, as stated in section 1.2 of the reading, the RASE framework cannot stand with one concept applied alone. It is like how Resources is insufficient for the full achievement of the learning outcomes. Thus, there is a need for the other concepts – Activity, Support, and Evaluation – to be applied. This means that applying one concept solely is a weakness of the RASE framework and for it is effective as a learning design, it must be partnered with the other concepts.

Addressing the Weakness
The weakness may be addressed by combining the concepts with each other since the applying a sole concept is said to be ineffective. Also, the framework may not prove to be effective if not applied properly. Furthermore, it is good to consider to at least engage the students in the activity first, start planning the evaluation, followed by the provision of resources and support.

Best Setting of RASE
In the reading, the texts usually emphasized the words: classroom, students, teacher, and learning. Although generally, learning may or may not be inside the four corners of a classroom, RASE would best suit in a higher education classroom setting. Why?

If we would dissect and analyze the theoretical works and concepts of RASE, we would understand that the people behind it want to engage the students in a complex environment. For example, Jonassen believes in his Problem Solving concept that “learning is most effective in the context of the tasks in which students engage to solve ill-structured, authentic, complex and dynamic problems.” He added that the problems may be dilemmas, case studies, strategic decision-making, and planning. Also, in the concept of evaluation, it is stated, “Artefacts produced by students must undergo peer and expert review and a revision before final submission. This process may also involve learner/group presentations and peer/expert feedback.”

Therefore, the application of RASE would not be appropriate for high school students, even elementary students since it aims to engage students in complex problems and the outputs needed by the framework needs to have an expert review. However, it does not already mean it is not applicable to general education students. It is just that higher education students seem to have a lot of theoretical knowledge and basic foundations that they are fit for the application of RASE in a classroom setting.

Learnings and Future Application
Overall, I have learned that mobile technologies that aim to augment learning is best partnered with a reliable and comprehensible framework for learning design such as RASE. Also, I have understood that applying a concept of RASE alone is not enough and that all four components should be integrated with each other. I aim to use the framework is not only in the context of mobile learning but even in simple topic reporting in class.

The Seed: First and Second Pitch

It was not too long ago when we were first tasked to prepare and generate an idea that would possibly revolutionize not just the Philippines, but the world. I could still remember the nerve-wracking experience in our first week for the most petrifying subject, Technopreneurship.

A lot of hearsays filled the dimly lit hallways; an eerie atmosphere filled the rooms. Don’t exert too much effort. You’ll never pass on your first take anyways. Words of discouragement poisoned the students’ minds and most of their strengths were quickly thieved from them. I, for one, was a victim. But, I can only blame myself if I let those words sink into my thoughts.

We all had a seed. However, we were still too clueless about the ways to properly plant, care, and harvest the possible fruits of our labor. To have an innovative mind is not like studying an algorithm for programming. It was hard to think of an idea that would evade rejection given that there are a lot of successful and world-revolutionizing innovations that are currently existing.

            ***

From our first meeting, we were given two weeks to think of an idea. We were all of sudden in a panic from a calm state of minds. I can still remember how I prepared for my ideas. I had five propositions and all of them were mobile applications. I did not know what to really propose yet. All I knew back then was the application should be simple and easy to grasp.

It was then the time for our third meeting. We were asked if there would be someone who would want to present their ideas, given the long period of time. No one volunteered. No one raised their hands. Everyone was pinpointing and pushing each other to present but no one stood up in front of the class.

Wrath and rage filled the room because of the disappointments our facilitator felt. We were thrown out of the room. The panic we have been feeling for weeks simply rose higher than ever before. It felt like I was on the brink of giving up. I knew in myself that I had prepared for that day yet I doubted myself. I was even disappointed with myself more.

As a result of our neglect, we did a total of 27,000-word reflection in just a week. During those times, I said to myself, “This won’t happen again.” I knew I had to be prepared and ready for the upcoming meeting because I was so sure that I would present my idea to the class. Out of the five ideas that I had generated, I ended up feeling confident to two ideas. One of it was called, Veggienity.

Words in oral and written were prepared. My pitch and presentation were done and I made myself ready for any criticism and question that would be thrown at me. It was then the time I planted my seed.

I was the first presenter for our class. A feeling of discomfort filled the room. I was shaking inside but I knew I had to do it. It was a now-or-never experience. My first pitch started.

            ***

The idea of Veggienity is to help control and reduce the victims of food poisoning. The root causes of food poisoning are unlabeled products in palengkes, mass and continuous production of fake and toxic vegetables, as well as unclean and double-dead meat. These ongoing problems have caused a lot of damages, especially in the Philippines. Thousands have been victimized by this problem yet there is a little to no solution that is existing to solve the issue. Consumers are not only deprived of their health but their money as well.

This is why I knew I had to at least do something about it as a part of the society. Veggienity is a mobile application that analyses products such as vegetable and meat using digital image processing and deep learning to determine its toxicity and freshness. What if every consumer who is fond of buying products in wet-markets have a mobile application that could save their families’ lives and their lives as well? It would really be of great help to the community.

Even vendors that intend to cause harm just to gain income would even be greatly reduced in numbers. With the help of deep learning, the physical characteristics of the products would be analyzed. Its colors, structure, and other determining factors will be accurately analyzed. Additionally, pairing it with the digital image processing simply makes it quick and efficient.

            ***

I ended my first pitch and I was told to ask questions to my classmate. Most of them were intrigued by the idea of deep learning. However, I was able to answer that the technology of artificial intelligence will be fed with samples so that it will grow intelligently as time passes by. Aside from that, questions such as gaining income were even asked.

I plan to have an annual subscription and in-app purchases to gain income. The consumers will greatly benefit from these purchases because this will give them access to features such as a double-dead meat detection and more access to products, not only limited to a few numbers of vegetables.

I thought I was able to suffice the words the class wanted to hear but no. Our facilitator knew it lacked with a lot of features. He then raised a question about a possible breach of data privacy in relation to the Data Privacy Act of 2012 or the RA 10173 since there was a necessity to capture images of products. I was dumbfounded and I thought of an impromptu answer to the question. I tried but I was clueless. I did not even know that the republic act was existing back then.

Fortunately, I was given another chance to fix my application and I was left hanging. It was not the best decision but I knew I had to deal with it. I thought the application was going to be rejected but maybe, our facilitator knew there was a potential greatness from the application that was kept within.

            ***

I planted the seed. I watered with the right amount of water and gave it the right amount of sunlight. However, I was not seeing the results. The seed was still not visible from the surface but I did not stop taking care of it. Two to three weeks have passed and the panic came back again.

We heard that our facilitator would not be available soon and I knew for myself, I had to prepare and pitch my idea for the second time. The night before the pitching day, I prepared my powerpoint and made an unorganized outline of my pitch. I practiced a few lines but I was not able to master it during that night. Again, the now-or-never experience came back. It was then the time for pitching and there were 5 presenters for that day. I was the fourth one.

On a side note, before I presented, Daniella, a member of the team Centsilyo pitched their idea. The team Centsilyo was a part of the finalists for the Philippine Start-up Challenge. All of the sudden, my hopes were pulled down. I was not discouraged but it was honestly an awful feeling to have someone better present their ideas first.

My idea was rather hilarious. I made sure that I would kill the negativities in the room so I used some of the words of the previous presenter to make fun of myself. Fortunately, it was effective. I used terms that have a double meaning for my presentation. I changed my application like it was a new one.

New technologies were integrated and the soul of idea evolved. It was still Veggienity but I decided to focus only on vegetables to emphasize the branding. Aside from that, I also emphasized its relation to virginity, making more connection to the freshness of vegetables. Geotagging, crowdsourcing, and augmented reality were added to the application. From the sole scanner, I gave the application more technologies that enhance its value proposition. But, what made it better than the last idea for me is that its capability to take advantage of the RA 10173. The problem of possible privacy breach could now be solved using the feature of detecting and preventing unauthorized capture while keeping the product scanning.

            ***

The other four fingers were folded, and the thumb was raised. The idea was approved. The seed that I had planted and taken care every day finally showed a speck to the surface. The seed evidently grew and it made me unexplainably happy. The plant still could not bear fruit yet but hopefully, I will be able to harvest the fruits of my labor and let other people taste it. This was the idea of Technopreneurship and I am happy to say that I am currently on the right path. Now, new challenges will be taken care of. Pests and weeds will try to stop the seed from growing but I will surely take care of it. Hopefully, this first seed will flourish and signify success in the future.

Death – A debt to Life

At first, Steve Jobs said that during those moments he was delivering his speech, it was the closest he has ever gotten for a college graduation. He proudly said in his speech that he was not able to graduate college.

It is amusing to hear and realize to think that someone who would revolutionize the world and improve the quality of life of the people is not a college graduate. Since I was I, child, my parents would always tell me that I should study well so that I could graduate college and have a decent job. My mother was not even able to enter college due to the financial problems her family experience before that is why it is one of her aspirations to have all three of us, her children, to be a college graduate.

Both my father and my mother kept on saying that education is one of the best ways to improve our lives and the future and they keep on referencing Kim Atienza’s, “Mag-aral ng mabuti upang buhay ay bumuti.” We received a lot of reprimands and lessons from our parents. Before, I would be really upset that they would repeatedly tell us these things and up to a point that we have memorized their lines.

Yet, here we are today. My brother has finished his education, I am on my third-year, and my sister is doing well in high school. Our parents’ dreams are slowly taking place all because of their hard works and if not for them, we would not be in these fortunate lives.

Then there’s Steve Jobs. A billionaire who is not even a college graduate. In his first story, his first line was, “I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.” Although it is not really shocking to hear anymore, it is just fascinating to realize that dropping out in their country is not that much of a fuss. If it was here in the Philippines and I was Steve Jobs, I have probably been scolded by my parents and they would probably teach me the most annoying lessons.

            ***

Here is a fact: I just realized that Steve’s mother was not ready to have him yet and it astounded me when I heard he was already put up for adoption and he is not even born yet. At first, I was having doubts and I think of this as absurd but then I realized that her mother just wanted the best for his son. It may seem odd to some but I think her mother knows best.

            ***

Steve went to college 17 years later and he went to an expensive school, Stanford. Education in America is really expensive and if I were Steve Jobs, I would not waste any of my time and I would surely do my best to give back to my parents. However, Steve was naïve. He was not able to see the value in studying in college.

Maybe it was at the time where Steve has realized what he really wants for himself. I am pretty sure he had a lot of realizations that made him drop out.

Also, another cool thing about studying in college in America is that they can drop out the classes they do not want to take and they can just take those interesting ones. In our university, students somewhat have a fix schedule and subjects that they should take or else, they would not be able to proceed to the next semester.  I do not know but somehow, the education system is too restrictive to the students and it bounds them from experiencing different things. Steve really did enjoy the freedom he was able to acquire and he spent it on interesting classes.

            ***

Is it not inspirational to hear that Steve Jobs, a billionaire and one of the influencers of the current generation, also experienced trials but succeeded? He said in his speech, “I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.”

Steve experienced these things before he succeeded. Clearly, it was not fun and games at first. Since before he was born, he had to endure a lot of things. From adoption to financial problems, Steve experienced a lot of hardships but he did not give up until he was able to achieve success.

            ***

Going back, Steve surprisingly was amused by the beauty of typography. He was just astounded by the spaces and letter combinations that are involved in typography. He even mentioned about the serif and sans serif. He described it and said, “It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.”

After 10 years, Steve Jobs and his team were designing the first Macs and he said that it was the first computer with a beautiful typography. Surprisingly, he mentioned that Windows just copied the concept of typefaces from Mac. Who would have thought that Windows would steal something from Apple? What a surprise.

For me, this was just one of the best inventions. I could not image computers with plain boring typefaces. What if Steve was not able to experience the beauty of typography? Maybe, the world would have been different. If it was not about his experiences in dropping out and dropping into typography classes, typefaces in computers would have not existed. It was then when he realized that all the dots from the past connected with the future. Every speck of memory connected with each other and made meaning to his life. Steve then said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve’s second story was about love and loss. For me, these two things complement each other and that they cannot exist without the other. It is like the concept of black and white, light and dark. Where black and darkness is the absence of white and light. Truth be told, you can’t realize the importance of one side without realizing the value of the other. Life would not be valued without the concept of death, right? People fear death because they do not want to lose their lives and it was the same with what Steve Jobs had experienced.

After 10 years of working for Apple, surprisingly he was fired from his own company; fired from the company he made. I remember the movie about Steve Jobs. In a particular scene, Steve and his friends went hired some talented person to help his company flourish. At first, they were all doing great. Without a doubt, his company achieved a lot of things but it was for a while until the board of directors had decided to fire Steve Jobs.

For me, it is somewhat hilarious to hear. Who would have thought that the founder of his own company would be fired by the people he recruited? Isn’t that betrayal? Isn’t that too absurd to hear? Well, even Steve himself was surprised. “So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.” – Steve Jobs described.

After he was fired, he was just down. He somehow realized that he was again back from the start; from nothing. If I were in his position, I would have also felt the same. I could not blame him if he was just depressed. Steve Jobs was Steve Jobs though. He did not stop. On the brighter side, maybe he realized that since he had nothing, then it is possible for him to have everything. And so, he decided to start over. Everyone is probably familiar with Pixar.

Steve Jobs was one of the men behind its heartwarming and tear-jerking animations. Fun fact, Steve Jobs was also one of the people behind the production of Toy Story, the first computer-animated film.

Success has followed Steve Jobs wherever he went but it was not easy for him since he had to endure and experience a lot of heartbreaking things.

These experiences are similar to most people. The best learnings in life are those we get from being hurt. Although the concept of defeat and pain is sad to hear, people have been slowly teaching themselves that it is okay to fall; it is okay to be defeated. Why? It is because they learn a lot of things and realizations come to them. Because of these mistakes that we often commit, we become wiser individuals. We learn not be defeated again. Imagine what Steve Jobs had experienced just to achieve the success. Imagine the number of mistakes and failures he was able to endure. If not for the trials, Steve would not have even been known to the world.

            ***

After the success NeXT and Pixar, Apple bought these companies and then he was back. “I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.”

Even Steve himself thought of the trials as a positive side. He then said, “I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” I think it is one of the best analogies I have heard so far. Sometimes, we have to endure unpleasing things to be pleased. We sometimes have to take the most painful injection to be healed. And sometimes, we have to survive the longest heartbreak to love again. What this world never fails to show is the beauty of bittersweet reality. No one can escape this truth because everyone has been experiencing this.

            ***

Despite the unjust treatment of Steve, he was still him and he did not lose. He even improved because of his love and his passion. “You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Steve was not even contended. He even said that a person should not stop until he finds the things that he will love the most. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it…Keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

His second story about love and loss basically states that with the absence of loss, you will know love. And in the absence of love, you will know loss. These two things that completely complement each other makes people realize that a perfect life is a life with ups and downs. Being alive and experiencing life is not all about the joy but it is also about the trials and hardships we have endured. It is also about the lessons and realizations we acquire after being down. Life has a lot to offer and it is one of our plans to survive and face whatever it may give. Steve’s second story just made me realize, there will always be a rainbow after the rain. The stronger the storm, the clearer the skies will be afterward.

The last story was about death.

Steve said something about a quote that goes like, “ If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today.” And if ever his answer would result in a “No” he would do something. If today is going to be my last day, obviously, I would make it something worth remembering for the people I am close to. I would say all the things I want to say and hug all of them thinking it would be my last. I would try to do things on my bucket list and spend the day like it is really my last.

Surely, it would be worth it. It would really be fun but depressing. It would be depressing because if the day would be treated like my last, I would probably say all my grudges and just let it all out, removing all the negative thoughts. Is not that satisfying to hear when you can just shout at the top of your lungs until you run out of air?

            ***

For Steve, remembering that he’ll be dead is the most important tool that helped him to make big decisions in life. His speech was truly amazing when he said, “Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

What Steve is true. It is because when we think of things that we think we cannot conquer, in the eyes of death it becomes a small matter. It is really astounding how death defeats most things here on Earth and how it positively manipulates individuals.

Because of the existence of death, we have learned to preserve the beauty of life and we have appreciated the gift of God so much. We are afraid of death which is why we try to keep ourselves safe. It is similar to a kid who inserts a fork inside an electric socket. With this, chances are, the kid would be electrocuted, he will feel pain, and he will not do it again. These fears are really making people realize why some things should and should not be done.

We only live once.  This is why we try to learn lessons about life from other people because we can only experience death once. And once we experience death, our life experiences end. Because of these things I have realized, death should be really feared but appreciated.

It has helped us to become endurable and wiser individuals. If not for death then we would not realize the profoundness of life, right?

            ***

Going back, it was a sad news that Steve was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.” – Steve said in his speech. At that moment, Steve was going to face the true death in no longer than three to six months.  He did most of what he can do. He bid goodbye to the people he loved.

