Let me start todays talk with a simple activity.

To those who are holding the small boxes of raisins, get one raisin inside and pass it on to the person next to you. I dont know if there are enough raisins for everyone but continue to pass on the boxes til theres nothing left inside them. How far did the boxes have come? To the people who are holding them, could you please raise your hands? I think we could start now. Does anyone here have an idea why I made you hold a raisin? (TAGALOG) Or knows how a raisin is made? Heres why. I want you to look at the raisin and think how did this teeny -tiny raisin came into your handsThink of all the process it underwent before it landed on your hand. As an introduction to this analogy, allow me to give you a simple background about the raisin. When most fruits are dried, they keep their same name, but not the grape. The dried form of the grape, revered throughout history, has its own unique name: the raisin. But making a raisin is not just pure drying it is not all about the dehydrating process. Before a grape will transform into a raisin, it undergoes a series of methods. First step is farming. The initial step to producing good raisins is growing quality grapes in the vineyards. Grape farming is a year-round commitment and includes the practices of pruning, irrigation, fertilization, and pest control. Most of the work done in these vineyards is still done by hand. Next will be harvesting and drying. Starting in late August and continuing through September, the grapes are harvested. At this point in the year they are at their optimum sweetness. Bunches of grapes are handpicked by field workers and placed on paper trays, which are laid out on the ground between the vine rows. To provide a good surface for the trays, the soil between the rows is leveled. Depending on the weather, the grapes are allowed to dry on the trays for two to four weeks. At night, the trays are rolled to minimize the accumulation of sand and protect against raisin moth infestation. The paper trays are embedded with a compound, which kills insects that can damage the grapes as they dry. After the fruit is dried, the paper trays are rolled up around the raisins to form a package. The rolls are gathered and stored in boxes or bins before being transported by truck to a processing plant. Third step is inspection and storage. When the rolls of fruit arrive at the manufacturing plant, they are emptied out onto wire screens and shaken to remove dirt and other unwanted debris. They are also inspected to ensure that they meet previously determined specifications. Based on their quality, the raisins are graded as either standard or substandard. Only the standard graded raisins can be immediately used. This will be followed by the Processing. The dried grapes are moved from the storage bins to the processing plant. Immature fruit is removed by suction devices. Next, the raisins are separated from the bunch stem by shaking. When all these processing steps are completed, the raisins are run through a series of mesh screens to sort them according to size. At this point the raisins can be put into a variety of packaging. These range in size from small half ounce cardboard containers for individual consumption. They are packed onto trucks and shipped to customers.

See? It takes a lot of courses bago makadating ang pasas na yan sa kamay mo. Now, compare your life to that of the raisin. Katulad ng pasas na yan, we were also farmed. As we grow and explore our lives, were also pruned, irrigated, fertilized, and underwent pest control - initially by God, then by our parents, our friends and the various individuals we meet. We can never underestimate the power of influence. It's true, when people cross our lives just for a day, an hour, a minute, or a second, they can radically change our lives. Like with the grapes, you were also carefully handpicked and placed into trays which we can compare to the different situations we encounter in our lives. And drying will be the various challenges. Yes, these challenges are dehydrating, not only physically but emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually, as well. God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them. However, like the little grapes, some sort of protection is also placed on us so that well remain free from damage while on the process of learning. Again, in comparison to the grapes, were also being shaken so that will be free from all the unwanted debris dwelling within us. Nonetheless, unlike these grapes, we can choose if well be graded as the standard or the substandard raisin. We have the ability to decide if well be shipped to our destination, stay locked in the storage unit or worse, thrown into the trash. So, how do you make your choices? Youll face plenty of win-win choices in your life. The quality of the decision you make will be determined not by picking the right one, but by the actions you take post-decision to make the most of it. Dont make the right decision; make the decision right. When faced with two equally tough choices, most people choose the third choice: to not choose. If you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else. Be more like one of Googles founders Larry Page, Hollywoods Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, or two of this lifetimes computing rivals Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and who would have