My Vision for the Future
“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.”
My grandfather said when he was younger, “I will build roads.” His brother after him said “I will build bridges.” Most people say “I will be ‘…’” Some people say “I don’t know”. I said “I don’t care what I do, as long as I can make a difference in people’s lives.”
It was not so long ago when I spent days and days thinking about where I would go to college and what I would be. I never really thought of myself as good at anything in particular; just lucky at some things every now and then. I was/am as average as average can be.
Until one day, Joel Santos, venture capitalist and founder of Entrepreneurs’ School of Asia, came to give a career talk at our school. He spoke about social entrepreneurship and helping others through and with business. He said that while it may be a very hard path to take, the right idea/s and motivation can and will lead us to success.
And that’s when it hit me. I couldn’t decide on any particular profession or job because I didn’t want one. I didn’t want to have a job. I wanted to make them.
I figured that the more successful I am, the more people I’d be helping. Not just because I could give more to charity, but because I could actually give people livelihood. Jobs mean the opportunity to learn and provide for a family. Jobs mean that families could have children who could go to school. And children going to school would mean more people learning and growing to become the next generation of leaders for the country.
I went into the tourism industry not because I want to travel or become a flight attendant. I may want to travel, but I don’t want to be a flight attendant. I went into it because tourism means big business. It means development. It means giving people a better environment to live in and helping to preserve the beauty of their culture and environment while giving them the opportunity to thrive in the modern world.If I can learn to develop communities through the use of business, I know that I can create a great impact on this Philippine society.
Again, bigger business, more jobs, more education, more impact, better future. I’m not saying that this is the only way to go; its just the path I’ve chosen. I might not be the one to build roads or bridges. But I know it in my heart that I will be the one to help people build those roads and bridges, literally and figuratively.