Thankfully, when the doctors scanned the tumor which was removed from his pancreas, it turned out that his pancreatic cancer was curable with surgery and during the time he delivered his speech, he was feeling fine. Unfortunately, he died in 2011. In my research, I found out that Steve’s cancer came back and that time, 2004, when he underwent a surgery, the cancer was not yet totally removed. It was really painful to hear that it seemed like it was just a false hope. Cancer was still inside him and he needed to fight a long battle. In 2009, since the cancer was spreading all over inside his body, he needed to have a liver transplant. According to some, he was not only battling cancer but also with the immune suppression after the liver transplant. As I went online to browse some photographs of Steve Jobs, the effects, such weakness and loss of weight, due to the suppression and cancer, were really clear. As time went by, his body during his talks was obviously becoming weak and he had lost a tremendous amount of weight unlike in his previous years.

            ***

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.” – Steve Jobs said. Even if we like it or not, death will always be at some point in our lives, waiting for us to meet him. The twist is, we do not know where when and how we will meet him. Most of us are probably unprepared yet to meet death. Death would be one of the least things we are expecting but when we meet him, it is when we will realize and ask ourselves, did we make the most of our lives?

Steve Jobs added that “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” Because of this words, he made me realize that I have been spending a part of my life for other people and not for myself. Which means I have wasted some of my time. Nevertheless, I will be doing my best to savor the beauty of life and spend most of my time for my benefit and improvement. I will try to just think of my days as my last and just be carefree. I am not going to lose anything if I spend my time wisely on wise things but I am going to lose everything if I regret about not cherishing the life I was given when I am about to meet death.

 

March 8 – A reflection

Last Thursday, March 08, for our second formal meeting, the class had another pitching session and during that time, there were three presenters who pitched their ideas.

The first idea that was pitched that day was an application inspired by Grab and Uber’s tracking system with a delivery system similar to Grab Express. What made it amazing is that it can be used by ordinary drivers such as those habal-habal ­tricycle drivers who are mostly idle. Since these drivers had a lot of vacant time, my classmate had the idea of somewhat giving them a side-job while they were doing nothing to spend their time. She said, (non-verbatim), “Since there are a lot of tricycle drivers who are mostly idle, why not give them a job and help those who do not want to leave their house just to deliver something?”

Because of the said issue, my classmate had seen an opportunity of generating money as a third-party from the ones who want to deliver some item and give jobs to those who want to be productive and stop themselves from being idle.

I really commend her for thinking of such idea. Though as some of my classmates said that the idea is already existing, what made it unique is that a lot of people can use it even habal-habal tricycle drivers. Aside from that, I do think that the proposed application will be successful if it will be materialized because there are a lot of people who do not want to deliver something themselves because it would sometimes be just a waste of time.

She also mentioned that the application is going to generate income from advertisements.

            ***

It was then the time when we have to ask her some questions. One of the said questions was about a possible delivery of drugs. The question went like this: “What if the sender scams the courier who would deliver tricking him into thinking he would deliver a vegetable when actually it is a marijuana?” The facilitator also added there was a similar situation that happened. In the situation, the delivered object was an explosive device. Because of the stated situations, the presenter was astounded and she was thinking of a possible way to prevent such cases.

Our facilitator ended the first pitch and she gave a “hanging” result to the first presenter and her idea. It was a splendid idea, overall. She just needs to fix that part of the issue and I think her idea will be approved after that.

            ***

It was time for the second presenter. It was Kyle’s turn, my classmate. Kyle’s proposed mobile application was for bus users and bus barkers. His proposed idea was inspired from the problems which bus commuters have been experiencing. He mentioned that there are times when calls for a bus along the road but the driver does not notice him. There would also be times when he rides the bus but he is unable to have a sit and just stand for the whole duration of the travel because all seats are occupied.

Kyle’s idea was also nice.  His statement of the problem was clear and that I can even relate to what he said. It is really a pain to just stand during the whole travel. The proposed application, supposedly, will have a detection system on buses which will determine whether all seats are occupied or there are vacant seats. Scanning buses’ plate numbers will inform commuters of the number of seats through the application itself, communicating from the bus barker inside the bus. Aside from that, possible users such as parents may also track where their child is and how long it will take for their child to reach the destination. Kyle said it would be an advantage for parents to know whether their child/ children are safe during their travel from and to their homes. However, a classmate of mine pointed out that possibly, commuters might have a hard time in using Kyle’s application due to the motion of the bus on the road.

My classmate who asked was right. Bus speeds along the road are unpredictable; some are slow and some are too fast that scanners for plate numbers would just be useless. Our facilitator also agreed about the situation. The application would be great if there would be a barker to a commuter relationship in the application so that before the bus would reach the possible passenger’s location, the passenger would already be notified that a bus is incoming to his/her destination. In this manner, the chances of being left by the bus would be low.

Unfortunately, as far as I can remember, our facilitator gave Kyle’s idea a “no.” It was still not yet the end for Kyle though. I know he will still be able to generate better ideas.

            ***

For the last presenter, it was Rona. Rona presented sort a costume-lending application. Her idea was inspired by the need to buy costumes for events. She used the Coachella-themed party we had before during our freshmen year. As I can remember, we were required to wear a Coachella-themed attire. If one would search samples on the internet, a typical attire for a Coachella party is a casual colorful attire. Aside from that, there would sometimes be parties that would require Barong Tagalog, Filipiñana, Baro’t Saya, ball gowns, tuxedos, and etc. These attires are without a doubt expensive and usually, these are just used once or twice in a year. Because of this problem, Rona was inspired to think about a costume-lending application.

Rona’s application provides an easy way for people to find and rent costumes. Her application would serve as the middleman between the user and the lender. For me, it was simply amazing. I sometimes have to attend weddings. Wedding requires either a barong or a formal attire like a tuxedo. I don’t have these clothes in my wardrobe and I can’t even afford to buy and use them once or even never. It would just be a waste.

If Rona’s application will be materialized, a lot of people who attend weddings, debuts, birthday parties, themed parties, and other costume-requiring events will be helped. Aside from that, people who are not really using the costumes which they have bought may let their costumes be used for a certain amount of money which will end as a win-win situation for both the renter and the lender – that is if the application will be materialized.

However, a lot of my classmates, even the facilitator were somewhat unsatisfied and they needed to clarify. One of my classmates asked, “What if the costume was not actually washed and it has a foul smell?”

The question might seem non-sense for others but for me, it was not. When we rent something, other than making sure that our money is worth it, we also want to make sure that the quality of the item we are going to rent is not low to a point we rented for nothing.

Rona responded and she pointed out that it should be the prerogative of the renter to check the quality of the item. Conduct basic check-up on the item and search for literal holes. Who would want to wear pants with a hole on that would show one’s undergarments, right?

It was then the time for decision making and Rona asked the class and our facilitator’s final decision about her idea. As far as I can remember, it did not go well. Nevertheless, she can still make it up and improve her idea or generate some splendid innovations to present in class.

For the past few weeks that had passed, a lot of proposals were denied and left hanging. Only a small percentage of those who pitched their ideas were approved and a lot of my classmates have not proposed their ideas. What I am trying to say is that we only have roughly two months left and not even fifty percent of the class’ idea is approved by our facilitator. It is a really bothering thought that we are really going to fall under circumstances we are have been expecting. I do not even know if more than half of the class can still catch up to produce the necessary deliverables for the subject.

In relation to the previous meeting, Guy Kawasaki said that the core of Entrepreneurship is about making meaning. He said that a lot of companies that have been involved in most of our lives today have been making meaning. However, some of these companies set out to start by making money.

It is really nice to hear these things from a successful entrepreneur. Before, I really thought that it is all about generating money and hiring people. As a kid, I really never wanted to be a businessman because I have thought of it as a generic, cliché job. I have seen a lot of businessmen in movies and I did not aspire to do the same. I did not have a mind of a businessman nor an attitude of a boss. Most of the time, working for someone was on my mind. Dreaming to work as an employee for a company would not really hurt my ego as long as I know that I am enjoying the job.

I want to be a doctor. – That was what I used to say when I was a kid when I would be asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I was really fascinated by the scientific and biological world. It was fascinating to see the profoundness of life and one of the reasons why I wanted to be a doctor before is because I wanted to preserve and maintain the high quality of life which every living individual has. It was from a simple “help” that I wanted to give that inspired me to become a doctor.

If you are going to ask me, “What do you want to be in the future?”, I would answer, I want to give meaning. Since I was enrolled in the subject Technopreneurship, I have always thought of having my own start-up company. In the field of information technology, not only will I be able to touch the field of medicine as my aspiration to be a doctor before, but I can also give meaning to various fields in this world. IT is interdisciplinary. It can adapt and it has been of use in various studies today.

            ***

If I will be asked on how I will make meaning in the future, I will probably answer the person by offering him a job to work for me and my company. This simply means that it is one of my goals to be the boss of a company and provide opportunities to deserving people. It is really funny to think that it just came to my realizations that not only doctors can help people but also businessmen. These employers have been providing a lot of opportunities to people and they are some of the people who make the nation progressive. We can say that they have been generating money for their company and themselves but let us not deny the fact that they have also been of great use to the company.

Because of these entrepreneurs, the meaning is made not only in the community but also in the hearts and thoughts of the people around them. For some entrepreneurs, making money is just a slice of pie. Probably, they would not even sweat to gain millions in a single day. However, making meaning is different. I do believe it can be achieved by not generating money but by improving the quality of an individual’s life.

Guy Kawasaki, in the video, said, “We were not motivated. We were motivated by changing the world.” It was nice to hear from people who work in Apple that is not about the money but increasing the quality of life. Today, if I am going to ask a person of his opinions to Apple, he would probably say words like money, premium, and rich. It is somewhat implanted in the minds of the people that one of the core goals of Apple is to generate money but when it really is not. When people, like Guy Kawasaki, produced Macintosh, it was one of their core goals to improve the quality of life. How it would help people. How Macintosh should work for people and make their lives better. They would even wake up early in the morning and think how they would change people’s lives with Macintosh. Because of these motivations, Apple did not only help the community but they also gained money. As we all know, their core goal was not about the money but to improve lives, right? Well, it only means that if people, like Guy Kawasaki, would prioritize in people’s lives and not their money, a lot of good things could happen. It is like, “Think first on their lives and the money will follow.”

Second, after improving the quality of life is to right a wrong. It is about fixing something wrong in this world. As what I have learned lately in our discussions in Technopreneurship, one of the qualities of a technopreneur should have is that he should master his environment. Being an environment-mastered person means that you are always on the top of the situation and not under it. You should most likely see a lot of opportunities around your environment. Imagine, if you were a person who would find a lot of problems and generate opportunities for it, would you not be able to help the community and generate a lot of money as well?

Regardless if you are an entrepreneur or a technopreneur, of your core goals in making business is to right a wrong. It would a useless thought to “right” something that is already correct, right? That is pure nonsense. However, if you corrected something wrong, you will be able to make meaning and at the same time, improve people’s quality of life.

The last one is to prevent the end of something good. Obviously, the good should not be ended but maintained and improved for the betterment of the world. How? Innovations. It is a nice thing that I am taking up IT and that one of its goals is to produce and come up with world-changing innovations. Things that make our lives better should not be stopped but be improved. It can be achieved through technological advancements and innovations that should make our lives more convenient.

The stated things are just some of the things that entrepreneurs or technopreneurs should be motivated of in their businesses. I have learned a lot in the previous meeting and I am excited about the future discussions.

            ***

I once dreamed of becoming a doctor and today, it is one of my goals to be a boss and an employer of my own company someday. These are just some things I plan to achieve in the future. These things may seem too unrealistic to achieve, still, I am not closing my mind for possible opportunities that I would encounter in my life journey. If I will not achieve these things, I’ll gladly accept it. What I really want to do is to provide help and make meaning not only for myself but also in other peoples’ lives.

 

The Advocate

Last week, in the middle of our discussion, we were asked about our personalities, whether we are of it or not. Since most students from the class were not aware, our facilitator had given us a quick assessment test. It was not an objective-type of a test though. I can read between the lines of the questions that it was about being subjective and objective in a workplace.

It was from the perspective of a boss around a workplace about the work itself and his people. The questions were mostly about either prioritizing the goal of work or the welfare of the workers.  It was already clear in my motives that work is work. Regardless of any filial relationship at work, people around the workplace should be treated equally with respect. The personal involvement should come afterward. It is somewhat the ethics in working.

After taking the test, the results showed that I was under the middle category. It really did coincide with my real personality and outlook in business. The results were not that bad but I still have to improve as what our facilitator said. Most of us were under the middle category. Some were under the lower level. Needless to say, our facilitator said that the results should not determine our future but rather our guide on how much we should persevere to be on the top level. No one got on the top-level since all of us scored below 48.

Our facilitator also stated to those who got a low score not to be discouraged because the room for improvement is huge and that the purpose of the class is the improve their scores soon enough. For us, who were in the middle category, we were told not to boast about it because there could also be chances that it would decrease as the time goes by. He said that it would really be much better if we would acquire high scores, maintain, and improve the personality and perspective we have.

The given test was actually just a part of my personality and somewhat related to business and Technopreneurship. In reality, to my personality traits, I am actually an advocate, the other term for my personality, INFJ.

INFJ is actually from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI assessment. INFJ who are introverted (I), intuition, (N), feeling (F), and judging (J). I took the online test for 3 years straight now and fortunately, nothing has changed with my personality since I took the test. The results were always the same however it seemed that my temperament was clearly changing.

As a person with INFJ, I tend to be more careful and sensitive with my actions and of other people’s feelings. I am not really introverted that I would rarely interact with other people. It is just that I find it satisfying and relaxing to spend some time with myself and just enjoy the company of being alone, not lonely.

Aside from that, according to the article from www.16personalities.com about INFJ, “Advocates indeed share a unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain…” Though the world is full of philosophical logic, I really believe that the core point of it all is the subjective perspective of an individual.

The test I took about my personality has always been accurate about my strengths and weaknesses as an individual with a personality of INFJ. Because of the accuracy of the test, I was able to improve myself throughout the years and I can say that I have somewhat stayed the same and succeeded in improving some of my weaknesses. My sensitivity is still an issue. It acts like a double-edged sword. I can either be usefully sensitive or negatively sensitive to criticism. I try as much as I can to take it constructively but there are just times I am tilted and I take it as a personal attack. Nevertheless, I do not hold grudges. However, the said words would stay inside me for a long time and the tendency is that I would keep discouraging myself about it.

This personality also coincides with the EQ and AQ tests that I took. I was not able to confirm whether it matches my IQ. I am still not aware of my IQ today though. The AQ test that I took resulted in me having a moderate AQ (19-31). I had an AQ of 28 which is somewhat in the average level. It seems that I can still improve myself to have a higher AQ as time would pass by. I actually took the test without me, knowing the meaning of adversity.

It was only after the results were showed when I knew about the definition of adversity. I really thought that I would fall a lower AQ because, during times of difficulty and misfortune, I would usually be depressed and controlled by emotions.

There are just times that it is hard for me to think properly especially when my psychological and emotional state is stressed or under pressure. During these times of fight or flight mode, my usual response is to be in a flight mode and I would choose to turn away from the situation.

On the other hand, the results of the EQ test that I took last year from the University Guidance and Testing Office (UGTO) stated that I had a high tendency of being an adaptive person in various situations. It really did interconnect with my INFJ personality since, in reality, I could say that I could really blend into people but it would take much time since I am sometimes introverted.

To clear things up, I also took an online test for emotional quotient. Out of 200, I scored 40 it said: “not so good.”

Well, I can only blame myself and how I deal with stressful situations. Lately, I have been under a lot of stress and pressure and honestly, I did not deal with those so well. I have been depressed these past few days and I have not told anyone about it yet. Nevertheless, I still have a positive outlook on life and I am not giving up on it. There may be depressing times but most of the days are good.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

Martin Luther King

March 6 – A reflection

Last Tuesday, March 6, 2017, the class once again had a meeting and it was the time for our pitching. Throughout the duration of the class, there were 3 students who pitched their ideas and I was the first one to perform.

It was nerve-wracking; my hands were chilling and my face was numbing; I even got butterflies in my stomach. Well, before that it was really hilarious to think when we were asked who is going to pitch their ideas. Almost everyone raised their hands.

Everyone clearly learned and it seems that no one would want to be dead-tired and sleepless of writing a staggering twenty-seven-thousand-word reflection. It was funny to think that everyone had learned their lessons and not to disappoint a person that much again.

Thirty minutes before the pitching time and our class, students have prepared their presentation slides and pitches. It seems everyone had already prepared themselves and materials. However, it was clear in their eyes that they were nervous and they had a hard time concentrating.

It was somewhat unfortunate to think that our class was delayed and it was clearly our fault. If we had not delayed and wasted the days, then we would not have been in this cramming situation. We only have 2 months left and there are tons of write-ups and preparations to do.

***

It was then the moment and I pitched. I tried to remove all the negativities and the nervousness that I had before. Fortunately, I was able to.

