I AM

I am Paul Francis Lagarde
21 years old

My college friends call me PF.
My highschool friends call me Ken.
My elementary friends call me Lagarde.

Truth be told, I respond to all.

I am Paul Francis Lagarde.

I was born on the last day of the year.
I am a 90's kid.
I grew up playing agawan base, patintero, tumbang lata, chato.
I am from a slum area and am proud of it.

Truth be told, I thank God for having me grow up with this environment. It gave me a sense of reality. a taste of a truth that up to now I carry.

I believe in love.
I believe that we were born out of love and that is what we were meant to do...to love.
I believe in a God of love and it is this love that enabled Him to create us.
It is also this love that moved Him to give us his only begotten Son and it may not seem enough He also died for us to save us from sin.

We may not be born lovers, but I believe that we are born to love.

I believe in family.
I believe that the values that we carry throughout our lives is first learned in the family.
Yes my parents are separated. Yes I do not live with them.
But that never stopped me from loving them. This fact never stopped me from feeling loved; from feeling special.
I may not have a normal family setting, but my home was never broken and I would not have it any other way.

I believe in friendship and in friends.
They are the family that you never had. People who you can count on, people who make your life a little more than normal.
They are the ones who will understand you...no judgments.

I believe in advocating education.
I believe that access to quality education more than a privilege, is a right.
I believe that the quality of the development that a country undergoes depend much in the quality of its educational system.
I believe that the educational system should be geared towards answering to the needs of the country and not of foreigners.
I believe that a classroom is a microcosm of the society. It is where we form the future citizens of the country.
I believe that education should be getting the highest priority more than debt servicing and defense.

I believe in teaching.
It is the mother of all professions.
Without it, nurses, engineers, writers and other professions will not be possible.
It is the most noble profession there is.
It takes a lot of heart to stand in front and bear the responsibility of being a role model to the present and future of the country.
Yes it was never an easy job and in fact never will be.
But if you have the heart, if you have the passion, everything will feel like play.

I believe in the youth.
They are not only the future of the nation but rather the present.
I believe in this sector's endless potentials.
I believe in the youth's creativity in solving the most pertinent issues facing the society.
They are a force to be reckoned with.
They carry the power to either make or break our present....our future.

I believe in leadership.
I believe that it is not something someone does but rather a way of life.
It is not a position but a way of life.
I believe that to be a leader one does not to be the BIG boss.
One can be a leader even if one is a mere member.
Leadership needs a continuous search of the self...pointing out one's strengths and weakness and growing from it.
I believe that it is about nurturing other's, realizing the people one wants to serve and forming a compelling vision for one self and society.

I am Paul Francis Lagarde

I am many things.

I am.