THE LIVING MASTERPIECE OF GOD

“LIFE MUST GO ON!”. These are the exact encouraging words

that my what-I-so-called “the first woman in my life”, my
grandmother, told me about the importance of struggling to endure
or surmount any adversities in this specific phase of my earthly
existence.

So, basically, my name is John Arden R. Corrales. A 22 year old

stunner. I was raised and born in Sinippil, Reina Mercedes, Isabela
on April 20, 1999. My family consists of my grandfather,Hipolito.
My grandmother, Magdalena. My older sister, Lorie Anne. My older
brother, Kelvin. Most especially my mom and my dad, Loreta
Ramos Corrales, a housewife and Jony Corrales, a farrmer. Family
is very important and valuable to me and is something that should
never be taken for granted. Without my family , a large part of my
life and culture would be missing.

When I was 2 years old, my mom and my dad got divorced. I am

not really sure of the reason why. But based on what I
remembered, my father was really a hard-drunken person which
made my mom to seek for another man who can practically
support and suffice her daily needs. Almost everyday, my dad
always go home drunk. And they always argue about something I
don’t understand simply because I am still young. With this, it
resulted to the divorcement of both parties. I can say that growing
up without the guidance and presence of your own blood-related is
very hard and devastating. Because without them to guide you,
you won’t know how to start everything, literally everything. After
the separation of my parents, since they already have their own
family, they made their decision to give me up to my grandmother.
Ever since, my grandmother has been my guidance whenever I
needed her,my strength whenever I feel weak, my crying shoulder
whenever I weep, and my comfort whenever I am in grief. But
everything changed when my grandmother passed away when I
was 12 years old, I was brought to a state of ruin and destruction
wherein I don’t barely eat everyday. Didn’t have the guts to talk to
people that time. Simply put, I was in my darkest times back then.
Due to the fact that I was given a sacred gift by our Almighty God, I
was able to rise up again from being mentally deranged.
When I was back in track again, I did everything for me to go and
put myself back to school. But everything won’t just go as planned.
Since , nobody was willing to support my school allowances , I was
forced to look for a job that can definitely suffice and cover my
expenses. With the God-given gift I have, I was able to find a
decent job which is to teach a certain instrument that you’re good
at, piano and violin. With the minimum wage I’m getting, I was
really having a hard time to budget everything So, I was forced to
take another job to fully cover my needs. And then decided to to
apply in an English online teaching platform. Which is 51talk.
There, I found myself growing especially in English Language and
learned pedagogical methods in teaching Chinese young learners.
Taking that into consideration, I began to realize that LIFE is not
just about MONEY. It also brings me to the concept that in order to
live a prosperous and happy life, I, Myself should strive and work
hard to achieve GOOD-LIFE.

In our present life situation, it is no doubt that many of us lose

hope. Yes , they fail because these people are those who never
tried to face problems with courage.They just give up without even
trying to face the storms of life. Time may come that I will be
tested. Failure comes across my way and then I might fall, I always
remember what Marilyn Vos Salvant said, “Being defeated is only
temporary condition, giving up is what makes it permanent.” Our
failure can only be called failure if we give up. To be able to stand
again, we should try and try and even if we always fall, at least we
almost succeed and had it all. :)