My idea is inspired by the problems that are currently rampant in the community. Unlike products in groceries, products in wet markets or palengkes do not have barcodes, expiration dates, and best before ­labels. Due to this fact, a lot of consumers have been fooled into buying toxic, unclean, and synthetic products. Aside from that, meat such as pork has been continuously sold even though it is already dead and not freshly killed. Meaning, the meat is double-dead. Who would want to buy these products? There may be some who still has the guts to buy and cook these foods, but I cannot stand to see the victims of food poisoning. Not only have they intoxicated themselves, but they also wasted their money.

There are just people who trick other people into buying these type of unjust products for money. I knew I had to think a solution to this problem so that there would be a decrease in the number of victims of the said unfortunate issues.

In the current technological age, my proposed solution is planned to be aided by deep learning and digital image processing. Veggienity is what I had proposed. This current idea is honestly not so new. A lot of similar technologies have been implanted especially for the detection of double-dead meat. However, I choose to focus more on vegetables which are one of the highly-bought products in palengkes.

Imagine if the mobile application is able to detect fresh products by determining its age since it was picked from the soil then consumers will be able to know which products to buy and not to buy. Not just that. The will also be able to know if the given product has a lot of toxic ingredients, preservatives and if it is synthetic. All these things, I believe, is possible with the help of deep learning and digital image processing.

With the help both technologies’, they will be able to analyze the toxicity and authenticity of a product using complex algorithms and artificial intelligence. Not only will it be able to identify but it will also learn and grow intellectually as people will feed it with a lot of scanned products.

Its help will be of great use to the community. It may not be able to directly help those who were victimized by food poisoning but they will be given justice and the rate of the production of synthetic and double-dead products could decrease. Through this vision, I am really aiming that the solution could help.

            ***

I finished my pitch and I was able to do it properly. It was satisfying to think that the weeks of the stress of thinking about what they had caused has somewhat ended. After I was able to present the idea to the class and to the facilitator, my classmates asked questions about the application.

I was able to answer some of them. The questions were really of great help because I was able to clarify the application and it helped my application to improve.

Some questions that were asked included how I was going to generate income.

Since the application is in mobile, I am planning to have a monthly premium subscription to the application. The good thing is, the premium subscription does not really affect one’s usage of the application that much. The user can still scan products but it will only be limited to 20 products but with a premium subscription, the user can have unlimited scans and it gives more details about the scanned product.

Aside from that, the user has a better access to more products of vegetables because, in a free account, the user is only limited to four vegetables. The detection of double-dead meat is even included in a premium subscription.

Imagine the help that this application could give to the consumers of palengkes. Not can they only assure the safety of their families but they can also save a lot of money as well from medication and waste it from buying toxic products.

After answering questions, it was the moment that the class and the facilitator had to decide whether the application is going to be approved or not. There were a lot who was satisfied with the application but the facilitator’s decision would even be more valuable.

Unfortunately, it was a no. Well, I was actually expecting that I would receive a no. Nevertheless, I gave my best. It was clear to me that I would receive that response because I somewhat knew that I had lacked something but I was not really sure of it. I also had doubts about my idea and maybe the facilitator somewhat sensed it.

The facilitator gave me a chance to justify my application and he asked me some questions about its effects on the law specifically about the Republic Act 10173 or also known as the Data Privacy Act.

According to him, if the application would be materialized, chances are, other people’s privacy would be violated especially if the product that would be scanned will be processed without the consent of the vendor. It would be an issue if the vendor filed complaints against the one who scanned his/her products without his permission and the vendor has the clear rights to do that as stipulated in the said law.

It was at that point that I said, “Why have not I thought of this situation?” After that, the facilitator luckily gave me a chance to fix it and think of an alternative solution.

He also added about how it was going to help the community. I somehow managed to explain that after the application scans a product, reports are going to be disseminated about the acts of deception inside the palengke and that authorities will be alerted. In this manner, there would a big chance that vendors of fake products and double-dead meat will decrease. However, this idea still violates the law and I still need to fix this part of my application.

            ***

After I pitched, I was followed by another presenter. As far as I can remember, he pitched about an application that has something to do with buses. He pointed out that he wants to help bus drivers and bus commuters that are from airplane terminals. The presenter stated the problem that there are a lot of people from airplane terminals who do not know when a bus will arrive and if a bus is available for a certain destination, and more.

The presenter was prepared and it was a really cool idea. However, it seemed that some of my classmates were not impressed. It was still clarified and they asked questions to him. One of it was about the tracking system of buses.

He, the presenter, stated that the application is going to use a GPS so that people who are going to look out for buses will have an idea of the incoming buses at their location.

This idea was unclear for some so someone asked a question. Non-verbatim, my classmate asked, “What if there is the bus is out of town and there is no coverage for the internet. How is it going to work?”

The facilitator agreed with the question and he clarified and asked the presenter for a response. The presenter somewhat responded about a device which will be engineered if the application is going to be materialized.

So, as to what I understood, the application is going to be partnered with a device that will aid people in tracking buses as well as bus operators vice versa.

Unfortunately, the facilitator reminded us that it would be much better if the ideas which we are going to propose would be an application because it would take a lot of time to build a device especially that we are not engineers but IT students. I do agree with our facilitator.

We have two months left and my idea is still hanging, on the verge of approval and failure. Nevertheless, I am hastening my actions and I am currently assuring that I will be able to give remedy to the flaws that were pointed out about the idea that I have proposed.

            ***

After the pitching, since there was some time left, we had a quick discussion about SEED.

The discussion about SEED was really interesting. I have learned a lot especially about the importance of one’s attitude towards the things he/she encounters in his/her everyday life.

SEED is actually an acronym for self-mastery, environment mastery, enterprise mastery, and the development of a business plan.

Self-mastery is about one’s self. It is somewhat the consciousness of a person about his/her personality and through this, he/she will be able to know her strengths and weaknesses. Mastering one’s self will help them to adapt to their surroundings and somewhat appropriately act to other people. It is an act of being matured and sensitive to other people and their feelings,

Self-mastery can be achieved by starting at identifying their Intelligence, Emotional, and Adversity Quotient. These are just some of the object identifiers but there more tests that will help a person to know himself/herself more such as the personality traits test.

A person does not really need to have a high IQ to master himself/herself. It is but the ability to have a personal vision. Using this vision, people will have an outline of their future and this will be their guide to success. Though it is considerable for some that having a high IQ would mean opportunities, IQ alone is not the sole means to master one’s self. Aside from self-mastery, there is also environment mastery.

People who have mastered environment are fully aware of the issues and opportunities around them. For these people, they tend to look at the advantages of things and the opportunities that they could possibly possess. They are usually at the top of the situation rather than being under the situation. It is really amazing to think that once you have mastered your environment, opportunities would be much easier to notice unlike to those who are not.

They are also updated with trends. Technopreneurs must have the knowledge of the trends because it is essential. Trends can either be the cause of one’s loss or success. For example, I am aiming to propose a certain idea but I am unaware that the idea that I am going to propose is already existing. Because of this, there would be a bigger chance of failing. However, if I am aware of this, I could just possibly improvise and embed some extraordinary technology to my idea and make it better.

Aside from that, people who have mastered their environment are also aware of the forecasts that include the analytics. Facts and figures are as much as important as ingredients to a dish. They supplement the idea itself and it helps in providing a foundation.

Facts and figures are really important to Technopreneurship because they help in making the problem concrete and solution convincing. Without them, chances are, the problem would go astray and the solution would be weak. Because of this, investors might not just invest in the idea and it would be put to waste. It would really be better if technopreneurs would also be updated with these because it helps a lot.

Lastly, after a person is able to master himself/herself and his/her environment, it is also really important to have enterprise mastery. As far as I can remember, enterprise mastery is about running a business and marketing an idea.

Running a business, for me, today is hard. I can say that I am not a business-oriented person. Generating income and spending money wisely is still hard for me. I can understand the minds of some people but I just cannot think how the minds of business-minded people run. For me, it is complicated and they, maybe, think ahead of what is expected. Maybe, they have anticipated a lot of things which is why they are successful. Marketing an idea also needs a lot of skill. It is hard to convince people of a new and unfamiliar idea. Before you can convince them, you should first think like them. I think that is how it goes.

Lastly, after self-mastery, environment mastery, enterprise mastery, there is the development of the business plan. The development of the business plan is also important for a technopreneur because it would somewhat serve as his/her guide throughout his business. During our discussion, our facilitator discussed the intriguing business models and strategies of some businesses here in Davao.

He pointed out the amazing tactics of some malls about how and when they usually offer sales and discounts to their customers. It was really hilarious to hear that at the end of it all, though we have benefited from the discounts, the last laugh was still from the business people.

It is amazing to think that they fooled a lot of people for money. The psychology of business is really effective and a lot is still in its trance. No wonder why successful business people are rich.

Nevertheless, I am still aiming to be like one of them and soon, I might also just have my own startup company. Ever since these discussions started, I was already thinking of being a boss of my own company, recruit people, and generate money. Above it, all is improving the quality of the lives within the community.

            ***

The discussion last March 6 was really fun. It was, I guess, our first proper discussion just after we were reprimanded about our unruly behavior. My classmates and I are looking forward to much more fun and interesting discussions.

3 idiots – a reflection

Phunsukh Wangdu or Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad is simply one of the best characters in the Indian movie, 3 idiots. I think he is one of the best characters, well not because he is one of the protagonists of the movie but because he possessed something unique and rare within him. At the start of the movie, Rancho was already the cream of the crop and the eye catcher. The moment Rancho came out for his first scene in the movie, I knew at that very moment that he will be portraying an awesome role. On a side note, I also expected a lot from Amir Khan, the actor who portrayed Phunsukh Wangdu, because I have watched his other movies especially the Every Child is Special.

Going back to, Rancho’s first scene on the movie was when he showed up during the traditional rites of the university that students will pull their pants down and offer their asses to their seniors to show and pay respect. During the initiation rites of spanking to the neophytes, the attention of the seniors of the university was caught when Rancho suddenly appeared in front of them. The seniors then asked Rancho to pay them respect and offer them his ass. However, Rancho denied them and did something hilarious.

Just when a senior’s attention was misdirected, Rancho hurried to hide in a room and panicked. The senior then threatened him that Rancho will suffer a consequence if he would not come out of the room. A consequence – he will pee in front of his door every day. Rancho went into a flight or fight mode; specifically, a fight mode.

Rancho grabbed a spoon, connected the wirings of the bulb to the spoon and increased its height using a meter stick. Rancho knew that saltwater was a conductor of electricity and because of this ingenious idea, things escalated quickly. The senior was sick of waiting so he peed on the door of the room which Rancho was in but Rancho prepared the spoon under the door which leads the electrocution of the senior. The senior then fell down on the ground due to the excruciating pain.

The given situation, which Rancho first did in the movie, simply depicted his free-spirited yet ingenious personality. People who would be under Rancho’s situation would surely go into a flight mode and expectedly step out of the room without any hesitations but Rancho was different.

If I were in his shoes, I do not think I would still be able to create something like that under those times of pressure; similar to a life and death situation. Well, like what Rancho said before that scene, “All is well.”

***

It was the students first morning in the Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) and they wore woken up by an alarming howl of an unfamiliar name, Virus.

The students rushed out and went outside their rooms to their surprise, Virus was a professor in the ICE. He was not just an ordinary professor. He was known because he terrorized students mentally and academically.

During that time, Virus was welcoming the students. Well, actually, threatening. He reminded the students about their chances of staying inside the university and bragged about his pen.

The pen which he bragged was actually an astronaut’s pen that was given to him by his teacher before. His teacher told him that Virus should give hand the pen over to a student that is as extraordinary like him but for his 32 years of teaching in the university, he was still able to find or come across to such student. Virus explained the purpose and inspiration why the astronaut’s pen was created. He even bragged about its price which cost millions. Then suddenly, out a student’s curiosity, he asked.

Rancho asked Virus why people have wasted millions of money for that pen when they could just have used a pencil on the space. He added that it would have been a cheaper and a wise idea. To Virus’ surprise, the question got him startled and dumbfounded.

I felt stupid after Rancho asked that question and I even asked, “Why did not they thought of that?” Rancho’s curiosity was simply amazing. Not all people are actually able to think that positively shallow. I mean, why do you have to go deep on an empty ocean when there are a lot of fishes on the surface?

***

Rancho was caught smiling by his professor in his engineering class. His professor asked him why he was smiling and he replied and answered genuinely that he was just happy because dreamed to study engineering as a kid and during that moment, his dreams come true. The professor killed joy and asked him to define what a machine is.

Since Rancho was more of a practical person, he honestly replied with what he thinks of a machine. For him, a machine was simply involved in their everyday lives. From electric fan down to his zipper on his pants, it was already machine for him. Unfortunately, this explanation was stupid for the professor this got Rancho scolded. So, the professor asked another student for the definition of a machine.

Chatur, Rancho’s classmate, gave the definition of a machine in an explicit, detailed, and bookish manner. Without any doubts, the professor was astounded of the student and praise while demeaning Rancho of his stupid answer.

Sometimes, we are all most the time like Rancho. We do not know things in detail but we can explain it. I even know some people in the field of IT that are really good programmers. However, if you ask them about the bookish terminologies, they would be confused and sometimes they might not give the answer that you need. Nevertheless, when asked to perform or execute a program, they can even explain and do it with ease.

The point of was stated is, being too bookish and in detail makes things confusing and non-sense. It would most of the time be best to cut things short and be direct to simplify things in the best way.

All is well

All is well – These are Rancho’s infamous words that revolved and conquered the whole movie. In a movie full of depressing and stressful meanings, it seems that the characters and the people needed to know that everything will be fine.

This word was first seen uttered by Rancho when he was bullied during his first appearance on ICE. It was that time when his tumbler was grabbed out of his bag and the water inside it poured inside his pants. With this, Rancho remained calm and said, “All is well, all is well” while patting his chest and breathing calmly.

His infamous words were explained when the 3 of them, Rancho, Farhan, and Raju were inside the room fixing Joy Lobo’s invention. As what Rancho storied in the movie, the “All is well” actually came from an old watcher in their village who protected them. It made them calm during the night and made sure that they were safe. Since that day, Rancho realized that the heart can be tricked.

***

Metaphorically, the heart can really be tricked and sometimes we just have to use our minds and let our emotions lie low. Most of the time, we let our emotions rush and our thoughts left behind. Because of this, more often than not, we tend to hurt people carelessly or sometimes we say words of lie and deceit to comfort other people without thinking, the truth would let them free.

The heart can be tricked into thinking everything will be okay in times of great tragedy or difficult times. We just sometimes have to think optimistically to survive and forget most of the negative thoughts to think clearly. These unclean thoughts are just mere distractions from making us think clearly. So, the best thing to do is smile and say that all is well.

These words are but easy to say but if we are really under challenges, we are most of the time distracted by the trembling fear. We just rather have to think and let our emotions go away for a second. Our emotions would not really save us. It is the wisdom that will make us survive.

***

Aside from being full of wisdom, Rancho is also logical and passionate. During the burial of Joy Lobo, Rancho accused Virus of murder. Joy Lobo was the student whose father was called by Virus. Virus told Joy’s father that his son would not be able to graduate and that it would be better if he would not get tickets to ICE because his son still would not graduate for that year. Out of anger and anxiety, Joy broke down and hanged himself in his room. Rancho and his friends hurriedly went up and into his room. Few days after, in the burial, Rancho told Virus that Joy did not die because of the pressure in his throat but because of the mental pressure for four years which Virus had caused him.

Education System, a challenge 

I have also pondered about the education system in the Philippines in so many ways similar to the movie and I reflected on various points. First, the education system in the Philippines is not accessible to all. Not all people in the country are able to study or send their kids to schools. There are those who are unprivileged that are unable to attain education. The IPs or Indigenous People are some of the people who are unfortunate to receive free education. Aside from that, there are also those poor families who could not even send their kids to a public elementary school and those who travel far just to learn how to read and write.

This given situation depicts the unfortunate education system in the Philippines that is mostly factored by poverty. Moreover, I also have seen myself in Rancho because I was most of the time questioning the education system of the country and the university. Most of my classmates, when asked about how their schooling is, would answer they are tired, depressed, and that they just would like to end all the crappy things. Well, I could not blame them because I feel the same way too.

It seemed like though some schools are aiming for quality education when actually, they have forgotten about the welfare and health of their students. Aside from that, there are also some signs of student injustices in some schools about that involved abuse of the rights of the students. Ironically it makes me thought, “Is this the effect of years of studying?”

I mean, for me, what is the point of the years and years of studying when you cannot even get your manners right. Being unruly covers one person’s knowledge. It seems like unpleasant personality stains a person’s regardless if he’s intelligent or not.

Sometimes, it feels like students and their teachers have forgotten the true essence of learning and education. Today, in the current generation, it seemed like education and success equate to high-grades. Well, somehow and logically, yes. But, good grades still do not assure a person 100% chance of success in life, right?

***

Ironically, teachers and professors were once students. They give a lot of projects and assignment to their students when it is actually hard and the deadline is unrealistic. Also, imagine the amount of the knowledge that students have to acquire and maintain in a week. That is already information abuse. Aren’t they aware of the amount of knowledge we are most of the time gathering and storing in our minds?

