Seven Years to Write, Two Minutes to Read

Micah Stefan Dagaerag

Thoughts in Transit
By the time this comes out on paper, I will have already left
Dumaguete for home Bac! in the summer, I thought it was a"out
ta!ing a step "ac! from how fast life was going for me, and start
wor!ing on my life, rather than simply wor!ing in it But now, even
my liver wants a vacation of its own, while the rest of me had
already "een fraying at the edges long "efore that
I have come to the point in my life where I am no longer ruled "y
choice, "ut "y circumstance #ll the things I had wanted to do and
dreamed a"out are now gone $rovidence has made sure that a
di%erent path "e forged and paved for me I suspect the future will
not "e as accommodating to my own plans and pro&ections
anymore In any case, the inescapa"le thought and the nagging
sensation of a permanent departure has led me to muse on how
signi'cant Dumaguete is to me To recount(
It was in Dumaguete where I became a Calvinist. I was a
)hristian since high school in *++*, "ut it was only in college when
I "ecame 'rmly grounded into the foundational doctrines of
)hristianity, in the historical $rotestant tradition of ,ohn )alvin and
Martin -uther of the Reformation, al"eit necessitating some
occasional con.icts with certain past leaders of Silliman )hurch
when I served as a &unior elder I got to !now ,ohn $iper, ,ohn
Mac#rthur, Mar! Driscoll, R) Sproul, and all these precious
)alvinist preachers I love and cherish The heart of the )alvinist is
simply to la"or towards the pure and the true teaching of the Word,
no matter how o%ensive the purity of that Scriptural truth might "e
to the world, to fellow )hristians, and most especially to our own
selves
It was in Dumaguete where I frst learned to debate. I have
said "efore that ne/t to )hrist and my closest family and friends, I
thin! parliamentary de"ating through the Silliman 0niversity
De"ate Society was the "est thing that ever happened to me #
mind that !nows how to see and slice thoughts "eneath words is
really an asset you will spend a lifetime "ene'ting from
It was in Dumaguete where I frst learned to write. 1or this I
will forever "e than!ful to my disciplinarian editor2in2chief Michelle
3ve de 4u5man in my e/perience in the Wee!ly Silliman as its
features editor in *++6, as senior writer the year after that, and
columnist in various semesters su"se7uently I have come out a
lover of words, and will now remain so inde'nitely
It was in Dumaguete where I made some of my greatest
mistakes. There are so many things I have done that rightly
deserve apologi5ing for( loved ones I have hurt, mentors I have
disappointed, friends I have let down #t those points my )hristian
faith often "ecomes the 'rst victim of assault But the good news is
that, as Martin -uther wrote in his preface to the Ninety-Five
Theses, the )hristian life is one of repentance Yes, I can "e a
hypocrite and contradict the faith I profess at times, "ut that only
spea!s of the wea!nesses of my own will, and not of the
wea!nesses of the faith itself or the -ord who is the su"&ect of that
faith # homeward path will not "e any less relia"le &ust "ecause
you see people stum"ling along its way
#ll this to say that I will "itterly miss Dumaguete8 for many more
reasons than can "e consciously given But I loo! to )hrist, who
holds my life in 9is hands of love, and "egin to feel e/cited and
hopeful again #fter all, you can lose anything or anyone in your
life, "ut as long as you still haven:t lost )hrist, you will not have
lost anything 1or )hrist is your everything