not known about Facebooks founder Mark Zuckerberg? These people made and are still making it BIG because they thought out of the box, they made their decisions right. The lack of a college degree did not stop those celebrities and popular personalities from making it big on their own. These people defied all odds to turn their lives around, college degree notwithstanding. A wise mentor once told me that "we owe to ourselves a constant reinvention". Every waking up is a call to better ourselves, to improve our lives, and to recreate our dreams. The change will not come easy. The challenge will be tiresome. The calling will be costly. The morrow is uncertain, the mind ever-quitting, but the heart ever-fighting. The road to our dreams - to become nurses, physicians, engineers, lawyers, actors, and all - is difficult, but it is always wise to remember for a fact that we can only dream if we embrace the darkness in our sleep. We should be brave enough to get out of our comfort zones. Everyone has a socalled comfort zone. You know what Im talking about: that mental space you live in where there are boundaries and you feel a sense of emotional security with your work and your decision making. What distinguishes successful people from everyone else is what they do with their comfort zone. There are those who are perfectly happy staying warm and cozy in this safe box theyve built;

and then are those who constantly push and test the limits. I believe you can already guess which person goes on to be successful. Theres this story about a young man, you know, who wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to this guru. And he told the guru You know I want to be on the same level as you are and the guru said If you want to be on the same level I'm on, I'll meet you tomorrow at the beach at 4 A.M. He liked the beach. The man said I want to make money, I dont want to swim. Guru said If you want to make money, Ill meet you tomorrow 4 A.M. So the young man got there 4 A.M. hes all ready to rock n' roll. Got on a suit should of wore shorts. The old man grabs his hand and said How bad do you want to be successful? He said "Real bad". He said Walk on out in the water. So he walks out into the water. Watch this. When he walks out to the water he goes waist deep and goes like this guy crazy. I wanna make money and he got me out here swimming. I didn't ask to be a lifeguard. I wanna make money he got me in -- so he said come on a little further -- walked out a little further - then he had it right around this area -- the shoulder area -- so this old man crazy -- he making money but he is crazy. So he said come on out a little further -- came out a little further, it was right at his mouth my man, I'm not about to go back in this guy who is out of his mind. And the old man said "I thought you said you wanted to be successful?" He said "I do." He said "Then walk a little further." He came, dropped his head in, held him down, hold him down, my man (kept scratching) hold him down, he had him held down, just before my man was about to pass out, he raised him up. He said: "I got a question for you." *Somebody ask the question for me* He said when you were underwater, what did you want to do? He said I wanted to breathe. He told the guy, he said "When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you will be successful." I don't know how many of you all got asthma here today? But if you ever had an asthma attack before youre short of breath, you wheezing (breath sound) the only thing youre trying to do is get some air. You don't care about no basketball game, you don't care about what's on T.V., you don't care about nobody calling you, and you don't care about a party. The only thing you care about when youre trying to breathe is to get some fresh air. That's it! And when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe then you will be successful. And I'm here to tell you that number one, most of you say you want to be successful but you don't want it bad, you just kind of want it. You don't want it bad than you want to party. You don't want it as much as you want to be cool. Most of you don't want success as much as you want sleep. Some of you lost sleep more than you lost success. And I'm here to tell you today, if youre going to be successful you got to be willing to give up sleep. You got to be willing to work with 3 hours of sleep -- 2 hours of sleep, if you really want to be successful. Someday youre going to have to stay up 3 days in a row. Because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful. That's how bad you got to want it. You got to go days without -- LISTEN TO ME! You got to want to be successful so bad that you forget to eat. A woman said, once she was on the set doing her thing, three days had gone by and she forgot that she didn't eat. Cause she was engaged. I never forget 50 Cent was doing his movie, well I

