JASMS kid
Sunday, April 30th, 2006Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
A peace that was meant to be…
Suddenly hearing this song in mass today, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my alma mater.
JASMS introduced me to this song–it is practically our second school anthem, something we sang in the flag ceremony every Monday during the pre-school and grade school. First came the National Anthem, followed by the Panatang Makabayan, followed by our school song, and then by this one.
Thinking about it now, I find it so cool how our school has attempted to brainwash us into becoming peace-loving, idealistic children, with songs like these being required to be memorized, along with "One Little Candle" (It is better to light just one little candle/than to stumble in the dark/It is better to light just one little candle/all you need is a tiny spark)and Lea Salonga’s "I Am But A Small Voice" (
I am but a small voice/I am but a small dream/The fragrance of a flow’r/In the unpolluted air…Come young citizens of the world/We are one, we are one).
In JASMS, we had a Peace Mountain and held Peace Rallies, the most significant one held in the Batasan grounds where, as young as we were, we were encouraged and exposed to make colorful placards and banners that read "We Want Peace!" In the Batasan Freedom Park, we as a studentry, along with our parents, teachers and school administrators, sang songs of peace and hope and displayed to the politicians at the House of Representatives our sentiments on their purchase of firearms to fight against real and perceived enemies.
We had War Toy Burials where our teachers insructed our parents to bring toy guns, swords, tanks, and the like. A day (or half a day?) was dedicated to digging and burying all of my boy (and probably some girl) classmates’ toys in a strong display of our rejection of violence.
Aside from rallying for peace, JASMS has brainwashed me to care for the environment. I can’t recall anymore how that school has done that to me, except maybe a lot of our student activities (art/writing contests, classroom activities) had themes that related to environmental issues. We were taught to segregate our trash way before there were solid waste management proclamations. We attended tree-planting activities in and outside of school. Our Senior Kindergarten yearbook featured all of our illustrations of "Paano Natin Mapapanatili and Kagandahan ng Kapaligiran".
Maybe also since our school was so full of trees and grasses and everything green that we learned to appreciate and value the importance of nature. We were forever encouraged to go out to the playground and mountain, to run around the Peace Mountain, to take in the fresh air. And with JASMS being located along EDSA, the Peace Mountain stood as a perfect contrast to its polluted, un-managed atmosphere.
I remember being so disgusted by the pollution I saw along EDSA as my dad drove me to school every morning. I’d be seated in the passenger seat, seeing the huge buses spew long lines of smoke that hardly rose and remained hovering over the highway, turning into a pool of wavy, black air that stood ever-so-reliably over the horizon as we approached the school from North Avenue. I remember shaking my head in shame, wishing and wanting to solve the problem of pollution, but not knowing how to.
But I suppose that, for me, the most striking thing about studying in JASMS was its philosophy of Freedom with Responsibility. In JASMS, all the kids were free to be themselves, and to act like kids. We weren’t loaded with school work. I hardly remember being pressured to study for tests or to stop playing to do my homework. Instead, I remember how my our teachers would let us out into the Peace Mountain to play as long as we’ve finished our work for that day. How we were the given the options to choose what we’d like to during Physical Education classes–Kickball, Agawang Base, Softball, Volleyball, or Basketball (and for the non-physically active, Chess, Scrabble or Games of the General). How we could chitchat and play in the darkness of our classrooms during what was supposed to be nap time, but get away with it, because we never disturbed the neighboring classrooms anyway. How we would be allowed to play aboslutely ANYwhere, even if it seemed dangerous, which only taught us to watch after ourselves and pick ourselves up when we got wounds or bruises. How we sang a lot of songs, read a lot of stories and poems, drew a lot, danced a lot, and had LOTS of good time.
Madami pa ‘to, I know it, but it’s a bit overwhelming to list it all down here right now…Ang masasabi ko lang ngayon–Man, I had a happy childhood. Thanks a lot to JASMS.