The difference I can only see from Rancho from me is that he is too direct and blunt to confront a teacher. Because, if he would do it here in the Philippines, I might be reprimanded or worse, expelled because of these unethical ways. Also, Pinoys are just too good at backstabbing. Going direct to the point and saying these things at other people’s face is just rare.

Also, as I reflected in the movie, I have also realized that the Philippines has a lot to improve especially in the education system. It is not that I am against the culture of having good grades but I guess students should give more value to the essence of studying which is acquiring knowledge instead of acquiring high scores. High-scores are non-sense if they are acquired it through cheating, unlike knowledge which is acquired through dedication and effort.

***

“Even a circus lion learns to sit on a chair in fear of the whip but you call such lion well trained not well educated.” – Ranchoddas to his professor, Virus.

Similar to the tradition most students in college are used to, they believe education is equal to good grades. If we are going to dive deep into this quote it basically means that fear does no good and it only causes depression. Students who are used to studying and acquiring good grades are not wrong. I am only proposing that the education system, the way of teaching itself, can still be changed along with the change in the false traditions of the generation today. Because of the fear of delays and failures, many students resort to cheating and they sometimes do anything wrong because of the desperation and thirst to pass.

This concept is wrong on a lot of levels and in quickly needs to be corrected. Fear being instilled in the minds of the students make them being controlled.

If I were to choose between well-trained and well-educated, of course, I would pick the well-educated because I believe that you are a well-educated person, being well-trained will just follow.  For me, being educated in this cruel society, world, is important because it clears out any ignorance within me and it makes me awake from the pressing issues that our society is experiencing today.

Being a well-trained person can be achieved by putting numerous hours of training to a certain thing. However, being well-educated is acquired through experience and exposure which are not found inside the four pillars of the classroom but in the room for improvement.

He runs a factory, not a college

When Pia and Rancho had a discourse, Pia, Virus’ daughter defended his father from the accusations of Rancho but in Rancho’s defense he said, “He (Virus) runs a factory, not a college.” From this statement, I think Pia realized that Rancho had a point. Students in ICE were somewhat molded like machines. They had a routinary activity and that for years of staying in ICE, what it felt for them was like they were not learning anything. Learning in a sense of genuinely accepting and giving knowledge. They were doing a lot of things and producing outputs, yes. However, for them, they did it for compliance and for the sake of the education system. All of these which are bounded by fear. The fear of failing and the possibility of not to graduate on time.

I could not blame the students if they felt that way. It was even obvious that the professors in that university, backed up with the education system, was similar to a caste system.

Rancho even asked Virus as to why grades serve like a caste system. Why do the best act like the masters and the least act like slaves? Virus then asked Rancho what he wants to do. Rancho answered about the publicity of grades. To quote, he said, “Results should not be displayed. why publicize someone’s flaws?”

In the matter of education, the ones who have acquired an outstanding amount of awards and the highest level of grades are acknowledged and given with recognition. They are praised for their achievements especially that they are on the top. It feels good to be clapped to. A lot of people cheering up and making you as their inspiration. Some as a symbol to surpass in the future. We all have someone we want to surpass as a symbol of excellence. We all have people on our mind whom we want to be like.

However, this does not the same for those who went in the last place. They are also examples for most. Examples which not they are going to be like. They are the least expected people which most people also want to be. They are criticized and judged by people. They would often say they flunked their academics and did not go to school often. People are so quick to judge those who did not perform well academically. It is but a truth about the society and their perspective on the education system and this was shown in the movie. I liked it so much because it was happening. It was real.

***

Never cared, first or last

Rancho never cared if he was first or last. What was important for him is the true meaning of learning. He protested the education system and fought for it. He questioned what other people would not have asked and fearlessly faced criticisms. This is what I like the most about Rancho because aside from being intellectual, free-spirited, and curious, he was brave. Rancho was open to a lot of things. He was not scared to learn because he knew that fear would hinder his education. Ever since he was a kid, he performed well in class and acquired a lot of knowledge. He was not focused on achieving any grade or being at the top. He was not even interested in who’s the first. What mattered to him is the true essence of education which is to learn. It is amazing to find people like Rancho whose personality and outlook in life is rare. These type of people are one of kind and they make me realize why there are flaws in the education system and only a few seem to care about it. A lot of people knows this but only some fights for it.

Rancho not Rancho

Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad was actually not the Rancho we know. Just when Raju and Farhan, along with Chatur, came finding for Rancho, they were stranded inside a house with a burial. When they looked for Rancho in that house, to their surprise, they found a man named the same as their friends’ yet he had an unfamiliar face. The 3 of them who were looking for Rancho were confused.

While inspecting most of the things inside the house, they found their friends diploma and their picture. That was the time when they knew something was wrong. They then asked the unfamiliar man and threatened him that his father’s ashes will go down and flushed in a toilet bowl if he is not going, to tell the truth.

The man, the true Ranchoddas Shalmadas Chanchad, said that the Rancho they know was known as Chhote. Chhote was actually the son of a gardener who was working in the fields of the mansion. When Rancho knew that Chhote had the talent, he let Chhote borrow his uniform and went to school as Rancho. It was since that day when Chhote learned and enhance his knowledge. Chhote was a happy kid, full of enthusiasm. He had the thirst for knowledge and so he attended most classes he wanted to listen to the school. It was not until when Rancho and Chhote were caught. Rancho’s father got mad at the both of them but since he did not want to stain his reputation, he had a proposition. Since Rancho’s father only wanted a degree and Chhote wants to learn, Rancho’s father let Chhote continue studying until he graduates college as Rancho. It was also during that part when Chhote displayed astounding talents in the field of math because he was in grade 6 performing grade 10 maths.

Their questions were answered. Chhote was not rich, he really did not finish college in the ICE. All of this things did not really matter for Chhote because he just wanted to learn. Even if he did not have the actual degree because he gave it to someone, for him, the important things are he learned and he bonded with people.

***

Chhote really loves his friends. He showed extraordinary empathy to them and it was him who really cared the most. Although there were times he brought misfortune and caused his friends to be reprimanded, Chhote never left them and he showed what a friend should be really like.

Chhote to Farhan

Chhote first brought trouble to Farhan’s family because of the “Farhanitration” and “Prerajulisation” which he had invented just to show that learning is not actually existing in ICE.

Because of this silliness, he and Farhan were threatened by Farhan’s father not to cause Farhan trouble again because his father invested a lot in his son. He bought an air-conditioner and could have placed it anywhere in their house but since he wanted the best for his son for his academics, he placed in the air-conditioner in his son’s room.

During this time, Chhote noticed the amazing pictures which Farhan had capture before and Chhote were in awe. It was also the time when he realized that Farhan never really liked or dreamed of being an engineer but a wildlife photographer. Ever since then, Chhote encouraged Farhan to pursue what he dreams. He knew at that moment that to pursue his dreams means he is going to be genuinely happy and that he would not be regretting anything when he would lie on his deathbed at the right time.

This thing made me realize that I am on the right path. Fortunately, my family gave me the freedom to choose whatever I want though they had suggestions. They had aspirations of they want their son to be: an engineer, architect, etc; just not a teacher. But in end of it all, the last the decision was still mine. Thankfully, I am happy on what I am in right now and I can really say that this is the path that will make me genuinely happy and when the time comes that I will work, I would not even worry about it because I will be doing my passion from that time on.

***

Chhote with Pia then submitted the Farhan’s letter of request. The both of them told Farhan a good news that he was accepted to assist a famous wildlife photographer. Farhan was in tears of both sadness and joy. Farhan did not expect that they would submit the letter and unexpectedly, the wildlife photographer was amused by the photos he captured. Farhan was in tears of sadness because he knew that his father would not accept it.

It was their day of interview and Farhan went home. What he did not know was that his father bought him a laptop as a reward because he thought his son was going to his interview passed, assuring a spot on a job. Yet, the saw Farhan went home and it was that time Farhan begged his father. He got his father to accept his conditions. How? He reminded his father about the goodness of Chhote. Chhote actually told Farhan not to commit suicide through placing a picture of his mother and father in his wallet. Chhote told Farhan that if ever he is going to commit suicide or wants to just die, he should take a look at his wallet, specifically on the picture of his parents. Chhote reminded Farhan that if he dies, his parent’s genuine smile would fade away and that they are going to be sad.

These good words of Chhote made Farhan’s father change his mind and it was that time he let his son live his life.

Chhote to Raju

Chhote’s help to Raju was first greatly observed during one of Raju’s tragedies in life. It was when Raju was forced to transfer to Chatur’ room. Raju was threatened by Viru that if he keeps on bonding with Chhote, chances are, he will fail and he would not be able to help his family.

It was also that time when Chhote received a call that Raju’s father was needs to be hospitalized urgently. Chhote together with Pia rushed to Raju’s house. When Pia found out about Raju’s father, she then decided as a doctor that Raju’s father needs to be in the hospital. So, Chhote, Pia, and Raju’s father rode on Pia’s motorbike and rushed to the hospital. They went inside the hospital on a motorbike and directly went to the doctor who is on duty.

When Raju heard this, he immediately got mad at Chhote but someone explained that if it were not for Chhote’s brilliant efforts, Raju’s father would have died. This made Raju and Chhote’s eyes in tears.

Chhote was very helpful to his friends even if it caused him to be in shame. He defended both of his friends and helped them when they needed help.

Aside from that, Chhote was also the one who saved Chhote from death and relieved him from temporary paralysis. When Raju knew that he was going to be rusticated from the Imperial College of Engineering, he stood on the windows and dropped himself from Virus’ office located on the third-floor down to the ground. Raju was rushed to the hospital in Chhote’s lead. They were all sad and in despair because their friend Raju almost died.

Fortunately, Raju did not die but he was temporarily paralyzed. Farhan and Chhote did everything with their might to regain Raju’s temporary memory loss. They made him remember everything by talking to him even though he did not respond or even look at them.

Chhote had a great plan in mind. He talked to Raju and said that his sister was going to be married and it will not cause their family to have a dowry. Chhote told Raju that Farhan is going to marry his sister and it will be for free. Unexpectedly, Raju looked at them and responded. He was so happy as well as the two of his friends. With Chhote’s words of encouragement he came back to reality and in time he went to the interview.

***

Aside from helping his friends, there are also other people whom Chhote helped. We know that Chhote helped Rancho and his future. Well, Chhote also helped Pia, whose father was Virus.

Chhote to Pia

During Chhote’s first meeting with Pia, Chhote’s attention was immediately caught by Pia’s beauty. It was at that time that Pia had an asshole fiancé.  Chhote even showed Pia that his fiancé would always keep on saying the monetary value of things. He showed a demo by spilling a mint sauce and her fiancé’s shoes. He did it again when he reminded her of her mom’s old watch and its importance to pia. Chhote not only care’s about his friends but also to people who think is in wrong hands. He knew by that time; Pia did not deserve an asshole but a brilliant guy like him.

Chhote to Virus

Not only did Chhote help Virus’ family by helping Pia’s sister in giving birth; Chhote also helped Virus. How? Well, he helped Virus to realize that he needs to change his cruelty to students. He also helped virus by even contributing to saving his grandson’s life. Chhote was also one of the people who inspired Pia not to determine his grandson’s future but to let the kid grow in freedom and choose whatever path he wanted.

Chhote to Centimeter and to many students

When Farhan and Raju were finding for Chhote, they stumbled to an unfamiliar kid. The unfamiliar kid knew Farhan, Raju, and Pia very well. He told them that Chhote has been sharing their lives with his students. To their surprise, they realized the Centimeter grew up in Chhote’s guidance he was then known as Kilometer. Chhote gave centimeter a letter with an address. The letter’s content was if centimeter wanted to learn more and gain knowledge. Without a doubt, centimeter followed the letter’s directions and it was that time he came to Chhote. In that place, Chhote was not only helping Centimeter. He was also teaching other children. He also helped a lot of students and thought using the true essence of education.

Also, it was at that time when his secrets were debunked at that his real name was Phunsukh Wangdu. Pia, Raju, and Farhan were surprised that their friend was the Phunsukh Wangdu. The person who was 400 patents and whom the world acknowledges. From the first scene of the story up to the last, what the three of them were actually looking for was famous and known by the world.

This is why, without a doubt and any hesitations, I would choose Wangdu as my favorite character in the movie. Simply because I also want to be like him. His personality is somewhat similar to mine but he is way too exceptional.  I can say that he is my favorite character because we have the same thoughts regarding the education system. We are both similar in our way of protesting. We both question as to why education is like a caste system.

Moreover, I can say that Wangdu and I are alike because he has the thirst for knowledge and the true essence of learning. We both want to genuinely learn and not to learn by force and fear. Also, in times of stress and pressure, we are somehow able to calm ourselves and think clearly. He does it well though.

***

One of the differences that I could think from Wangdu and I is that he has overcome his trials whereas I am still under the challenge. Regardless of this situation, I will surely use him as my inspiration and be like him in times of disaster. I would probably imitate his character; put my hands over my heart and pat it saying, “All is well.”

---

Raju Rastogi was first seen when Farhan entered their room. Raju, from a first glimpse, seemed to be a humble and calm person. Raju is a religious type of person. At his first scene, Raju was already seen praying and asking for protection inside their room.

***

Faith, not enough

For me, praying does not really get what he wants especially if he only prays. I believe prayer should be accompanied by efforts. Though a student prays hard and even if he prays multiple times a day yet after praying he slacks off, nothing good is going to happen. His prayers are going to be useless if he keeps on procrastinating and doing unproductive things instead of studying or preparing himself for his academics. Another would example would be in times of disaster. Merely praying for those who were hit by a disaster is not enough. Prayers may keep them away from death but hunger and thirst will not. It would be much necessary if people tried to help and exert effort. They can be the answer to other people’s prayers instead of waiting for other people to do it. Prayers are not enough to keep a person alive. Doctors, nurses, and other people involved in the medical field are there keep us alive. They are the actual people who do miraculous things and we should pray and thank God for creating such wonderful people.
We are sometimes too faithful and we are too reluctant. We tend not to do anything when we think there is no chance of succeeding in life anymore or at simple things. “Bahala na si Lord.” We keep on saying it and it seems like we keep on giving the burden to God. This attitude is really a mistake on so many levels.

First, aside from the depiction of one’s strong faith, it merely states that a person is unprepared. All of us had come to a certain point that we think it would uselessly exert effort anymore that is why we leave it to God. It is somewhat like we leave everything to fate and we will just accept no matter what happens.

Some people should actually stop this thinking and instead, people should exert more effort. We should not be contented with mediocrity but we should try to dwell on excellence. It may seem hard to achieve but the good this is, settling for less was never a part of our choices. It could also mean that we have lost in our minds even though there is no real decision yet. It is like we are already accepting defeat and being negative when actually, results are not there yet. I mean, where is the good in those things?

***

Poverty in his life

When Rancho was called to their house, Rancho said that Raju’s life is like a classic movie in black and white. Raju’s family was composed of a paralyzed father, a sick mother, and an unwed sister all living in a small room. The hard life in poverty was shown in the movie. Aside from flawed education system, the bitter truth about what some students in college are experiencing was also displayed in the movie. It is a really sad thing for some families who give most of their money and effort to their child who is going to college. To them, they just cannot wait for their child to graduate and work so that they could at least have a better living. Similar to Raju’s life, they were obviously in a very hard situation. None of his parents had a decent job. And for his sister to marry, a car was needed as a dowry. Now, the pressure is on Raju because he is being sent to college and his family is expecting a lot from him.

There was also a time he got mad and decided to leave his friends because he was threatened by Virus due to their carelessness. It was so clear to Raju that he needed to avoid bonding with Rancho and Farhan or else he might get expelled. He knew he cannot be expelled or he might not be able to lift his family up from the poverty they were experiencing. It seemed like if he is going to lose his education, he is going to lose his family and his life as well.

This thinking should be the thinking of most students not only those who are living in poverty but also to those whose lives are full of blessing and in richness. Sometimes, people become too complacent to spend money on unnecessary things. I know that I do not have the right to complain because it is not my money but I think they should realize that there would have been a poor family that could have benefited from the wasted money. How?

What if rich people tried to buy from the poor? What if they tried to market in palengkes instead of malls? What if they tried to buy clothes from the indigenous people? Through some of these things, monetary blessed families are able to help other people. If they buy straight from the farmers, farmers would greatly benefit. Same goes for the fisherman, indigenous people, and other underrated professions. I mean, instead of buying from imported products which do not really contribute to our economy neither to our fellow citizens, why do we have to buy products of other countries when we can purchase our own and help save the economy?

Through these simple things, we are able to help our country and its people.

Raju’s dilemmas

Just when Raju’s father had an attack, he was brought to the hospital by Rancho and Pia on a motorbike. Thankfully, his father was immediately rushed to the hospital because his father was already on the brink of death and Raju’s father could have died if it was not for Rancho and Pia. Raju actually got mad to Rancho at first because who would want their paralyzed father ride on a motorbike on his way to the hospital, right?
Raju was also clearly defensive of his family. They were his most precious treasures and they were his inspiration for studying. They kept him inspired and to do his best. However, there were a lot of times that Raju was not able to perform well. Most of us would say, he flunked or did not attend any classes. Actually, Raju is like many students in college. Raju was attacked by fear.

