Written by Joshua Emmanuel Go

It has come to our lives that there are beginnings and endings. In our current year of 2022, there will be many beginnings and endings, whether it be for the nation as a whole or our hope in academics. 

Take for instance the year where many people around the world celebrated the coming of the New Year with fireworks and joy. A new day after a year of struggle and sorrow. A year where many mistakes were made to finally return our lives to normal. It was not easy and even now, many tables in restaurants are not filled with stories and food to share, children unable to see and play their time away, and theaters unable to be filled with people excited for a new film. Maybe this year we can finally have a more normal time for once. 

Such normality includes the Ox giving way to the Tiger in the Chinese New Year. Which even I am excited about since I’m actually born in the Year of the Tiger. But I digress, even with all the celebrations there can only be a bittersweet reminder of a time lost from a few years ago. Here we have fallen only to rise stronger after everything that happened and will happen in the early 2020s.

Aside from our dreary days, we should look more and more towards the future. It is now the end of an era for our nation. A new leader will be chosen by the people to guide the collective story of our land. Through our successes and mistakes, it will be no secret that the start of this new era will begin in the month where we, as a nation, first breathe free. A time where hope is reignited and continues to ignite.

Aside from the grand plans and events where only the divine, historians, and our future selves can see, there needs to be something where we, as students, could see a beginning and end so close to home. For the seniors and incoming freshmen of our year, I bid you all goodbye and welcome to our hallowed institution. When you both say your hellos and goodbyes you will all be remembered on that day. All of you are elated at entering a new chapter in your lives.

That’s not to say there is not something the people still staying in the university’s halls no matter how digital it is nowadays. Many of us would want to feel the openness of Rizal Hall or the sterile newness of GAB. For us students, seeing each other not on screens but in real life would be nothing more than a blessing. Even with all the trouble that the pandemic has brought upon us, there is hope to at least have classes in the halls of learning.

With this, the article ends with you, as a reader, having read its paragraphs to the end where the author will say his final words. To this, I bid you adieu.