did a little research of 50 cause Im not a fan of hip-hop and rap, and 50 said that when he wasn't doing the movie he was doing the soundtrack. And they said "When do you sleep, 50?" and 50 said "Sleep, sleep is for those people who are broke. I don't sleep. See I got an opportunity to make my dream become a reality. Also one of my favorite band vocalist, Oliver Sykes from Bring Me the Horizon, said, We will never sleep, 'cause sleep is for the weak. And we will never rest, 'til we're all dead. Football players. Anybody here like football? Emmitt Smith from the Dallas Cowboys. Once there was this commercial when Emmitt Smith won his first Super Bowl. In this commercial he was lifting weights, he was lifting and he said You know what, ah! I won the Super Bowl so I can rest now. Hed been doing his bench press and said I won the Super Bowl so I can rest now. And he throws 325. Boom! And he rests for about 2 seconds. And hes Boom. Boom. Boom. Did you see that? He already won a Super Bowl and he said I think imma take a rest and he rests for how long? 1 second. 2 seconds. Most of you wont be successful because when you are studying and you get tired, you quit! And Im here to tell you today that if somebody comes to me crying, Ill say Dont cry to give up! Cry to keep going! Don't cry to quit. Youre already in pain, youre already hurt. Get a reward from it. Don't go to sleep until you succeed. Listen to me, I'm here to tell you today you can come here and you can jump up -- you can do flips and you can be excited when we give away money but listen to me, you will never be successful, I don't have to give you a dime to do what you do. You won't be successful until you say I don't need that money cause I got it in here. Now listen to me, Emmitt Smith said this at the end of the commercial. He said All men are created equal but some work harder in preseason." Ill say it again because you mightve missed it. All men are created equal but some work harder in preseason. When I went to college, some were smarter than me. Getting all these higher grades than I did. Going to more prestigious universities, came from all these great high schools. But most of them are not doing what Im doing. Why? Cause its not about where you come from. Its about heart. You come to a place, where you know, being a smart isnt enough. You got to have heart. Thats number One. Whats number Two? I want to make sure you got it. Were talking about sacrifice now. It says The most important thing is this. To be able at any moment, to sacrifice what you are for what you will become. Thats the number two thing, you got to catch that one. To be able to at any moment, some of you, you can make sacrifices where money or other desire is not on. You can make the sacrifice. But when the game comes on, for some reason, you just attach to it. For some of you, when your favorite show comes on, you cant make sacrifices. Or when your phone rings you can make sacrifices. You come running to your phone and say I got to answer the phone. If I dont answer the phone, Im going to die. Im saying to you today that there are some of you that if you will give up your cellphone, you will be successful! But your cellphone is more important to you than your success! Im going to say this again. I might hurt somebody. I might hurt somebody. Some of you need to give up your cellphone because the time you spent on your cellphone could be used for your success! The time you could be using to be successful youre using it on the cell. And the cellphone is bringing you nothing but a bill! And somebody has told you You couldnt live without it. You see were going deep nowgiving up stuff. Hear what it says: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what

we could be. I dont do well with Math! Youre right! You had never studied! Im not good in writing! Cause youve never written before! But I dare you to fail in writing for the whole year to see if you get to the end. I dare you to fail. I dare you to take that same class over and over. I dare you to stop dropping or cutting classes like you sought. You always want to give up! Im dropping. Why are you dropping? Im so grateful that the slaves didnt dropped and quit. Say Im just going to stop. Im a slave. Im just going to be a slave. Im going to quit. Listen to me. The slave said We will live because one day we will become! We wont always be slaves! So, today although were slaves were going to act like were free and one day our children will be free. If the slaves would have just said We quit! We give up! We would have died in the middle of the passage. Well some slaves said I dont care what we go through! Were going to survive this! 400 years of slavery, we can get through this. And you cant get through a writing class, a math class! And you got tutor after tutor, resource after resource. The problem is you felt more pain before you solved! You quit on everything. Our people did not quit! Listen to me, you get a sleeping bag and you wake up from it. And say O gosh, Ive got an exam. Blah blah blah. You were held back and said God I need help. You quit after you do that. You quit after you have ah say a Math Party. Im having a party. Everybody come over. Ive got food, everything! And let them get over there. Let it be all the best students in Math! Alright, your food yall. I want to have a Math Party. Cmon. You quit but you didnt even tried yet! And last one, listen to me, Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even for a year. But eventually, it will subside. And something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever. Listen to me now, Ive lived not getting everything that I want the way I want it to be. Ive experienced pain from people and situations that I have not seen coming, to the point of thinking that it was too much to bear. And the problem is youve never felt any pain before. You are spoiled! You are spoiled. Some of you are spoiled. Your parents have done