"truly, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder..."

It was this Thursday, last.

I was surfing the cable channels when I stopped at a program that was discussing and focused on Philippine business, to be specific, the SM-Investment Corporation, I think.

It stoked my interest because the CFO Siao(?) was talking about investing and burying some PhP 10 billion in the next three years in their pet project in Roxas Boulevard where Mall of Asia is. The money will be used to expand the current reality of Mall of Asia to something like having our own version of Singapore in the beautiful and scenic Manila Bay.

Pompous hot air?

I don't think so. This guy is a CFO and to say what he said in broadcast TV and not mean it is stupendous stupidity = )

Sidebar - can anything compare to our Manila Bay sunset? Have you seen it recently? Try the one sometime in April or May. You'll be blown away. Promise.

What is beautiful about this whole exercise is that the physical land where Mall of Asia is on is actually reclaimed land. Reclaimed from the sea. Meaning, it was not there to begin with. That was part of the sea originally. It is there now because someone saw what was not there. That person saw a dream, the potential of the spot. He moved away and shifted his sight to look at the potential and not to what it was in the naked eye. Beautiful.

And because of that, that spot along the reclaimed land is worth putting in PhP 10 Billion.

Could we also do this for our students? Our learners? Not see who they are but their potential?

Here's a confession. I have had students who got a grade of 2.75 or even a 3.0 (1.0 being the highest), some even got a failing mark but who is a definite 1.0 on the "Potential Scale." Maybe they already started to believe what the others have been telling them that they don't have it. That they will not amount to anything good, decent, GREAT!

I hope that when I met them, I made them feel different. I hope I reminded them of their true great selves. I hope I've reminded them of the 7 year old version of themselves. When things are simply possible = )

If this blog entry struck a chord in you, I really meant to talk to you! Promise!