Closing Remarks

Miguel H. Lagado
July 29, 2011 (Acquaintance Party)

To our university president, Dr. Evelyn C. Cruzada, Dean of

College of Education, Dr. Malaquias A. Conde, to the CoFEd Adviser, Prof. Mildreda C. Perez, to Uncle
Mac of MOR 94.3 Tacloban, friends, classmates, ladies and gentle men good evening.
“THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF SHIPS. THERE ARE WOODEN SHIPS ,PLASTIC SHIPS, AND
METAL SHIPS. BUT THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTAINT TYPES OF SHIPS ARE
FRIENDSHIPS.”
Ladies and gentlemen let me start my speech with a parable which entails friendship.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food
might this contain?” The mouse wondered.

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed this warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There
is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave
concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me.. I cannot be bothered by it.” The mouse turned to the
pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but
pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!”
The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap . . .
Alone…..

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous
snake whose tail was caught in the trap.
The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she still
had a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to
the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

But his wife’s sickness continued. Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed
them, the farmer butchered the pig.
But, alas, the farmer’s wife did not get well… She died.
So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for
all of them for the funeral luncheon.

And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn’t concern you, remember:

My dear ladies and gentlemen the parable suggests that when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life that we must keep an eye out for one another and make an
extra effort to encourage one another.

My fellow Normalistas’, each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry. Our lives are woven
together for a reason. One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend.

Let us not forget the true meaning of this event, we are here to gain friends, to be acquainted, and among
to find someone who will be our true friend.
This gonna be my last time to speak in front of you and I will take the opportunity to say thank you to all
of you.
Han akon mga officers’ hadto damo nga salamat. You were there during the ups and downs of the
organization and you keep holding on until the end. They were there when I can’t bring my shoulder up.
Melinda, Elmer basta I love you.
BEEd I love you so much.
To the newly elected officers, I am hoping for the best. Continue what I had started and please don’t be so
strict in implementing rules and regulations to the members anyways all of us are humans us.
To my critics (especially those students from 2nd Year-4th Year), once again a lot of thanks to all of you.
You made me stronger and you help me achieve and realize what an extraordinary leadership is –
leadership that strives for excellence.
To the CoFEd Adviser, I owe a lot to you. You have been so grateful, supportive to me during my stay as
CoFEd President. Hence, these past days I have been too selfish not to pay your favor in return. For all of
the mistakes that I had showed I would say “sorry”.
Though with sadness, I will be leaving the organization with great pride and honor because I had fulfilled
what should be fulfilled.
I really believe that in every opportunity that close there will be a new and a better one, that everything
has its own purpose.
My dear ladies and gentlemen as a student-leader my journey has not yet come to an end but to tell you
exactly it has just started. I am a leader and turning back is not an option rather I will continue what I had
started.
I am proud to say that, I am still a president but in a new organization – Poets and Writers 360.
My dear ladies and gentlemen let me tell you a parable again about leadership.
Once upon a time, there lived a king who had power over all nations and peoples. His courts were of
richest splendor; his tables were heavy with finest food. Music and laughter and gaiety floated from inside
his castle and it was always light. Clouds wrapped it in ethereal majesty. Travelers always stopped and
looked at the castle for a long while, wishing they might know the king who built the marvelous structure.
But none were able to reach it.
In the cold of winter, the king’s tailor entered the royal chambers with his latest sketches for the king’s
wardrobe. The little man was proud of his accomplishments. He had selected the finest materials and
woven them into the most beautiful garments that eyes had ever seen. They glittered like gold.
But the king was not pleased. He ordered the tailor out, vowing to make his own clothes. No one but the
king knew what he wanted. The door to the throne room was shut and locked. Weeks passed, and from
inside came the clacking of the loom. The royal court waited with anticipation to see what the king would
make for himself. They knew they were bound to be blinded by the glory of it. Finally the day arrived.
The doors opened and the king appeared.
Everyone, especially the tailor, gasped in surprise and horror. His Majesty was dressed in the simplest,
cheapest, most unkingly garments imaginable. He had the choice of the world’s finest material, but he had
chosen to wear the clothes of a beggar.
“I am going into the valley,” he said quietly.
A timeless classic, reprinted from HIS magazine, December 1962 and other years.
We used to leadership to term as position rather than description of the job that its entails. It is something
like freedom to serve.
Leadership should be self-serving, not over-bearing and abusive. My fellas, leaders are gift. But you
should one thing if you lead, lead with diligence. It should also aot about position, but it is being a
servant, equipped and releases people that leaders must be nameless and faceless like the love of our
parents.
It is also something like, leadership – influence –to affect people but not typical. Not so with us. Instead,
whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be
slave of all.
Once again, damo nga salamat ha iyo ngatanan. It was an honor to serve the organization for almost 2
years.
My last words are, you should not remember me as to who and what I am just the remember the way I do
and become your servant.
Good evening and hope you enjoy your day.