There were a lot of circumstances for Raju. He needs to think about a lot of things daily. He thinks about his family, his studies, his friends, and Virus as well.

It was that day when their results were going to be publicly shown. Raju and Farhan were both trembling when the results were shown. They both found themselves in the last place of the list. Raju on the 199th and Farhan on the 200th. The both of them were sad not because they were in the last place but because their friend Rancho was not there. Then suddenly, Raju heard Chatur whining and being noisy. Raju asked Farhan what fuss was all about. He said that Chatur was unexpectedly in the second place and he asked who was on the first of the list. To their surprise and disappointment, it was Rancho.

As said in the movie, “Your friends you feel bad. Your friend tops you feel worse.” I have also been in a similar situation and it is somewhat depressing and encouraging at the same time.

It was when I was involved in a group study of 4. We studied together and the same subject but we had different grades. My other three friends topped the exam yet I was not even close to passing. What did I ever do to deserve that place? I studied and I exerted effort. It was surely painful. I then realized that we had exerted different levels of effort into studying. It was also that time I encouraged myself not to settle for less but always exert the best so that I would not regret it for not doing my best in the long run. It would be a better feeling to fail to know you did your best that losing without giving your all.

Those times have surely molded me as a better man today similar to Raju.

***

The emotional one

Of all the characters including the 3 idiots itself, I think Raju Rastogi is the most emotional character in the movie. He portrays many of the college students in today’s generation. He speaks for us, for me especially. His character simply displays the mental stress and pressure that each college student has to endure during their college life. Raju endures and tries to solve his problems by praying and by directing his mind to happy thoughts. Well, all students have their way of cheering themselves up.
When Raju is in times of great distress, he prays to his God. I know a lot of people who are like this and it is so hilarious. I am not mocking them though. It is just so funny to see them praying knowing they did not even exert effort which they can pray on. It is like they are praying for the impossible to happen. It is like they prayed for an exam they did not even study. Hilarious, right?

Aside from prayers, Raju’s other way of distressing is through having fun with friends. Like many teenagers and college students today, having fun seems to be one of their way out of the depressing and cruel world. College life is included. Sometimes, it is just great to drink and get drunk while having fun with your friends. It is nice to forget the problems for a while. My friends and I also do this every after the semester. We celebrate and remember the stressing things and just laugh at it because we have survived.
There are also times we necessarily need to just play computer games such as Dota to have a quick escape from the stress. It is really hard to handle mental pressure by ourselves we most of the time need the company of our friends. We sometimes need the help and advice of other people. We sometimes need to cry our heart out to our loved ones when we are really tired. This is why I see myself in Raju.
Lastly, another reason why I see most teenagers and college students in him is about the depression.

I have said earlier that Raju has a lot of things to mind including Virus. Actually, Raju was not a bad student. He was really just scared of probably losing everything he had if he risked his studies.

Before, he was already threatened by Virus. He was threatened that he is going to be expelled from the Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) if he kept on bonding with Rancho and did crazy things with him. Unfortunately, the craziest thing happened. The 3 of these idiots got drunk and went to Virus’ place. Raju peed on Virus’ door. Next day, the three of them got caught. The worst was he was rusticated from ICE. It was at this moment, Raju knew, it was going to be the end of his life metaphorically. However, he also made it happen literally.

Raju stood on Virus’ office and dropped his body. He fell from the 3rd floor down to the ground. His head was bloody and he was rushed to the hospital by Rancho.
The current generation is also experiencing the stated situation. Many teenagers, especially college students have committed suicide because of mental pressure and extreme stress. The depression that the both of these had caused made them not think properly which ended in a tragic event for their families. Though most suicide that happens is not related to academics, most of them are sure because of depression and the lack of motivation to continue in life. We cannot say they should not have hanged themselves when in the first place, we are not in their shoes. What they are experiencing is beyond our comprehension. Even beyond theirs, that is why they committed suicide.
Today, if depression has become a prevalent thing in the society. It has quickly spread like a virus inside the minds of college students. Many of them are ranting about the stress and pressure. I don’t know but it is really hard to deal with depression especially if it is related to studies.

Raju’s firm attitude

After staying in the hospital for weeks, Raju has slightly recovered from the injuries. He was able to sustain multiple fractured bones and a head trauma. He was also able to maintain a concrete spirit and he now has a better attitude and positive outlook on life. To carry on with his life, he went to the interview and courageously faced the panel on his wheelchair.

He was interviewed what caused him to be in a wheelchair. He told the panel everything from peeing on Virus’ door to him jumping from the third floor down to the ground. The panelists were in shock and it showed in their faces that they were disappointed. They somewhat implicated that Raju was not even going to be hired and get a job. However, one member of the panel was curious and asked Raju of his direct and straightforward attitude. This certain panel member requested Raju to change it and he could get a job but Raju refused the offer.

Raju declined because it took him his life to get that attitude. He went through a lot of this to be that direct and straightforward and he said that he is not going to change it. He said that he will leave the job to the panel and he requested the panel to leave him and his attitude without hard feelings.

The certain panel member was astounded by Raju’s personality and he was actually surprised that for his 25 years of interviewing, there would be a man like Raju that would not turn out to be an interviewee that would always say yes to the requests just to get a job.

Because of Raju’s firm personality, he was able to get a job and all of his hard work and pain he has to go through was all worth it. He even got Virus to shave his beard. If everyone was going to get a job, Raju was the least expected person to get one because of his economic status in his life and academic status in college.

Raju’s father

On the first scene of Raju’s father, it was said that his father was once a postmaster. Being a postmaster is actually a decent job and his father actually helped to give them a decent living. However, his father got paralyzed it seems that he was sick to the point that he was bed-ridden.

“Father was once a postmaster but paralysis shut down his body partly… his salary completely.” – Raju said.

It was really sad knowing his father was once a great postmaster and that he did well for his family. I can only imagine their happy and colorful life before paralysis struck his father. These things are just a factor of Raju’ sadness. It was also really hard for his sister and mother to endure. It was hard for all of them to see their family in pain and just cannot do anything because of paralysis.

Their lives would have been better if it was not for the paralysis. I mean, it is a good thing that his father did not die too but to see him in pain every day also feels like he is dying. It would hard for his family to continue especially for Raju who bears all the burden of his family.

Aside from the body of Raju’s father, his father’s salary also vanished. It is as if at a blink of an eye, their future as a family is gone. They still have to sustain their daily needs but now that the father is not working and receiving salary anymore, surely, it would be really hard for them.

Because of this, it made me realize that I am really blessed with my life, that I do not have to endure with those things. I cannot even imagine being in Raju’s shoes and experiencing the same situation. I would probably not last a week not being able to live in a proper house, with no decent meals, while enduring the sight of a bed-ridden father. This is also one of the factors as to why Raju is a fearful idiot.

At that point of his life, a lot of things could vanish in a blink of his eyes. One blink and his studies would be gone. One blink and his father could die. These are just some of the things he has to think of most of the nights before he goes to sleep. You can really see in his eyes that he is tried yet he’s done so well in enduring those things.

Raju’s mother

Raju said, “Mother was a retired school teacher and a tireless complainer.”

His mother has a retired school teacher. I bet she was a good one. It really saddens me to think that maybe, they were once a colorful, happy family. Raju’s father kissing goodbye to his son and daughter, hugging his wife before leaves. His mother, preparing her children’s lunch on their way to school. Maybe, this was their family. However, we just cannot neglect the fact that storms come into our lives and we have to face it like Raju and his family.

His mother was a tireless complainer. Well, I could not blame her if she developed that attitude.

“Raju’s house was straight out of a 50’s black and white film. A small dingy room, a paralyzed father, a coughing mother, and an unwed sister. A sofa sprouting springs, and a 24-hour water supply from the leaking roof.”

Imagine if you were in the shoes of Raju’s mother for a year. I bet you will complain during your first month of stay. His mother also has a lot to endure. Since his father was paralyzed, his mother has to take care of his father 24/7. She also has to look out for Raju and his sister. She also does motherly things such as to cook for her family, aid her husband, and guide her children in their daily lives. These things are why Raju’s mother inevitably complains. She has a lot to think of. She is also stressed and tired.

Fortunately, my mother is doing fine and she is the best. I can really see the efforts she puts into things like Raju’s mother. They do their best for their families even if it is already stressful. One thing that I can notice that is similar from the both of them is their attitude of complaining. It is somewhat hilarious.

Raju’s sister

Raju’s sister is unwed. It may seem like it is not a big deal for us, Filipinos, but for them, it is. According to Anna Rees, “One theory is that historically parents of the bride nominally provided gifts such as jewelry and everyday household items to the bride which evolved over time to providing a sum of money to the groom’s family.” The family of the bride should be able to somewhat compensate the groom’s family by providing a sum of money. In the movie 3 idiots, Raju’s mother said, “Kammo’s turned 28. They demand a car in dowry. If you don’t study and earn, how will she marry?” Even his sister is his liability. His mother suggests that he should study well so that he could earn and save for him to be able to buy a car for his sister’s dowry.

Okra for 12, Cauliflower for 10

When you are at your lowest, every little thing seems to matter. It reflected me that poverty is a really big deal not only in India but also in the Philippines. In the movie, there was a scene were Raju’s mother scratched the chest of his husband using the same tool which she uses to flatten the dough for their roti, an Indian food. Rancho and Farhan were grossed out of what they have seen and they rejected the offer for another round of roti with additional chest hairs.

Because of this scene, I have realized the food pagpag here in the Philippines. On a side note, while I was watching a documentary, I was surprised that the leftover foods from the various food chain that goes into trash bags, to trash bins, to dump trucks, then to dumping sites are reused. That is not it yet. People even consume the leftovers and make money from it. How?
People living in dumpsites are surely in poverty. And because of this, they have to endure their daily lives around garbages and rotting foods. Some people even work there 24/7.

Due to these things, a certain person collects all the leftover foods and puts it in a single container. He collects the food that is mixed with garbage in a dumpsite. After he collects all of it, he washes it with water using his bare hands fresh from touching dump.
He then buys some onions and ginger and other ingredients. After purchasing all of the ingredients, he creates this certain sauce and adds all the leftover food. He now has his own dish and he sells it for the people working on the dumpsite.

People were asked about the pagpag. They were all aware of it and they even enjoy it. Though we can say they deserved to have a meal, their hard work surely did not deserve that kind of experience. I was extremely grossed out but who am I to judge, right? They were extremely living in poverty and they need to save money. They can only afford such dish and for them, it was enough to fill their stomachs and suffice their hunger.
Raju, why?
Raju was out with his friends and they were drinking. – the three of them. Well, they were put to shame, that was why. “Soon, 26 companies will be here with job offers. You’ll have a job even before your final exam.” – Virus said. He told his students that there will be a lot of companies who will come to the Imperial College of Engineering and conduct interviews which means that they could have a job even before they can graduate. The students were clapping in joy but not all of them. “Any questions?” – Virus asked and Raju raised his hands and asked. “Sir, suppose a student gets a job but narrowly fails the final exam, will he still have the job?”

Out of Raju’s sincerity, he asked this question because at this time he was already attacked by fear. Raju was also at the last place of the examination results. Farhan also asked the same question. The both of them were then called to go on the stage and the crowd was laughing and mocking the both of them while Rancho was just disappointed as their friend because his friends were put to shame.

“They’ve been our most consistent students. Consistently last in the exams. Their brains will fetch a handsome price. Cause they’re completely unused.” This mockery by Virus was really painful to watch for Rancho. He was just in pain. While both Farhan and Raju were facing down and clearly not happy with the crowd and Virus thinks about them. I mean, if I were in the same place I would not have just stood on the stage. I would have just walked out because of shame. After this scene, they were outside drinking together. Raju even wished to God to just delete Virus from that world. “Engineering is both my mistress and my wife. But I still fail. Why?” – Raju asked Rancho. “Cause you’re a coward. Scared of the future.” – He answered. “With such fear of tomorrow, how will you live today.” – Rancho added.

This conversation was simply astounding. A person really cannot live his day if he keeps on thinking about the future. For example, if a person keeps on worrying and overthinking about what might happen, he is just completely wasting his time thinking of nonsense. Overthinking is a really important thing here because it cripples a lot of people. For me, overthinking makes me depressed. Overthinking brings me from a simple thing to a whole new complex thing is even hard for me to comprehend. After all this overthinking, I regret. I regret because I have just wasted my time in thinking about things that have a mere chance of happening. Sometimes, it is funny because I overthink of negativities when actually, good things would happen. It is just a slap in my face that I am sometimes a worst thinker because I overthink.

I cannot really stop myself from being negative similar to Raju. I am also like Raju who lives in fear every day but we both try to keep ourselves away from those things. I also endure a lot of things so that I could continue and live the future. Another great example would if we have someone that is dying. Instead of thinking in fear that he is dying and that he could die in no time. Why not just spend every last minute with him and make it something worth it for the both you? Living our lives with the present is what most all of us should do because if we keep on hurting ourselves with past and thinking about the possibilities of the future, our present would be wasted. So, it would be the best idea to make everything worthwhile.

***

The 3 idiots, Raju, Farhan, and Rancho all went to Virus’ house and invaded his territory. Actually, it was never their intention to get caught obviously. However, they were drunk and it seemed like they went overboard. Rancho and Raju were serenading Pia in her room together with her sister. It was still fun and all but when it was actually Pia’s sister, Raju was surprised and he dropped himself from the terrace. This scenario made a commotion and it made Virus wake up.

They even peed on Virus’ door thankfully Rancho grabbed them away from Virus. The sad thing is, Raju came back and said something. He was then illuminated by Virus’ flashlight and that was when he was caught. The 3 of them ran until they have reached the Imperial College of Engineering. They went into a room and fell asleep. The next morning, there was a discussion that was conducted in the room and Virus showed up.
Virus knew who to find. It was Raju. Raju was called to Virus office and he was tasked to write a letter. It was a letter that Virus’ wants Raju to address it to his parents. At that moment, Raju was done. He was devastated.

When Raju realized that he would be rusticated from the Imperial College of Engineering, he remained on the windows and dropped himself from Virus’ office situated on the third-floor down to the ground. Raju was rushed to a nearby hospital in Rancho’s lead.

Farhan and Rancho did everything with their strength to recover Raju’s memory. They influenced him to recall everything by conversing with him despite the fact that he didn’t react or even take a gander at them.

First, Rancho tried to make his consciousness back. “Good news, Rancho. Your dad’s recovered. The new medicine worked. Is this your family tradition? As one male gets up, the other conks out?” When I read this in the subtitle, I just laughed so hard. It was really hilarious for him to say that joke though it did not really do anything for Raju. Aside from that, they also tried through saying his suspension was canceled by Virus. On a side note, maybe Virus was somewhat afraid and threatened by what Raju did. Or maybe, he did it because he realized something and it was because of a regret that he made someone jump out of the window because of rustication.

Rancho and Farhan did everything they could think of. They even mocked Virus using a dartboard. There were signs on the monitor but it did not really give Raju’s consciousness back not until Rancho had a wonderful idea to help Raju in his recovery. He said, “Did you hear about your sis? She’s getting married. Without any dowry. The bridegroom wants nothing at all. He just wants Kammo. You know who the bridegroom is? You know him very well. He loves animals. He’s going to be a wildlife photographer. Didn’t get it? It’s our Farhan. Farhan will never take any dowry. Farhan will marry your sister. For free! Free! Free!”

Immediately, Raju twitched and there were sudden signs on the monitor showing positive results. Raju turned him from the void to Rancho and Farhan’s eyes. It was at that moment the 3 of them were reunited and it was clear on their faces that they were all happy. After some few weeks, Raju recovered and went to the interview. He then got a job because of his attitude as like what I stated earlier. For me, Raju is the next most interesting idiot among the 3 of them because I can also see myself in him. I can sense that we both have to endure fear and pressure in our daily lives. Though we are different in so many aspects, I can say that we are alike because we learned after we have fallen. We did not linger on the thoughts of depression but instead, we continued for the betterment our family, which is our stronghold. Overall, despite Raju’s fears, I can say that he is a strong man because he had the courage to continue and keep his attitude. Not all people are like him which makes him an interesting idiot from the fearful idiot.

---

Farhan Qureshi, also known as Farhan, was one of the infamous 3 idiots from Imperial College of Engineering (ICE). Farhan was the chubbiest guy among the three. He is the kind, silly, and caring guy but behind all these personalities is a fearful and depressed son.

Farhan’s first scene was when faked a heart attack in an airplane. It was really hilarious that he had to put himself to shame just for the airplane to go back to the airport and drop him. He skipped his flight just for his buddy, Rancho. It is really nice to have a friend like Farhan who is going to do anything just to see you or spend time with you.