everything for you. You never have to work for yourself. Well, well keep this real today. Some of you are spoiled brats. Every time you ever get in trouble, somebody in your house will get you out of it. Every time youve done something youre not supposed to do, people say Hey! Youre parents are tyrants! Youre right! Theyre mean! Youre right! They push me out of my comfort zone! But they developed a woman They developed a man because they put me out there saying You will have to grow up. And some of you had never learned to grow up! And so every time something gets hard, you quit. You call Mama. I dare you to take a little pain! I dare you. I dare you not to go home. Somebody says Ive got to go home I feel bad. Go through it! You arent going to die. At the end of pain is success. Youre not going to die because you feel a little pain! Im not eating like I eat at home. Thats why youre not making it to the next level because youre eating like you eat at home. You will keep being a boy or a girl. Its time to become manwoman. So dont worry about the little pain. Listen to me, we have gotten to the point where its already half of the school year and were moving forward. The days of you going to college, getting money Im not saying were quitting but Im saying the day has got to go from external to internal. You have to give it everything you got. No more TV, no more parties, no more playing. If you got a 70 or a 75, what you need to be doing is study. Get off the phone. Hi. Sorry, Im not available until the end of this year. You reached the right number but you called me at the wrong time. Call me back April 1st. Im about to get busy now. I want you to have a countdown of your own and say when the countdown is over Will

the real *say whats your name?* will the real _____ please stand up. Will the real _____ please stand up? Stop being the drop out! Stop giving up! Stop sleeping over it! Stop allowing these people step on you! Stop being afraid of getting the test! Stop being afraid of going to college cause your daddy didnt go and your momma didnt go! Stop being afraid and be the best *name* you can be! But listen to me, its going to be hard. Its something you have to work hard for to get a four year degree. But guess what? I got it, I have my job and I will be going to graduate school to have my Masters degree. And though Im not being paid yet for this profession, Im exactly where I wanted to be! Because I realized I got to commit my very being to this thing. I got to breathe it, I got to eat it, I got to sleep it. And until you get there, you will never be successful in life. For once you get there, I guarantee you the world is yours. So work hard and you can have whatever it is that you want. If there is one, most important thing this life has thought me, it's that storms can batter your core, problems can shake your foundation, and doubt and uncertainty can definitely cloud your path. In the discord, nonetheless, there is a FRIEND who will light your road, a FAMILY who will rebuild your foundation, and a GOD who will calm the storm! Just when you thought you're losing it, He would assure you that you still have everything you need. God loves us first. We need not please him. All we have to do is to show ourselves to him and embrace His love. Because of this, Ill never feel that Im inadequate and not good enough. Learn how to fall and fail. Ill never be afraid to fall all over again and to fail a million times because only when I take risk to fall and to fail will I commit myself. Kellin Quinn said Sometimes you got to fall before you fly. We are the co-authors of our lives. We decide on what to write on our novel - be it a comma, a question mark or a period. We cant erase anything, cant correct expressions or grammars but were always given the chance to write a new chapter and were the only one who can write the ending. The end story may affect the people around us. Some will smile and some will cry. We are writing this novel not to get an award at the end of the day or be remembered by the people. We should know what we want. As a nurse, we have studied about the human anatomy which includes the different systems. Isa sa mga ayaw kong system na pinag-aaralan would be the Muscular system kasi medyo mahirap imemorize yung different muscles and how they look. However, one great thing muscles and their characteristics taught me is that a muscle's origin is barely movable, while its insertion gives rise to a myriad of flexibilities and movements. In life, you can always rant about your past, but nothing can change that past. The most successful people in the world are those who explore their flexibilities, while remaining rooted to their past. Our past, as in a muscle's origin, will never define the things we are yet to do. Perspective is all that it takes to be successful. You are a success as you are. You were destined to be great, so claim it. You are nothing less than the best, nothing compared to the highest. You are the chosen one in a million. You are a legacy, so, be. But, humility should always follow that success. Humility is not merely bowing down, placing yourself below the pedestal where others rise. It's lifting your head up, recognizing your uniqueness, because He who made you crafted and perfected you well. Learning is achieved best when the learner presents himself as a half-filled goblet one willing to give, yet also willing to receive.

