“Whisper at the Iron Bars” by Karen G.

Shhhhhhhhhh….

The fangs of the wind slowly touched his inner core as he stood in front of the giants of dubiousness and uncertainty. A man not known for anything but intoxication. Who are we to become a nitpicker, when one’s story isn’t yet told?

Dionesio Anthony– eldest in the family of Alvarez, son of Dionesio and Esther. A student of SSU Paranas Campus who in person crouched and experienced the fall-out of family members. One who couldn’t find a kiddie tablet that could alleviate his pain; knowing he got nothing but a child in 3rd grade left by the mom-and-dad misunderstanding. “If they were to choose between commitment and disagreement, why not me?” A question that rocked him to the outer edge, penetrating inside his caged heart. He grew up in Motiong, Samar, and took up elementary years in Motiong Elementary School. Later on, he was taken to Pulong Buhangin National High School in Bulacan together with his father. Before he graduated from high school, they went back home to Samar because his “paps” (father) and stepmom separated. He finished high school in Motiong.

Walking through the deepest valley. He got no eye to turn to amidst suffering. Wearing a mask of coping and normality; watching every tears of loneliness and desperation falls. Stocked on the feeling of not being enough. Confidence got covered of wind blusters in icy chaos. Not being able to speak in front of the crowd. HE WAS FROZEN. Such excruciating, thorn-headed needle of the situation left an invisible scar that only himself could feel but not fully comprehend.

The droughts that keep him unfruitful. The storms that make him disabled. So he let himself be drowned in the river of doubt and hurtful experiences. Tossed and churned by the wind of the seas– and drinking like a fish in the ocean of liquor. Temporarily, he forgot the clothes of unworthiness. Turned off the switch of being out of place. Make himself a man of nowhere so there’s no one who could get him anywhere. Trying to find an absolutely hidden place from the neighbor’s eyes. Blind and everything was in vain….But the radiance of hope doesn’t end when you got lost. It magnetizes so as long as you breathe.

A campus of innovating, building, and serving shed a splendor of light to his darkness. Workers at the SSU Paranas Campus, who were once encouraged him to enroll in the said university extended their hands to uplift a person like him who only knew he was nothing. Sometimes, other people stand up for us when we couldn’t do it for ourselves. We might have a hard time pondering but it immensely alters our courage to face the shadow of what seems impossible. Third-year college when he started to join pageantry and out of nothingness came a bold man, soaring high in the midst of an intimidating crowd. Winning the title for Mr. SSU until he stepped up on the stage of regional competitions and won Mr. SCUAA 2019. ‘Twas the time when his face shone in the mud of cardboard shanties. A mess turning into a message. An inspiration to the family that broke apart and to the students who underestimated the DNA of greatness in their lives.

Are we going to just sit on the couch and wait for our moment to come? Or, are we making the count of the moment an opportunity to elevate our being? He would have lost heart unless he had believed in the potential sometimes comes out when we never thought, it will. So we must never underestimate the value of a single person. For when you put even the tip of your finger, it creates an impact on the whole being. Who has seen the worst of worsts? Who has seen an unlikely situation a person is up to? No one. No one sees it. Sometimes it does hurt. Most of the time, it whispers. And only when we hear the sound waves of these unfathomable needs and desperation we can truly realize that there is someone behind closed doors. Whispering at the iron bars… Looking for keys—and the key is YOU! An untold story of the brokenness of an ordinary student that made him extraordinary.