Farhan is also like any other college kid who performed well during their high school days. I can even relate to it. Before, I used to be an excellent kid during my elementary and high school days. Doing something extraordinary back then was not that hard. I was even able to sleep 8 hours every for 7 days a week and I have managed to graduate without even failing a single subject. I am not bragging about what had happened. My point is that right now, I feel stupid. It seems like I did not even learn something in high school. Back then, projects and assignments were not even depressing. Exams were stressful though but now, even assignments are depressing. How much more the projects?

It never came to the point during the high school life that I would quit because I was tired because of this and that. It was too unrealistic before. Unlike today, depressing thoughts and reminders about my subjects are haunting me before I sleep and first thing in the morning. And when I mean sleep, I mean 3 hours of nap. That’s the amount of sleep I mostly get every day. I am not even doing any projects with that time frame. I was just doing my assignment. You can judge me all you want but I am really managing my time but some assignments just need to have a lot of effort to be accomplished and some projects just need to have sleepless nights for it to be done. It is the sad reality most college students are experiencing today.

I used to be excellent in class but now I feel stupid. Everything is new and most that were discussed back then are not even mentioned in our subjects. It is somewhat funny to think that I have to start over again because my high school life is too different from my course. The only discussion that I remember during my computer class was how to use Microsoft Excel to add up two numbers in two different columns. Man, it was already challenging. Now, I have to deal with a lot of programming languages, comply a lot of requirements, and think of unique ideas. I am so tired but I am still continuing since I have already started. It would be a waste to stop though.

***

Just when Rancho and Farhan were called by Farhan’s parents to their house, they were both reprimanded especially Rancho. Farhan’s father threatened him not to ruin his life. Farhan’s father even bought an air-conditioner and could have put it anywhere on the house but instead, he placed it on Farhan’s room because he wanted the best for his son. During that time, Rancho saw photos of animals posted on Farhan’s wall and Rancho asked if those photos were captured by Farhan. Farhan told Rancho not to be bothered about it though.

It was also that time when Rancho knew that Farhan’s greatest dream was to become a wildlife photographer but he could not because his father already chose a path for him.

A fixed path

Similar to the son of Pia’s sister, Virus already declared that his grandson was going to be an engineer. Farhan’s dad also wanted his son Farhan to be an engineer. For them, it has become a social norm that there is no decent profession aside from being an engineer or a doctor. Farhan’s father made sure he and his son would not be treated as a laughing stock.

Farhan, as a child, followed his father’s desire and he pursued engineering in ICE even though it was not going to make him happy nor achieve his dreams.  Sometimes, our parents are just too protective that even our rights to decide our future are crossed and abused. Some parents, at the birth of their child, already decide which profession their child is going to take.

Thankfully, my parents let me choose mine. I was fortunate enough to have parents that made me choose whatever that would make me happy. I was not hindered in my decision to choose though there were suggestions of engineering and not teaching. I do not know why but they did not just like any of us to be teachers but it was still our decision to make so they were just suggesting. Right now, I am pursuing what I want. I am really hopeful that the future that I have assumed before I took this course will happen in the future. However, there are just some parents that are overprotective of their child/ children. They tell their child what to get and what not to get. Sometimes giving them false hopes and tricking them into a thinking that this course is good and this course is the worse.

I do believe that it would the best idea if parents just give the life their children want especially if it is about their future. Because if they already determined their future, then it means the child/children do not have control over his life when in reality, they should be the ones who are controlling their lives.

Also, if their future ends up to be worst making them sad, the parents also have a liability because they determined their child’s future and did not let their child decide for his/her own.

***

It was clear in the photos and even in Rancho’s face that Farhan could be a great wildlife photographer but because of his father’s aspirations and because he wanted to make his father proud, he pursued engineering.

Before, it was shown that it was really a waste of talent and potential for Farhan. He already had an amazing talent and the profound skills of capturing the beauty and majesty of wildlife. What he just needed was the courage to tell and convince his father of his ambitions. It was really sad knowing what he could have been if from the start he pursued the career of photography.

Farhan, a narration

Actually, it was Farhan who narrated the whole movie starting from the scene in the car. He was just glaring the outside view from the car of Chatur. He reminisced of Rancho. “From birth, we were taught – life is a race. Run fast or you’ll be trampled” These words actually from the intimidating man himself, Viru Sahastrabuddhe or also known as Virus. Like what was said in the movie, even before we are created, thousands of sperms race for their lives and do everything they can just to reach the egg cell. The sperm that would be the first one to reach the egg cell would end victorious. In this race, there is no second nor third. The other places would not matter because only first one who gets to reach the egg will live. This is the reality of life. We, as we were created, are already victorious. For me, life is a race because society has molded it to be like this. It has sections where we train, learn, get hurt, laugh, and then we compete for life. There are various of interpretation for this but for me, it means one should really do his best for his future because if not, chances are, he will be trampled by society.

First, we learn. We learn and educate ourselves in school for years. It would take an average of 12 years, excluding senior high school, for an average learner to reach college without flunking. Then, it would take 4-5 years in college but these are mere numbers for meeting the standards of education. The reality is that we are continuously learning. All throughout our lives, we should educate ourselves so that we would not live in ignorance.

It is hard to live in ignorance especially that we are living in a judgmental society that composes a cruel world. It would be really best to have knowledge of certain issues to avoid being criticized. Stupidity does people no good but knowledge brings us anywhere we want to be. At this current time, information is almost accessible in an instant.

The current generation uses the internet to quickly access all sorts of information. Thus, there would be a small chance that society will trample us.

However, I do think that Life is not a race but a journey. Why? If we think of life as a race, then there would end and its participants would obviously rush to meet the end. Thus, making it incorrect. This is why I think of it as a journey.

You can choose whatever path you want to take.

We are given the free will to do whatever we want with rules and regulations. Our freedom is somewhat limited because there are boundaries but these boundaries make life even better. These are called rules. There is no need to worry about the rules because a person can still live a wonderful life without worrying about these things.

***

A person can be a doctor, an engineer, a barber, a fisherman, or just be himself. And if life was a person, he would not really care at all. Everything was up to you. It’s the goodness of life. You are free to be excellent or to be a failure. You are allowed to win and to commit mistakes. None of it all mattered to life if he was a person. For him, I think what matters to him is that you will enjoy his company.

The unfortunate thing is that society demands a lot of things from us. Society is molding the minds of other people. If only people were also open to these things and they were not closed to the real concept of life, the world would have been better. A lot of people are really enjoying life yet there are those who cannot keep themselves away from hurting other people by causing terror and war. Instead of spreading joy and giving smiles to other people, they cause fear and tears to fall down from their eyes. It is a sad thing that these types of people immediately end the journey of other people. Where is the goodness in that?

You can run at your own preferred pace

Because we are the given the free will to whatever we want as long as we abide the rules, we can run at our own preferred pace for the journey. We can rush things and explore the profoundness of life. Or, take it slow and just let life slowly come with us on the journey. Though speed would not matter, techniques and life hacks will. They surely make some part of our lives way better and easier.

In this journey, we do not have to outrun and compete against other people. It is sort of a personal race. Since this is not a race, outrunning and winning against other people does not already mean that your journey was better than a certain person. A journey’s value can only be decided as worth it if its participant was happy and contented with its results.

It is necessary to lose

What clearly makes it different from a race is that a person is free to lose because it is a journey after all. Actually, losing is one of the best things that could happen because people get a lot of experience from committing a mistake.

Also, failures are part of the journey. Thus, they are inevitable.

***

“1978. I was born at 5:15 PM. At 5:16 my father announced, my son will be an engineer.” – Farhan.

From that time on, Farhan Qureshi’s fate was sealed. He was already fixed to a path which was decided by his father. The sad thing about this is that he was not really able to decide for himself because he was scared. As what I have mentioned above, Farhan is actually a good kid and he performed well in school.

However, he also knows in himself that engineering is just not for him and he does not show any interest in engineering because what really wanted to become was a wildlife photographer. Since Farhan Qureshi was a selfless idiot, he fulfilled his parents’ desires and followed most of their advice but later on regret it.

Follow your parents

I think it is fairly normal to be afraid to oppose our parents’ decision. Most of the time, we really let our parents decide because they already have experienced a lot of things in their lives and the best we should do is to listen to their advice because it could save us from being stuck in challenging times.

It is even stated in holy scriptures that children should really follow and listen to their parents and the elders as well. However, the question is, is there a limitation for this?

For me, as I have reflected, there is. Though parents are parents and they help us determine our future, I do think they are only limited in helping us shape a better future. The shape our future by sending us to school, educating us about their personal experiences, and remind us of what not and what to do. For the most part, like the final decision, it would be best if they leave it to us so that there would be no regrets.

There is huge chance that there would regrets if parents would explicitly interfere with their children’s life especially if it involves their future. Their children should also learn to be independent so that when the future becomes their reality, they would be independent and matured individuals not depending on entirely depending on their parents anymore.

Parents only want the best for us that is why they sometimes are interfering too much. We cannot blame them too though. They are parents and they are responsible for us. It would really be a hard time for them if the time comes that they need to set us free. That is why before the times they set us fly, they make sure that we know how to fly and flap our wings so that we will not fall that easily or if we fall, we can still fly our way to the top.

Following our parents should not be a hassle or a problem in our ears. Although honestly, there are just times we need to remind them that they keep on repeating the same words. They also keep saying especially to me, “It is good that we are constantly reminding you so that you will not forget it.” — said, my mom.

Easy going

One of the personalities of Farhan that I have noticed in the movie was that he was easy going and Rancho did not really have a hard time dealing with him. Farhan was most the time cool and matured to most things except with his dad.

Farhan displayed intelligence and maturity in the movie this is why I can say that he is my third favorite character. It is his personality that I really adore because he balances Rancho and Raju. While Raju was to piss off and he had a moody personality, Rancho was the happy, easy go lucky in their group. What Farhan makes the perfect third character is that he balances both Rancho and Raju’s personalities. Farhan was just calm and he knew how to adapt to the both of his friends. Sometimes he sympathizes with Raju and most of the time he does silly things with Rancho. Thus, I can say that he was really raised well by his parents because he was able to develop this kind of personality.

It is in this part where Farhan and I are alike.

Phlegmatic

I think Farhan and I are phlegmatic in temperament.

So first, is temperament and what is phlegmatic?

According to an online article 4 primary temperaments by John T. Cocoris, Psy. D. published in http://fourtemperaments.com/4-primary-temperaments/ (n.d.)., there are four primary types of temperaments: the choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.

These temperaments somewhat define a person’s personality. For each temperament, there is a variety of behavior and personality that could be consciously and unconsciously showed by an individual.

According to John Cocoris, “Cholerics are extroverted, quick-thinking, active, practical, strong-willed, and easily annoyed. They are self-confident, self-sufficient, and very independent minded. They are brief, direct, to the point, and firm when communicating with others. Cholerics like pressure and are easily bored when things are not happening fast enough. They are bold and like to take risks.” (n.d.) Choleric people are usually dominant because this is the quality of a leader. They are firm and strong in their way of dealing with issues. They put passion and endeavor to help others by testing them to understand themselves, as they would. On the other hand, Sanguine people are those who are just your typical extrovert friend. John said, “ The Sanguine has the potential for the widest range of behavior due to possessing the widest range of emotions. This allows them to participate (based on their second temperament) in any kind of human activity. They like to participate in, or change, their environment. The areas of business, politics, sports, and entertainment, to name a few, are dominated by the Sanguine temperament.” (n.d.) Sanguines are most of the social. They interact with a lot of people and it would take a long time for them to get tired. Also, they gather energy as somewhat extroverts from social interactions and a lot of people. Some sanguine are also expressive to the point that they do not filter anything they say. Sometimes, it is good because he/she is being direct to the point or straightforward but sometimes, they just cannot help but often offend other people intentionally. “Sanguines are very competitive. They usually like sports of any kind because of their natural desire to be active and involved with people.  They tend to be disorganized and easily forget where they left something. They sometimes have difficulty controlling their thoughts and emotions. Actually, they tend not to store their thoughts and feelings—if they think it or feel it, they share it!” (Cocoris, n.d.). Melancholic people on the other hand: “The Melancholy naturally wants to do things right, and is quality-oriented. Melancholies are not trying to be right, they are driven to figure out what is right. They have a cautious, tentative response designed to reduce tension in an unfavorable environment. The Melancholy’s second response is often to become aggressive to restore peace in an unfavorable situation. They influence their environment by adhering to the existing rules, and by doing things right according to predetermined (and accepted) standards.” (Cocoris, n.d.). Melancholic people are known for their perfectionism and their attitude of not settling for less. What this personality great is that it means people are not contented with mediocrity. They will really strive for perfection. Some of the sad things about them are that they are highly-introverted and they are seriously perfectionistic in a sense that they would overthink and be disappointed if they did not perform well. Cocoris added, “Melancholies fear taking risks, making wrong decisions, and being viewed as incompetent. They tend to have a negative attitude toward something new until they have had time to think it through. Melancholies are skeptical about almost everything, but they are creative and capable people. They tend to get bored with something once they get it figured out.” (n.d.)

Lastly, there is the phlegmatic temperament. According to Cocoris’ discussion, “Phlegmatics are introverted, calm, unemotional, easygoing, indecisive, patient, and agreeable. They are both slow and indirect when responding to others. Phlegmatics are slow to warm-up but will be accommodating in the process. They are by far the easiest people with whom to get along—as long as you do not try to alter their routine or ask them to change.”(n.d.) Farhan and I are alike because we are both phlegmatics. We tend to stay calm in most stressful situations and we can adapt to other people. I guess this is one of Farhan’s ability because he negates the differences between two completely opposite people. “Phlegmatics seldom exert themselves with others or push their way along in their career. They just let it happen. They make good team players. They communicate a warm, sincere interest in others, preferring to have just a few close friends. They are possessive of their friendships and material things. Phlegmatics will be very loyal to their friends.”(Cocoris, n.d.)

***

Now that we have learned about the temperament, we will go back to Farhan.

In a scene, his dad asked, “Son, what was your score that year? Farhan answered, “91%.” “Hear that? Straight drop from 94% to 91%” Rancho, who was also being reprimanded that time, burst into laughter. Well, I mean, it was clearly funny because it was relatable. Though it seemed for Farhan’s father that 91 is a small grade, for Rancho it did not. Not even for me. Sadly, there are just times that when your parents are used to you, acquiring a lot of awards and then suddenly you do not excel, they worry a lot. It is as if the world is going to end when in reality, the difference is just a few digits away.

I have also experienced the similar situation back when I was high-school when I was most of the receiving awards when suddenly, I got 79 in my math. It is not a failing grade, yes. However, for my parents, they were not used to seeing this kind of grade on my report card. Digits even lower than 85 would give me another set of reminder. Hilariously, a reminder about money which they do not just excrete or pick up on streets. They always remind us that money is hard to earn that is why we should just study well to compensate the time and efforts they give just to send me to a decent school.

***

In this part of my reflection, it would be about me and my parents in connection with Farhan’s parents and his father.

In a verbatim conversation of Farhan and his father:

“That scoundrel Rancho is messing with your mind!” – Farhan’s father.

“I don’t enjoy Engineering. I’d make a terrible engineer Rancho has a simple belief – Make your passion your profession. Then work will become play.”

During this time, it was really touching to hear Farhan try to open up his father’s consciousness to what he wants. Most of us have been in this similar situation where we have tried to convince our parents of what we want and what we do not want. Sometimes, we are able to convince them but there are also times that they are the ones whom we should follow.

As parents, they know better in most aspects of life and as their child, it would be a great idea to follow their guides and instructions.

“What’ll you earn in that jungle?” – asked Farhan’s father.

Farhan replied, “A small stipend, but I’ll learn a lot.”

“Five years from now…when you see your friends buying cars and homes, you’ll curse yourself.” – threatened Farhan’s father. Because of the belief and shape of society, some people have thought that happiness equates to money nor earthly materials when they are actually not. If if I were to be asked, the thing that would matter most to me is if my family is happy. Because if the time comes that I will be able to work on a stable job with a pleasing income, I would realize that behind of it all is my family who has supported me in my journey in life. Only those who are ungrateful would not give back or even remember their family’s help.

Also, Farhan’s father seemed to be greatly affected by the trends in the society. A person should have a car, this and that. And because of this, due to the attention spent by Farhan’s father about the wants of the society, he forgot the needs and wants of his own child because of focusing on other people too much.

“Life as an engineer will bring only frustration. Then I’ll curse you.”, Farhan replied.

Even if Farhan continued his life as an engineer, chances are, he would not be happy and because of this, he might just curse his father not only because his father did not let him get what he wanted but also because he subtly mocked his own son.

“I’d rather curse myself, Dad”– Farhan added.

His father replied, “The world will laugh! Label you a loser, for quitting in the final year”

This statement is another evidence that Farhan’s father is really shaped by the society. I do believe that this is an exaggeration because not all people around the world would really mock. For some people, profession did not really matter. What matters to life is if you are being you and if you are doing what you want. Though it is clearly not okay to quit especially in the final year, it could also be the best idea since while it is too early, Farhan should probably quit and pursue his dreams while it’s not to late and regret has not come yet.

