Opening Rites

I said no to the Los Banos students who wanted to be excused from classes to attend the Opening Rites of the Centennial in Diliman. They insisted, so I insisted on my No. They said, But it's going to be historic, sir. Their other teachers said so. The papers. The upperclassmen. The religious groups. The frats. The activists. In that progressive order. I said, Historically, the university brought the Philippines to it's current state. They of course protested. That's what students are for. They said, Sir, you can't blame the university! I said, If that's the case, what's the school's excuse to last another hundred years? But they already heard the word "excuse" and took off. In their wake, they left the corridors, SLEX, and EDSA, littered with maroon and green confetti.