Life isnt about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. Upon hearing that, you might probably be dreaming about success. Good! Thats the first step leading to it. To dream it, want it bad enough, already feel it as something that belongs to you. There are couple of ways that eventually lead to success. The one everyone finds hard is the first step. That ignition of the whole thing that kick of the top of the iceberg in order to invoke an avalanche. The thing is to stay motivated, and direct your mindset to serve your goal. Dr. Seuss once said You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any DIRECTION you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go. Success is different to everyone. It isn't just money, marriage, families, kids, education, cars, boats, planes, mansions, clothes, a good body, etc... Success is unique to every individual. Success isn't about cars and boats and private jets. Don't let material items be what drives you. Let being happy drive you towards success. Leave the world with something that wasn't there before you were here. Look, I am not standing here to motivate you to do this or that. Im not also fond of those self help books that tell you how to do things right because I believe that what might have worked for them may not work for me. However, I can provide some of the ways that I found to be effective as I go along in my journey. NUMBER ONE: GET PARENTAL BLESSING. Parental blessings provide spiritual and moral goodwill that keeps you going even in the face of adverse situations, because you know, right in your heart, that you have their support. TWO: DEFINE YOUR SUCCESS. See a clear mental picture. Know what you want, otherwise you won't recognize it when you see it. THREE: LISTEN TO GOD. Be spiritually alert, rapture-able and open to divine visitation. Seek God's guidance in all your ventures. He will show you the way to go. FOUR: HAVE A COVENANT WITH GOD. Covenanting with God is a powerful secret of successful people. A great example is Bo Sanchez. FIVE: HAVE A PLAN OF ACTION. To ensure success, you should have a plan. SIX: SERVE DILIGENTLY. When you find special ways to serve others, you get rewarded. Genuine service is a sure route to success. SEVEN: PERSIST AND ENDURE. You should be ready to do whatever it took to achieve this success. Such tenacity can only come from having a worthy purpose, very dear to your heart, for which you strive. No price is too much to pay for prize! Where focus goes, energy follows. We are the results of our thoughts and actions. You can be anything if you just decide just like Tyler Perry who from being homeless became a multi-millionaire in 3 years. You must appreciate, not understand, because understand is more on the intellectual side and appreciate is more on the emotional side, that these are only some tips that I hope will be of some help to you. Yet, what might have worked for me may not work well for you. According to a survey, 85% of millionaires are self-made. You need to create what suits you best. It will not be easy. You will experience failures. But these failures are not the things that define us. It is how we rise up and take the challenge again that does. Keep pushing on, keep pushing on. And if you dont succeed, pick yourself up and try again and ultimately, if youre that determined, youll succeed in life. You see, success is a never ending journey thats why even the successful people pay attention whenever success is discussed.

