It was a privilege. I am honored. I humbled. Indeed, a blessing from God, the Omniscient One. I am thankful to Mr. Henry Palaca for being the enabler.
This last Saturday and Sunday I had the most unique event happen to the academic 'hat' I wear. I had the privilege to facilitate a strategic planning session with the Nuclear Regulations, Licensing and Safeguards Division of our very own Philippine Nuclear Research Institute.
It is unique because Strategic Planning and Management (SPM) is one of the Top 3 things that I instantly gravitated to even during the first time it was introduced to me by Dr Bing Carlos during my undergraduate years and was further honed by Mr Elfren S. Cruz during my graduate studies.
SPM is a topic! My topic! And for it to be the very topic to be discussed and facilitated amongst our very own nuclear scientists and regulators, is a moment. I prayed to God and I hope that that two days could contribute even just an iota to the growth of nuclear science in the Philippines for the benefit of the Filipino people.
Hands down, I facilitated the best class, so far, of my academic career. They listened in a totally different level. They processed in a totally different level. The energy was in a totally different level. Nuclear even = )
I saw passion expressed and heard it in raised voices. Heated. I saw the very heart of a group of people who truly truly want, in the heart of their hearts, to contribute to the Philippine society. I was touched when we were going through the Vision-Mission workshop. I asked them, "What is the one thing, among the six vision and mission statements that you just created, jumps out at you, speaks to you and grabs you?"
And in a hushed tone, almost reverential, they said, "... for the benefit of the Filipino people."
You probably would say, "Chicka!"
But you have to understand this group is a 'bunch' of mid-4o people. In fact, two are already close to retirement. They are old enough to be your Mom or Dad. Heck, they are even old enough to be mine. These people, to put it in proper context, are the students you met way back in college that gave you that inexplicably pressure, because they were so smart, that you were afraid to speak during recitations. And you expect them to pull your leg? = )
And yet, they sat. For two days. Open.
They ask the most insightful and interesting questions.
And if you are a learning facilitator and have facilitated over a hundred classes, you will come to a very simple and beautiful conclusion, sometime in that hundred classes, that the questions ask is a direct measure of the quality of learning and of processing inside the head of "students".
And I was swamped!
One of the beautiful things, though a bit painful, about the two days was when I sat down with PNRI's Director over her quick lunch. She was totally unassuming and still a student after all these years and the many trips to various nuclear facilities around the world.
The conversation started with a casual query, "So, you are following the BNPP?"
Our conversation moved swiftly. From her experience as one of the junior and yet very able hands in the site preparation of the BNPP back in the 1970s to this very peculiar "sayang" expression, pertaining to the mothballed BNPP, only a seasoned and true lover of knowledge could say.
My takeaway from that conversation is that, maybe, BNPP's mothballing is one of the cause why Filipinos love for science has waned over these past two decades.
Maybe, in a very quantum mechanics way, BNPP's mothballing contributed to the "misguided" acceptance of the Filipino student that to be an entertainment celebrity is the de facto standard of someone who has made it.
Maybe they accept it because who should they emulate instead? Our current limelight hogging politicians? That is so Heath Ledger Joker funny = )
In the end, after the two days, I had a better appreciation of nuclear science even if I have watched the National Geographic's take on the Chernobyl meltdown = )
My mind was stretched. Again, I was student. I found a new meaning for RAM other than the Senator Gringo Honasan's. RAM, apparently, means Radio Active Materials. And for two days, it was not weird that I spoke the acronym IAEA in a usual casual banter. I mean how often could you slide in International Atomic Energy Agency in a sentence?
Lord, thank you!
To God be all the glory...
PS
... but when everything is over and done with and the silence of the night embraces my being, all I could hear is my heart beating "Beb...Beb"
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