(14/04/23)

You’re a STAR…KEEP Your Head Up and Honor their Sacrifice!

Dear Team,

Good evening and season greetings to all our 2023 Finalist. A huge Shout out of
Congratulations to the 2023 batch of Graduands. 11th and 14th April mark the days
that will bring you memories of one of the great day you all cherish with your loved
ones, families, friends and fans about a journey you took and bravely sailed through
the raging storms and tests of times to be crowned with flying colors. I believe every
success always has a beautiful story behind the scene. People will cherish your
success and celebrate together with you because it is a norm and tradition for every
graduation to end in cheering, laughter, joy and party but they will never know that
path you walked with the help of few people to make it this far.

I would like to take this moment to bring you back to where it all started. At the end of
the day when everyone cherishes and share the joy together with you for your great
achievement, before resting, pause, take a moment to reflect on such a great journey
you have sailed to come this far and high in your education. You have started small in
the early days of your journey, unrecognized by multitudes, with not much fans and
friends to cheer you for who you’re and your little successes. However, these three
people were your first, best and the constant fans who will always be there to cheer
your success as well as walking with you through the rough days: GOD, your MUM
and your DAD. For some of us, it may be only two: GOD and MUM, or GOD and DAD.
Even for some of us, it may be just GOD and YOU.

Regardless of the group you may come under, each one of us have a very unique and
beautiful story of how we have battled well the struggles and the hardships and was
able to finally be crowned with this flying color (Degree or Diploma). Although
multitudes and multitudes cherish your graduation and achievement with smiles and
laughter, I believe that during those 16 solid years of your journey in pursuit of your
dream, not many people were there for you in your days of struggles and hardship to
comfort you, trust you and cheer you with the help you needed most (courage,
finance, motivation, love etc…) to continue and not give up half-way through. I believe
that those three people (GOD, MUM and DAD) or any of the three will always be the
ones to try the best they can to use what they have to provide the support you need to
continue and not to quit.
In one way or the other, you have battled the storms and hurdles that life throws your
way and have proven yourself worthy of being the champion and a winner in your
quest. You’re a fighter and a star. Keep your heads up and take pride in you. Let those
beautiful memories of the past become your strength and reminder to have faith in
yourself and continue into the unknown future. With the crown on your head (Your
Degree/ Diploma), future is promising because it may take a while but for sure, it is a
guarantee that you will still be employed and start to be on fortnight and earn your
living. On that day when your account balance is slowly starting to build up, please
remember this simple question:

“Will you still remember and honor the hardworking people who have
sacrificed their comfort for your success: GOD, MUM and/or DAD?”

In my short long enough in this life, I have come to learn and witnessed and
encountered parents who normally tell me stories in tears about how much they have
sacrificed for their children to be educated to where they are now and the children,
once they are successful and have plenty and got married, they never called them at
times or at least be there for them when they needed help. This is sad. What a dying
world we are living in where young people are always taking for granted the years’
sacrifice of their parents. How I wish that every graduates can honor their parents
after working by sending them money fortnightly, not much but at least a K50 or a
K100. That little that is given to them will bring them such a joy and happiness that
they are now eating the fruit of their sweat and all their sacrifice all those years of
their life was all worth it. Also, it will give them the impression that you honor and
hold them close to your heart as it is supposed to be.

You will find it easy to give a K100 to a friend or a colleague for the sake of fun and
friendship and you will feel uneasy to give that much to your parents although you
have surplus in your account. There are people who will lure you with their sweet
talks and you can just spend so much for the sake of fun (say when drinking with
colleagues or donating cash for a friend’s party, bride price etc…). Where were those
friends when you were battling through your struggles and hardships in your journey
before your success and plenty? All you had beside you that went through those
toughest of times with you were your MUM, DAD, GOD and YOU or those who have
sacrificed with you.

Dear fellow colleagues, if you climb up the ladder of success and start to come to the
place of plenty, please, honor those who sacrifice everything with you and share the
happiness of that success together with them. It is the honorable and noble thing to
do.

The friends and colleagues that you meet when you are already successful are those
that will help you to spend your money. Remember those who helped you to sacrifice
their way for you to be where you’re and honor them well.