“Mr. Kapoor feels you’re fortunate to be on the ICE. What’ll he think?” asked his father.

From Farhan’s heart, he genuinely replied “Mr. Kapoor didn’t provide me with an air-conditioner. It wasn’t Mr. Kapoor who slept in discomfort while I slept well. He didn’t take me around the zoo on his shoulders. You did all that, Dad, How you feel, matters to me. Mr. Kapoor makes no difference”

It was these words which made Farhan’s father soft and made his mind change. Farhan has a point. I mean, why does his dad have to worry about the judgment and criticisms of other people when in fact, they are not event related to each other. Why does his father have to worry about what Mr. Kapoor thinks of ICE when in the first place it was Farhan’s father who worked hard and spent a lot of money for Farhan and not Mr. Kapoor.

“God forbid if he did something crazy like Raju…” – Farhan’s mother said worryingly.

“Then the discussion is over. Don’t say a word or his Lordship will jump off the roof.”

During this scene, I laughed and became sad a bit because Raju was used as an example of Farhan’s situation. They might have thought of the possibility that Farhan could attempt suicide. Well, I do not even think he will because based on his personality, he knows that there are a lot of people who are going to be sad if he does it. So Farhan replied, “No, Dad. I’ll never attempt suicide. I promise. The Rancho you detest put this picture in my wallet told me to see it if a suicidal thought crossed my mind and imagine what’d happen to your smiles when you see my dead body.” These painful words reached his father’s heart as he begged with conviction. Of course, no parents would want their children to die just because they were not given the things they want, right? Farhan was not foolish enough to think of committing suicide. Fortunately, Rancho reminded Farhan about his parents would be sad if he committed such thing.

“I want to convince you, Dad, but not with a suicide threat.” – Farhan begged.

“Dad, what’ll happen if I become a photographer? I’ll earn less. I’ll have a smaller house, a smaller car but I’ll be happy.

I will be really happy. Whatever I do for you will be out of genuine love. I’ve always listened to you. For once, let me listen to my heart. Please… Dad.”

Farhan just poured his heart to his father and kneeled in front of him while begging. You could really see in the eyes of Farhan that he was sincere and he meant what he said. For him, earthly things did not really matter because he just wants to be happy. Regardless of the small salary, car, or house; at the back of it all, he just wants to have a happy life without regrets.

This bravery of Farhan made his transition from a submissive young man to a matured man. Because of this courage, he was able to pursue his dreams as a photographer and he was able to capture wonderful photos in a rainforest, assisting Andre Istvan.

I realized that the things we fear the most just need courage. Even a little courage would suffice to conquer the fear and overcome the trial. If we have this kind of bravery, we could also be like Farhan and we will be able to pursue our dreams.

The argument between Farhan and his father ended with his father saying “Go live your life, my son.”

It was a really touching conversation between a father and a son. I can only imagine what his father felt. He was surely happy deep inside too because his young boy became matured. In the end, Farhan, Raju, and Rancho, the 3 idiots became successful and they mostly got what they want. Raju is living a decent house with his wife and he has a job. Rancho was working with kids and teaching them the true essence of learning. Rancho is also implementing his wonderful ideas around the area he is teaching. Lastly, Farhan was able to capture the beauty of wildlife with Andre Istvan in a rainforest.

***

To top all of it, the character that I would choose is Raju. I chose him because I really admire his efforts. It took him a lot of things to reach where he is now. From a 50’s black and white film to a colorful life with a house, wife, and a stable job. If I were in his shoes, I would surely be happy because I was able to endure a lot of emotional pain and mental pressure accompanied with the challenge of living in poverty; in a house with a paralyzed father, complaining mother, and an unwed sister.

Kudos to Raju.

Group 2: A newly graduate that is seeking the job but does not pass the required job requirement such as pleasing personality.

I have chosen: Group 2: A newly graduate that is seeking the job but does not pass the required job requirement such as pleasing personality.
Job seekers have a lot to fulfill and comply when applying for jobs. These requirements that they need to comply depending on the industry they are applying. Usually, most requirements are objective but there are also subjective qualifications which these job seekers need to have.
In the industry, companies thrive and compete with each other to gain profit and fame. To succeed, most companies obviously invest in human resources. They invest in their skills and capabilities to which they believe will contribute to the plan of succeeding by the company.
Human resources contribute a huge help to most industries today and without them, wonderful ideas and amazing products would not come to life. Take Bill Gates as an example. Without him, Microsoft would not have been created. Without him, being a CEO, Microsoft would have been put to waste or probably it would not have been known and used by most people today.
Without the people from Google, various APIs, technologies, and web services would not have been created and used today. I can only imagine the challenges without those ideas and creative minds. It would be so hard for most ordinary internet user today and most developers would probably be limited to certain points if not for Google and its products.
All these things go back to point of human resources as a vital part of the success of many companies in today’s generation. However, the founders and the contributors of the said companies do not only have creative minds and wonderful skills. Their personalities have also contributed to the success and the betterment of the industry.
Certain CEOs like Elon Musk of SpaceX Tesla, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook possess outstanding personalities that lead them to success today. Are we not amazed or curious about the personalities of these successful companies?
In this world today, though, why is personality a big deal for most people? Should not people just be tolerable and objective in most things because personality is subjective and it really depends on the person? What if we did not include this type of criteria for people who would like to apply for a company? Should not there be more human resources which means a better chance of success?

How important is personality?
According to Matt Okeefe’s 6 Reasons Your Personality Is Important published in http://www.lifehack.org (n.d.), he said that although an individual’s appearance is nice and all, his/her personality still the one that is remembered.
For Matt Okeefe (n.d.), personality is what makes a person interesting. As I have read through his article in this section, I have pondered on a huge difference of making a person interested to you using your appearance and your personality.
It came to my mind that, he is right. Although today, a person’s physical appearance can make him/her interesting at first, as time goes by, this would more likely fade away. However, the interest would only fade if the personality is not as pleasing as we expected at first.
Most people today tend to stay with longer relationships, may it be friendly or romantically, because of the bond and their honesty to one another. Honesty cannot be seen on a person’s physical appearance, right? But it will surely reflect a person’s personality. As I have realized this, most people today would really stay and befriend people who have interesting and nice person rather than interacting and mingling with people who only have a good-looking face.
To be interesting means you have a pleasing personality. That’s all about it. If you would ask most of your friends why you are still friends with each other, he/she is more likely to say and compliment your attitude and the way you treat him/her. It would less likely to be just because of your appearance.
Furthermore, Matt Okeefe (n.d.) also stressed out that personality is important because it can be changed. How?
A person’s physical appearance can still be enhanced using make-ups. But his/her attitude cannot be improved using cosmetics. Since a person’s personality is subjective, it is changeable which means, personality can make a person be interesting and be a better human being.
Matt pointed out, “If you have a lot of anger buried inside you, for example, people close to you will be very pleased to see you change into a calmer person.” (n.d., para. 2). This means that bad attitude or unpleasing personality can be changed and it is not the end for unruly people.
Personality should be taken as an advantage for improvement because it can be changed. Not like cosmetics to enhance one’s appearance that would fade away after a certain span of time. People around us would want us to be more mature and developed in most aspects of our personality and that is the good thing about personality.
Aside from the factor that personality is changeable, Matt (n.d.) also said that through personality we distinguish ourselves. But what does this mean? Personality is somewhat relatable to start-ups and many software.
Personality makes a thing unique. If we based on most applications, they would stand out from other applications because they offer and display something unique. This uniqueness is patronized and acknowledged by many people. Through this, people will be able to distinguish the differences of software from each other.
For example, I can say that Facebook and Twitter are different with each other because you cannot tweet on Facebook but on Twitter you can. You may edit your posts on Facebook but on Twitter is irrevocable. These examples simply state that through differences we are able to point out which is which and how things are not the same with each other.
Going back to personality, it only means that it helps us differentiate ourselves from other people. It also gives us the knowledge of how our friends differ with each other. The best example would be the turtle and the rabbit. We know shallowly know that the turtle is slow and it has a small chance of winning a race. Meanwhile, the rabbit can hop as twice as much as the turtle can walk. However, what differs the two is their personalities. We all know that because of the ego of the rabbit he lost. The rabbit was too complacent of the turtle. He knew the turtle was too slow and so he did not even bother to run at first at gave the turtle a head start which led him to his defeat. Based on this story, personality really matters and it would be best not to judge a person solely based on his appearance and without even knowing his/her personality. Sometimes, it would be best if we also know how to deal with our personalities which may offend other people.
Aside from being able to differ with personality, Matt Okeefe (n.d.) added that one’s personality would not fade away. People would really have to deal with aging and changes. There will come a time people will get wrinkles on their face and have most of their teeth removed. What makes personality important is that it would fade away even though we old. It changes but it is still there.
Personality makes people better individuals. Through personality, they are able to make a good friendship with other people, a romantic relationship with their husband or wives, and strong bond with their families. Matt even pointed out that when a person dies, no one remembers them of how handsome they were. Instead, they are remembered for their personalities and the good times they had with them.
To sum these things up, personality makes a person unique and through this, we are able to differentiate a person from to other people. There are differences and attitude but it does not make us weak instead they make us strong. Personality makes us.
It also helps people to improve and be better individuals of society as it can be changed and it is not permanent that if he is born, he will be stubborn until he dies. No, personality is not static and that is the beauty of it. It can be changed to adapt and to be better individuals of the society.
Furthermore, personality does not fade away even if a person dies. Memories of good bonds and friendship will be remembered. It also made it clear to us that regardless how a physical appearance of a person is good-looking, his/her personality would still stand out and it will be the reason why most of their friends would stay.

***
Not only is personality important per se, but it is also important in the aspect of the workplace. According to Woody Woodward’s Why Personality Matters in Workplace published on March 04, 2016 in http://www.foxbusiness.com, personality can be greatly described using a popular model called the Big Five. For woody, Big Five model is short to OCEAN.
O for Openness to experience
Most job seekers, sometimes composed of fresh graduates, look for jobs that are usually aligned with what they have taken up it college. The connection between their degrees is a must when they look for a job. However, not all things that are needed for work are taught in college. My teacher once said that true learning is outside the four corners of a classroom.
In relation to my course, Information Technology, most emerging trends are not taught inside the classroom. The class has heard of certain technologies but they do not really dive deep into learning it. Unfortunately, most jobs that I see is that they look for graduates with experience. If not, at least experiences with technologies that are not taught in school. This becomes a problem for many job seekers and its connection to one of the five models is that it depicts how individuals are close-minded and how they approach new experiences.
When fresh graduates get hired in IT firms, some of them, fortunately, undergo training under the company’s directive. Through this action, these graduates will be tested for their flexibility and how they adapt to new things. It is one the reasons why personality is important in a workplace because it makes companies know who to recruit and not to recruit.
If personality would not be used to filter job seekers, especially in tech companies, chances are, there would be a decline in the changes of getting a quicker road to success. Because more often than not, people who are more flexible tend to get a hold of new technologies unlike those who are not. In this field, being adaptable to the nature of technology is a must especially that technology is always changing.
Conscientiousness
The state of being conscious is a must, especially at work. According to Woody, “Individuals who are lower on the conscientiousness scale tend to be big picture thinkers and less interested in the details of how things get done.” (2016) People who tend to be more aware of their surroundings and has the personality to be conscious other people’s personality is somewhat a factor that is considered by companies.
Usually, in interviews, applicants are asked of how do they see themselves 10 years from the time they are being interviewed. This question somewhat reflects the personality of the applicant of whether he is really that interested in the job or not.
This factor really contributes to the success of a company, especially that people who have a good of vision or perception of what is more likely to happen is better than those with nothing. Woody Woodward also stressed out the word diligence because, in a workplace, a worker’s effort really matters to the entirety of the company. If the company neglects the importance of conscientiousness to a workplace, chances are, their workers would slack off and would not be productive at work.
That is why it would be best to eye on job seekers who have the personality to exert greater effort in work even if they are still fresh graduates. Some companies would really hire diligent workers despite the lack of training because they believe that training and support can just be given but the personality and the diligence are innate to a person’s attitude.
Extraversion/Intraversion
The personality of a person to be extrovert or introvert is said to be one of the most recognizable factors from an individual. How and why is it important to an individual?
Sometimes, when companies look for prospect workers they would ask if they work best under maximum or minimal supervision or if they work best with teams with or themselves. These questions somehow lead to a person’s attitude and traits, especially at work.
Knowing this before hiring is important because it helps companies know what is best for the staff and how they can contribute to the company. For example, an extroverted person will more likely to be assertive and open to his colleagues. With this kind of attitude, collaboration and teamwork are applied to the setup of work.
Extroverted persons usually interact and gain a boost from other people. They tend to work in groups because they cannot stand working with themselves. Aside from this, there may also be negative implications for extroverted persons. People like them can sometimes be overfriendly. “They can become overly friendly with staff and clients. Proper boundaries are a must if this manager is to maintain the respect of others” –Effective Management- Extroverts vs Introverts, by Rhett Power on July 9, 2014, published in http://www.inc.com
On the other hand, getting the personality of people with the tendency of introversion is also important to a workplace because introverts should most of the time work with themselves and not with a group.
Introverts gain a boost from working with themselves and they actually enjoy this. Knowing this before or after an application is important because it contributes to the productivity an introverted person can give.
If there would be a situation where they are involved with people they are unfamiliar and it is composed of many people, chances are, they would be intimidated leading to unproductivity. However, there is also a negative side to introverts.
“An introvert may not be comfortable speaking up when a general call for ideas is given. Ask him directly (possibly before the meeting) if he has suggestions.” – Effective Management- Extroverts vs Introverts, by Rhett Power on July 9, 2014, published in http://www.inc.com
Power (2014) added that introverts often have a hard time dealing and talking to other people. They are creative and nice people but sometimes, speaking their ideas out loud makes them uncomfortable and conscious.
Agreeableness
The importance of agreeableness to a workplace is that helps people to know whether a person is friendly or not. This relationship helps to have a better communication in a company and its success. Usually, people who are friendly emanate a positive behavior. This behavior would lead to a much better outcome and productivity on the project. However, if the person shows hostility to his/her colleagues, problems within the group are more likely to occur.
Communication is a vital factor in a company and problems within it will really affect the wholeness of the company. For people to agree with each other, there should be a clear means of communication. People should be clear with their thoughts and they should display positive behavior and direct approach to avoid miscommunication.
People who appear to be more agreeable tend to show positivity and a trustworthy personality. People like to have an easy chance of building a quick and solid relationship with a company. Unfortunately, there are also those who would usually oppose. Woody Woodward added, “Those high in agreeableness are more trusting and modest whereas those low in agreeableness are more suspicious and oppositional.” (2016)
At first, for job interviews, knowing people with these kinds of tendencies is really important because it can affect the flow of projects, the relationships, and the products of the company. If this is neglected, there a big chance of employing people who are hard to deal with and the unproductivity level would rise.
Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)
Another factor that contributes to why a pleasing personality is important to a company is because it deals with emotions.
In the article, Woody Woodward stated, “Those who are highly neurotic tend to be less stable and frequently demonstrate negative emotions.” (2016) Dealing with emotions, first of all, is a subjective thing that needs can only be dealt with ourselves. In a workplace environment, a person’s sensitivity to his/her colleagues is really important.
If a person would act immaturely and vent out his unpleasing personality that would spread negativity around the environment, chances are, there would be an emotional chaos. Not all people like these outbursts in emotions especially when working. I do not even like it myself because it is a distraction that keeps me from being productive.
Pleasing personality, that would contrast what was stated, is really important for workplaces. People who are mature and get a hold of themselves have a higher chance of getting hired because they can resist stress. They can manage emotional problems without disturbing other people.
In a place that is full of pressure and stress, people who are emotionally stable are commonly needed that those who are not. In short, pleasing personality also comes along with emotional intelligence or EQ.
Daniel Goleman, a writer, presents in his books – Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ and Working With Emotional Intelligence published on November 15, 1995, five categories of emotional intelligence should be also be considered when hiring people aside from pleasing personality.
First, is self-awareness. People who have self-awareness deals with words properly. Rather than taking them in as insults and complaints, self-aware people take them as constructive and beneficial for their development. Second, people to be recruited should be self-regulated. Self-regulated people are those who can get a hold of themselves and they know how to deal with their emotions. They are not the people who burst out of anger or make noises in a workplace. Not even those who bring problems from outside to work and just be unproductive. Third, motivated people. These type of people are usually optimistic and sees the good in things. They spread positivity in a work environment and they decrease the stress and pressure. Fourth, empathy. People who empathize with his/her workmates is very important because it allows other people to be open with each other with is vital in a collaboration or teamwork. Understanding each other in the context of emotions is really important because it helps build solid trust and concrete relationship which is beneficial for the company. Lastly, people skills. On top of it all, a company would not be called “company” if it only involved a single individual. Collaboration and teamwork contribute to emotional intelligence that is also needed when recruiting people for the company.
***
To top all of it, pleasing personality is as much as important as the objective qualifications that are needed for work. However, these two may differ at certain points.
A pleasing personality will always stand out than a pleasing appearance. In today’s generation, society and companies do not really consider a person’s physical appearance if it looks good or not unless the company is somewhat related to an airline, marketing, or fashion industry. In most tech companies that I know, there is no need for a pleasing appearance. A pleasing personality would always have an edge because it contributes a huge factor to the success of a company.
Changes that may be applied to one’s personality is important because it is a must, especially in a work environment. Applying and working as a fresh graduate comes with certain tendencies of learning new technologies and adapting to innovations in technology. People with a much more flexible person who knows how to handle himself/herself under stress and pressure is needed other than those who are easily pressured and emotionally unstable.
A person’s neuroticism is important due to the fact that it contributes to a worker’s well-being, as well as the people around him in a workplace. A person’s capability to control himself/herself is really needed in a fast-paced environment. If companies neglect this factor in choosing their people, chances are, there would be outbursts and chaos inside the office they would not get a hold of themselves.
We also knew that neuroticism also comes with the emotional intelligence of a person because his emotions and personality depend on each other. Factors like self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy are some of the factors that must be taken into consideration when looking for new people to work for a company.
The agreeableness of a person to a certain scenario is also important to prevent chaos from oppositions or conflicts from miscommunications within a workplace. It is best to filter out those who have the tendencies to cause conflict to avoid unproductivity and issues inside the company.
Knowing where people get their energy is also important. The introversion and extroversion of people should be known beforehand so that adjustments would be properly made. This should come along with a proper human resource management in order for people to be productive. A person’s conscientiousness is also vital to a project’s success because it keeps a clear goal inside the mind of the people. Also, the innate diligence of person is very much needed because it shows the willingness to exert effort to produce a quality outcome. These things, under the OCEAN, a big five model, simply states that personality is needed to filter out people in interviews and it is vital to the success of a workplace. A pleasing personality should be a factor in working as well.
Now going back to the original discussion, we are going to relate the importance of a pleasing personality too. The given situation is a new graduate that is seeking the job but does not pass the required job requirement such as pleasing personality.
There are a lot of possibilities why fresh graduates are not quickly hired by companies and it may be because of the lack of experience, the degree and the job does not coincide, or because the applicant does not have a pleasing personality. We have stated and stress out above that personality is an important thing in a workplace.

