State Of the Nation Address--No Classes?

Today is the State Of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. People of the Philippines, have you watched it? I haven’t. I know I’m supposed to, but because of other pressures from school, I missed the chance to do so.

So, what do the people do here in Cagayan de Oro City? I’m pretty sure that some people in the political arena were tied up to their seats listening to what President Arroyo has to say. Most of the adults probably were, as of that moment, preoccupied of looking for a television to watch where they could listen to the SONA being aired locally. The question of, how much people were watching, that I could not tell. The last time I saw people getting interviewed by a local daily news program here in the city, many people don’t have much to say about the President’s SONA during that time. But there were many other people who gave their comments about the event; even some students.

Having said that, I myself as a student have observed that many students (I’m not saying most) have been so far apathetic about such events. The only question that comes into their minds would be (and I admit I’m part of this society sometimes), "Okay, so are there any classes today?" Funny as it is, but, yes, sometimes (or probably many times) students like me do tend to be that apathetic towards the Country’s events such as these. But who could blame us? Sometimes, it’s just so realistic to believe that as students, we can’t do anything to serve the purpose of SONA (whatever that is) or anything for that matter to be able to help the country by listening to the moment’s State of the Nation Address. (Pardon my immaturity, but please just let me live my age for a moment. *grin* ) So, what do we kids in the city have to say? Well simply, COOL, NO CLASSES AGAIN!

As students, times like these could be compared to Manny Pacquiao’s bouts. That’s not because the streets during that time are typically deserted (and I doubt it will ever be with a SONA), but more likely because it gives us that feeling that someone important (and yes, Manny Pacquiao has somehow been considered now as someone important) is on the spotlight at the moment and that somehow gives us the feeling that the streets are deserted because we know that a lot of people will be watching the airtime. At that moment, we students (not everyone, of course) are then triggered to think about what we can do for that day. If classes were suspended and a lot of students were not aware of this and were able to go to school at that day, usually, students would flood internet cafés (for the younger generation that is). Other students would go to places like Park Café, Dunkin Donuts (referring to students from a particular university located at Divisoria near to these establishments), or malls and hang out with their friends. And of course, others would go home.

So, have any of these taken place this day’s State Of the Nation Address? Well, that would be if classes were suspended today. And that would have been a blast. Too bad the priests in this university didn’t give us the chance to enjoy today’s event. Haha. But yeah, I was just trying to illustrate here what could have happened on a day like today, and if classes were indeed suspended in timing with the event.