For those who will be working, please expect your MUM and DAD to call you when its
forth night. Sometimes, they will bring you sugar cane or a bundle of Kumu or some
small garden food or something small in had just to pay a visit on the forth night
week. At other times, they will tell you, they are sick and all. Please don’t get mad at
them. They had their turn to sacrifice their youth and comfort for your becoming and
now it’s your turn to honor them and return the favor. You can give a second thought
for those friends who pop up on your success lane but not your parents.

Sometimes, it’s always sad when parents are not getting the welcome that they expect
you to give them because they know the kind of sacrifice they have been through with
you. They won’t tell you that they are mad at you or what not. They will share among
themselves when they are alone and sometimes, they do burst into tears. Please honor
them well for they deserve it.

Finishing Thoughts: Law of the Nature

Behavior of a Guava Tree

I will finish this small reminder with a beautiful lesson that the nature teaches us
through the characters of fruit bearing trees. There are many fruit bearing trees but
let’s pick Guava for our talk.

When a guava seed falls on the soil, the soil with the help of the mother nature (rain,
sun, nitrogen, etc..) will work constantly to the best of their ability to provide all the
vital nutrients that the guava seed needs in order for it to germinate into a small
guava shoot. Through the times, the soil and the mother nature will constantly and
continuously supply the food for the guava until it is matured and start to bear fruit.

When the fruits are ready and starting to ripe, the odor of the ripe fruits will attract
birds, butterflies and inspects of many kinds and they will come and feed on it. Some
of the ripe fruits when they are ready, normally fall to the foot of the tree. Also, the
visiting birds and inspects never finish all the parts of the ripe guava but always drop
the morsels of the fruit to the foot of the tree. Those morsels and fallen fruits serves
their last purpose which is to enrich the soil fertility for new guava seeds to grow again
and the cycle continues.

Lessons from the Guava tree

The Law of the nature shows us that once the fruit is ready, it does not invite the
insects and butterflies but they are attracted to it by its odor. Also, once the fruit is
ripe and ready, the guava tree does not projectile launch the ripe fruits or throw them
far. The ripe fruit will just fall right at the base of the guava tree. Similarly, when
you’re employed and start to earn your salary, it’s like the fruit is ripe and it will
attract those visiting insects and butterflies which are the people that will be attracted
toward you to benefit from you. Among those visitors, one will become the special
friend you will cherish this lifetime with.

The soil which provides all the vital nutrients for the growth of the guava tree
represents your parents and GOD and all those who provide the support you need for
your growth and development. Just like the fruit when ripe just falls to the bottom of
the tree where it serves its last purpose which is to fertilize the soil, when you’re
successful, nature taught us a lesson to let the fruit (money) we produce fall to the soil
(parents, God, helpers) from which we receive our support from.

Nature also taught us that the visiting insects never at once finished every flesh of a
ripe guava fruit without leaving some morsels behind that will always fall to the foot of
the guava tree for the enrichment of the soil fertility. This shows that those people
whom we meet on our success lane or fruit bearing time are not coming to finish
everything and we forget our parents and those hardworking people. The visitors can
be helped but that does not mean we have so much responsibility and forget the very
people who sacrificed for our becoming. Just the morsels that always falls to the foot
of the tree, the little share of the hardworking parents and guardians and GOD must
always be given to them.

And finally, for a ripe guava fruit, it contains guava seeds that will breed new guava of
that same kind. Know that once a ripe guava fruit falls down, it will decay and its flesh
will provide the first nutrient that the tiny seeds will eat from and then germinate and
start to put on roots and draw their feeding from the soil themselves. Similarly, those
guava seeds within a guava fruit represents the children you will be blessed with. In
our time now, some parents normally deprive their children their needs because the
money is used to feed their unhealthy drinking or gambling habits or other
unnecessary areas. Just like the guava seeds, before they put on roots to draw
nutrients from the soil themselves, the very first nutrients they eat is the flesh of the
guava fruit. Similarly, your children deserve your salary. Use your earning to provide a
conducive environment where their needs are well met so that they can grow to
become like you over time.

With that, I wish you all heaven’s best in your future endeavors and service to our
beautiful country in your various specialties.

Please, if you can, share with any of our 2023 batch of graduates may it UOG, UPNG,
UNITECH etc. will be much appreciated. May it be a reminder for everyone not to
forget the sacrifice of the parents and guardians.

Thank you and God bless PNG