***
Changing an unpleasant personality
Supposed a person does not really have a pleasing personality and it gives him/her a difficult time to change his personality, what should he do?
Well, there are a lot of things for people to have a better outlook on life and to simply have a pleasing personality. If we based these guides on what was stated above and follow the model it would not be so hard. Especially for that fresh graduate, if he really wants to work for companies instead of creating his own.
First, a person should probably be open. The openness that I am referring to is the openness in taking in various things may it be positive or negative. A person’s approach to the unknown and his openness in experiencing new encounters could be started. Second, people may try to be a bit more sensitive and conscious of other people’s actions and feelings. The condition of being cognizant is an absolute necessity, particularly at work. There would come a time that we would be so close to other people that we make jokes about them that sometimes it is insulting. During these times, it would be best to realize and improve a person’s personality. Being conscious would really be one of the best steps to have a pleasing personality because it directly deals with other people. Third, the knowledge of a person about themselves is also important so that they could properly adapt and adjust to the people around them. If you know that you are extroverted, sometimes, it would be best to also mingle with those who are introverted. Fourth, a person could try to be more agreeable. The significance of suitability to a work environment is that encourages individuals to know whether a man is agreeable or not. To be trustworthy is really important because it is a way to improve communication and relationship with a workplace. If this is not present, it somehow means that you cannot be trusted and agreed to easily maybe because of your unpleasant personality. Nevertheless, by simply being able to hear and respect other people’s opinion, it will slowly show that you are agreeable.
Lastly, for an unpleasant personality to change, one should be able to control rages and emotional outbursts.
In a place that is full of weight and stress, individuals who are sincerely steady are usually required that the individuals who are definitely not. To put it plainly, satisfying identity additionally joins passionate knowledge or EQ.
Maturity is not simply acquired. One needs to have a lot of experiences to be mature which means, to be emotionally stable, a person needs to be mature enough of his/her feelings.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Personality and Success:
On the side note, Mark Zuckerberg has said to be one of the perfect personalities to achieve most things in a quick manner – 8 Personality Traits of Mark Zuckerberg by Smita Bhardwaj published on May 9, 2017, in http://www.businessalligators.com.
Mark Zuckerberg appears to be an INTJ type of person. INTJ stands for Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judgment. Each of these represents a person’s personality, how he/she deals with almost everything.
Above, we have stated the differences between an extrovert and introverted person. We pointed out that extroverts gain energy from people while introverts gain energy from themselves. We also stressed out that extroverts are good at team plays and they do not really bother to work with a team, unlike introverts.
On the other hand, it appears that Mark Zuckerberg is introvert, unlike other CEOs. “… he is seen communicating very less during presentations to investors.” (Bharwadj, 2017) If we are going to base on society, we typically think that CEOs are more of extroverts because they usually deal with their human resources and converse with a lot of people. However, Mark Zuckerberg is different and this personality does not really define him as a successful CEO of Facebook.
Furthermore, Mark Zuckerberg seems to be intuitive based on his personality. Mark appears to be quick in understanding situations in his workplace and that he is able to comprehend things with easily. In a recent study from Paysa using Watson, IBM’s supercomputer, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s personality was analyzed. In the results, it showed that Mark’s top 5 personalities showed a high level of intellect. This level is also similar to SpaceX Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
This personality fully complements his third personality which is Thinking. According to Smita Bhardwaj, “Being a typical INTJ, he has a vision and he works on the path to achieve his vision and goal.” (2017) Smita (2017) added that Mark tends to schedule and maintain control to achieve whatever he wants to achieve.
Furthermore, Mark Zuckerberg’s personality of Judgement makes him a great CEO because this personality somewhat signifies his decisiveness and objectivity when it comes to decision making.

How he became successful
The new graduate may extract inspiration from various CEOs and one could be Mark Zuckerberg. If the newly graduate intends to be the boss and create his own start-up company, he/she may use Mark Zuckerberg’s success as his outline.
“Like every other entrepreneur, Mark Zuckerberg’s passion for his work and ambition to bring it to the benefit of people was commendable.” (Bhardwaj, 2017). Smita Bhardwaj (2017) said the Mark was very passionate about his work. He exerted a lot of effort to attain what he has now. Also, Mark did the best that he could so that he could provide what was best for the majority of his people. Mark surely did have a challenging time throughout the years but it turned out that he succeeded and he continues to improve.
Mark embodies an attitude of a hardworking dutiful person. Despite the failures and challenges, he continued and faced them all.
Aside from that, Mark became successful because “Mark Zuckerberg had only one vision in his mind and that was to make a more connected and open world.” (Bhardwaj, 2017) According to Smita’s article, Mark did not really intend to have Facebook as a company. It was created to accomplish his goals to bring people closer together using the means of technology. This purpose of bringing people together actually turned out as success and because of this concentration to the vision, Mark succeeded in the goals that he wanted to achieve.
Mark Zuckerberg’s vision did not only focus on himself and his ideas but also to his team. Smita Bhardwaj pointed out, “He believes a great team is all you need to be successful. He knows very well that you cannot build a great company all by yourself. You need to know how to build just the right relations with the people.” (2017)
Even Mark knows that for an idea to succeed, one should not only deal with himself. Knowing the strengths and capabilities of your team is really helpful concept especially for succeeding. Trusting them is also a good thing. Additionally, Mark took any risks and he was never afraid of it. “Mark Zuckerberg was never afraid of taking risks when it came to Facebook. He had such a faith in his work that even while raising money for Facebook he canceled on his meetings, ignored some important phone calls, maintained distance from some major investors and all this he did to just build up the hype and demand.” (Bhardwaj, 2017)
It also appears that Mark Zuckerberg was assertive and strict but an encouraging leader. “It is true that Mark Zuckerberg gets aggressive when he doesn’t get the results on time. His teammates define him as a person who demands constant innovation as well as growth.” (Bhardwaj, 2017) Although Mark was somewhat strict in his workplace, he still gave his employees the freedom to innovate and think outside the box. Through this concept, his employees can say that Mark only wants them to grow and innovate more. Smita Bhardwaj also added, “He always pushes his employees to deliver more than what is required of them. He is over assertive and wants to get thing his way. But he knows when to stop and give away as well.”
Although Mark was strict at some point, he also knew when to stop which means that Mark is really a great and mature leader.
Mark was even a down to earth person according to Smitha Bhardwaj. Smitha said, “He is least bothered about his appearance and doesn’t care about getting in tune with the latest fashion which makes him a proper INTJ type person.” (2017) Smitha Bhardwaj (2017) also added that Mark likes to chat with regular people, and he even organizes question answers session, donate billions of his income to various organizations and charities.
This type of personality makes Mark a one of a kind boss that many CEOs should consider. It is because aside from his technical skills as a coder or CEO, he is an empathetic person that really wants to fulfill his vision of connecting people from around the world using technology.
Mark’s attitude of focusing on important things also gave him success. Mark Zuckerberg took words from other people constructively. Smitha Bhardwaj stated, “He always took all the criticism in a positive way and treated it as a source to fuel creativity, innovation, and actions that have resulted in his success.” (2017)
Smitha Bhardwaj further stated, “According to Mark Zuckerberg, moving fast is a personality trait that has enabled him and his team to build more things and learn faster. The idea here is that if you are not breaking anything then you probably are not moving at a fast pace.” (2017) Sometimes, it would be best to stay in middle: moving fast to grow and then move slowly to avoid potential threats that could harm the growth.
Lastly, one of the best things that contributed to the success of Mark Zuckerberg and his company according to Smitha Bhardwaj’s online article, Mark listened to the reviews and suggestions of his users. He learned to adapt and applied changes to Facebook based on his application’s user reviews. “Zuckerberg believes in listening to the users both qualitatively and quantitatively. He made a lot of changes in the Facebook based on the experience of the users and their feedback. A lot of innovation happened on the Facebook because of the interaction and feedbacks of the users.” (Bhardwaj, 2017) Smitha Bhardwaj added, “He learned that user experience mattered a lot and while making his decisions he adapted to include user experience as well.” (2017)

Importance of Technopreneurship to Personality
The importance of Technopreneurship to personality and vice versa can be defined in a lot of ways. According to Rajesh Shakya’s What is Technopreneurship?, “A technopreneur is an entrepreneur who is technology savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, dares to be different and take the unexplored path, and very passionate about their work. They take challenges and strive to lead their life with greater success. They do not fear to fail. They take failure as a learning experience, a stimulator to look things differently and stride for next challenge. Technopreneurs continuously go through an organic process of continual improvement and always try to redefine the dynamic digital economy.” (2007)
Let’s dissect what Rajesh Shakya said. First, he stated that a technopreneur dares to be different and take the unexplored path. We have discussed earlier that people with pleasing personality is being themselves and they do not imitate other people. Thus, maybe the fresh graduate did not qualify as a technopreneur maybe because he/she was not being true to himself/herself. It was even stated earlier that personality, similar to technology, is what makes us unique to other people. That is why if we imitate other people, we are being like not and not what we really are. Furthermore, it was said that they take the unexplored path. One of the five models of personality discussed openness. In openness, the flexibility of an individual to get hold of the unknown, or new technologies is way better than those who stick and neglect change. It is not a good point to recruit people who are stagnant and neglectful to change especially that they are under the always evolving field of IT.
Rajesh Shakya (2017) also added that technopreneurs are very passionate about their work. Under the conscientiousness section of the OCEAN, the Big five model which Woody Woodward discussed, he made it clear the diligence is a must. Relating it to technopreneurs, diligence should really exist within themselves especially that it requires various factors to work on in Technopreneurship. – a business model, income generation, target audience, the main idea, development, etc.
People who are too clumsy and complacent not to work cannot just simply be a technopreneur. One really needs to work hard for their innovations to succeed. Additionally, Rajesh Shakya pointed, “…technopreneurs take challenges and strive to lead their life with greater success.” (2007)
Technopreneurs are somewhat daring in their field because they encounter challenges head-on. Sensitive people who cannot get a hold of themselves cannot simply just take these challenges. We even stated above that the personality of being emotionally stable is also a must in working, how much more in the field of Technopreneurship? In this field, there will be a lot of challenges, pressure, and stress around its environment and to be a technopreneur, you have to face it with emotional stability. Not only does Technopreneurship deal with its target market but it also deals with the one who generated the idea himself/herself. If the idea does not work, go to plan, or convince people from buying it, a technopreneur would more likely to continue and improve. Unlike people with unpleasing personality, chances are, they would stop, be discouraged, and easily give up.
Also, what makes Technopreneurship important to having a pleasing personality is that “…They do not fear to fail. They take failure as a learning experience, a stimulator to look things differently and stride for next challenge.”– (Shakya, 2007)
Technopreneurs deal failure with ease and they even take it as a learning experience, not as a hindrance. I do think they believe that failure is one of the keys to an improvement of being a better technopreneur. To be able to take it as a lesson, it all goes back to a person’s personality and how he/she is going to take failure.
It would not be that hard if his/her personality is accompanied by the five categories of emotional intelligence. We have discussed above that personality comes with EQ. Technopreneurs are probably self-aware. They deal with constructive criticisms professionally and do not think of it as complaints nor insults. If they fail, they are not like other people who burst out like a mad dog. Instead, they learn from it and prevent it from happening again. Lastly, Rajesh Shakya said, “Technopreneurs continuously go through an organic process of continual improvement and always try to redefine the dynamic digital economy.” (2007) For me, technopreneurs are awesome simply because they are matured individuals and they possess a pleasing personality. Technopreneurs know what to do in times of distress and pressure. They know how to deal with failure and get over it. Aside from their skills and capabilities on technicality and creativity, they are people who are being themselves–possessing a uniqueness that makes them mostly different from other people. The stated situation might have been because the newly graduated person did not qualify to be a technopreneur or he/she did not meet the standards of Technopreneurship. Pleasing personality meets Technopreneurship in various ways and it is amazing to think that personality greatly relates to Technopreneurship. It deals with its target-market after all.

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A newly graduate that is seeking the job but does not pass the required job requirement such as pleasing personality.
Although there are many factors that contribute to the stated situation where the fresh graduate did not pass the job requirements for his desired company, it still does not mean that it is the end for him. As what I have stated above, personality can still be changed and it does not mean that if he is somewhat unpleasing to other people, he is unpleasing forever.
A pleasing personality should coincide with Technopreneurship to meet success. Given that, it means that Technopreneurship and a pleasing personality is important to each other because they help each other to achieve the path to success. It may seem absurd but people, especially leaders like CEOs, who do not give value or worth to their people would more likely land on failure.
While those who possess pleasing personalities have better future in life even in they ought to be employees working for a boss or as a boss managing people for the betterment of the company.
Also, we made it clear that a person’s physical appearance would really matter especially in the tech industry. This subjective thing is most of the time defeated by a pleasing personality.
One of the importance of Technopreneurship to discuss in this matter is that if he cannot pass the interview or fulfill the requirements needed by other company, he can just make his own start-up company. Because instead of wasting his time for looking for work, he can just actually make his own.
There are also a lot of factors to look at when he wants to be a technopreneur and start his own company. However, this does not mean that if he becomes the boss of his own company, it does not necessarily mean that his personality should remain stagnant as what it is. The boss’ personality may still affect the start-up company that he is planning to create.
For example, the boss is sort of stubborn, unruly, and emotionally unstable. With this situation, chances are, if he is going to hire people to work for him, other people might think negatively of him which would result for the boss to have a difficult time to look for compose his own team.
Also, if he successfully creates his own team yet his personality does not change, there would be a possibility that his teammates would turn out unproductive and intimidated by him. Because of this effects, the start-up company would more likely to fail.
A technopreneur cannot just be so full of himself and think what’s best for his idea only. He should also consider the well-being of his team by being conscious of his personality and being empathetic to other people. Through this way, the positivity that would be emanated from the boss would depict positive vibes that will really help his team and the start-up company.
Regardless of what the fresh graduate is trying to achieve; may it be to apply as an employee for other people or to work as the boss and create a start-up company, a pleasing personality still matters.
If the fresh graduate really wants to work for a company, he needs to change his unpleasing personality because if he does not, chances are, he would be unemployed for quite some time. If he chooses to create a start-up company and boss around his people with his unpleasant personality, chances are, many of his people would quit and would unproductive at work. Personality is somewhat a double-edged sword. It may be unpleasant or pleasant for other people. Personality depends on one’s self and how he/she reflects on himself/herself and grow maturely to be a better individual of the society.
After all, the importance of Technopreneurship to a pleasing personality is that it leads to success. People who possess pleasing personality, may he be an employee or a boss in a start-up company, has the capability to have a positive outlook on life and treat trials or failures as a lesson. In Technopreneurship, the road to success has a lot of twists and turns and a man with an unpleasing personality would more likely to be challenged in most aspects of his life, unlike the one who has a pleasing personality.