When a seed is planted to the ground, all you can do is water it. You cannot control the sunshine, you cannot control the weather and you cannot control what the locals can try and do to destroy it. All you can do is plant your seed on the ground and water it and believe. Decide what you want and go after it with everything you got! Create your own and work your ass off to make it happen. Never quit! Enough with the excuses! Dont let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do! Every successful people was laughed at for their ideas. Whos laughing now? Do what you love and success will follow. Steve Jobs who found Apple in his parents garage said that people say you have to have a lot of passion on what youre doing and its totally true. And the reason is because its so hard that if you dont any rational person would give up. Its really hard and you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So, if you dont love it, if youre not having fun doing it, and you dont really love it, youre going to give up. And thats what happens to most people Oftentimes, the ones that are successful love what they did so that they could persevere when it got really tough. Now let me ask you, ARE YOU SUCCESSFUL? Take a moment and reflect on the question. What is your answer? Now, answer the question from several different angles. What would your parents say? What would your siblings say? What would your closest friends say? Your associates at work? Your body? Your conscience? What would God say? Your perspective can dramatically change your answer, can't it? How does the culture define success? We usually get the same answers. I call them the five p's: power, position, prestige, pleasure, and prosperity. The culture pushes these. Advertisers tantalize us with the possibility of their attainment. The media glamorizes the results of having them. Now, don't get me wrong. These aren't bad things. I'd rather you have money (normally) than not have it. But, they are not the ultimate or even major measurements of success according to God's standards. And, they won't make you happy. They won't. Listen to the pathos in the comments of these famous millionaires: John D. Rockefeller: "I have made many millions but they have brought me no happiness." William Henry Vanderbilt: "The care of two hundred million is enough to kill anyone. There's no pleasure in it." John Jacob Astor: "I am the most miserable man on the earth." Henry Ford: "I was happier when doing a mechanic's job." Andrew Carnegie: "Millionaires seldom smile." It shows vividly that success and money alone can't buy happiness and peace of mind. What about you? What is your concept of success? Have you deliberately developed it or has it simply evolved through the influence of the culture around you? And, is it the right concept of success?

If you are now not so sure, I want to suggest to you a new way of looking at success. Move away from thinking of success as power, prosperity, position, pleasure, or prestige and begin building a definition of success around real values. What are the things that really count the most in your life? Think about it. How do you want people to remember you when you die? What will really count? In life, there really are no "right" decisions. We only know we have made a "good" decision if we prayed well for the decision, gave everything we could to make the decision a reality, and accepted all possible consequences of the decision. At the end of the day, the "rightness" of deciding begins when you do it. Today we believe God wants us to know that your remedy for anxiety is the question: 'Will this matter in a year from now?' All too often we get so involved in things that we look at life through a microscope. Amplifying manifold, an invisible speck becomes an insurmountable mountain. Put down the microscope and imagine yourself a year from now looking back at today: 'Does this really matter?' You see, its a choice! Make a choice. You just decide what is going to be, who youre going to be, how youre going to do it. Just decide and then from that point, the universe is going to get out your way. Be part of that 1% whos willing to take the risks, who has the courage and ability to actually make those breakthroughs! You meet your MUST. You rarely do what you should but you always do what you must. So, make success a MUST. You see, you can make that great shift! Its all about changing your shoulds to musts. Its all about going back and saying This is how its going to be. If your 16 years old, then you only have 21,014 days left to live. Every day you waste is a day youll never get back! Now is the time to get to work! Get off your arse, write a plan and take action. Wait for no one! Start right now! You might believe youre on the right path and maybe you actually are but you must keep persisting! The harder you work, the luckier you get. Failure is not a loss, it is a mindset. You will never fail if you never give up. Its not about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. Thats how it is done! Now, if you know what youre worth, go on and get what youre worth! But you got to be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you arent where you want to be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that aint you! Youre better than that!

Rev. Fr. Winifredo S. Santos, School Director; Mrs. Mariciris A. Luzano High School Principal, OIC; Gng. Lyra Jane A. Solomon, Asst. High School Principal Filipino Coordinator; Mrs. Julie Ann G. Laxamana, Guidance Counselor; Mr. Sammy S. Mallari, Student Affairs Coordinator; teachers, Augustinians, ladies and gents, a refreshing and inspiring morning to all. Thank you.