Life 101: Defying Defeat and Embracing Perseverance

The collective grief and sympathy that happened to the Filipinos all over the world signify that a simple, humble and persevering public servant like DILG Secretary Jesse M.Robredo can inspire millions of inhabitants of the Philippines in just a span of days, after his tragic demise via plane crash.

From a simple mayor of Naga City until his last assignment as local government head under the administration of President Benigno 'P-noy' C. Aquino, he was able to influence his subordinates and fellow public servants to practice good governance and accountability.

Before his untimely death, his wife Leni,a practicing lawyer and three daughters were used to seeing him every weekend, always a hands-on father to them.

Now that he was gone, we lost another simple and dedicated public servant who epitomizes the 'tsinelas leadership', as literally seen wearing only bu tpair slippers during his term as the local executive of the city,immersing with the local constituents and personally handling problems of his place.

Truly, he exuded a lot of perseverance in order to attain his goals, making his 'Maogmang Lugar' or his Happy Place live up to its moniker.

I am sharing his good virtues, both as a family man and public entity, leaving a good name or reputation not only to his family but to the nation as well.

He defied defeat and exuded perseverance throughout his public life.From a dreamy 27-year old general manager of BRBDP (Bicol River Development Program) up to a local government secretary, he showed how a three-termed mayor can live a simple life and look straight into the eyes of every Filipino and can proudly say that he'd contributed to the progress of his city.

This is a very inspiring story, where a person can be acclaimed as 'hero' in his own rights. It is lurking in ourselves; we only have to share it to the needy unselfishly,in our own unique ways.

We've read and heard stories about great men of this world.

Filipinos are now standing taller these days, as this island-nation proclaimed another modern-day hero in the person of Sec.Jesse.

His legacy will live forever.

His achievement will reverberate from Luzon,Visayas and Mindanao and will awaken the hearts of many Filipinos who are now thirsty of leaders who truly believe and practice honest-to-goodness services to their constituents.

The word of God inspires us with this passage:

Trials produces perseverance and perseverance produces character. Only a polished gem that has underwent the roughness of the grindstone can shine in its full brilliance.

This Life 101 series features another but inspiring person who defied defeat and exuded perseverance throughout his life.

If a person lives with similar virtues in life, then we will never know the word failure at all.

I'm truly inspired by this person, since I knew him since high school. Although, I only read his plight as a leader in the United States of America (USA), his big statue at the White House, not only signifies stature, but huge honor to the superpower nation.

Here's his story in chronological narrative.

1. When he was 7 years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicalities, and he had to work and support them.
2. When he was 9 years old, his mother died.
3. When he was 22 years old, he lost his job as a store clerk. HE wanted to go to law school but he lacked the education.
4. When he was 23 years old, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store.
5. At age 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge amount of debtthat took years to pay.
6. When he was 28 years old and after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him and you and I guess what she said,"No!"
7. When he was 37 years old and on his third try, he was elected to congress. But two years later, he failed to be reelected.
8. When he was 41 years old, his 4-year old son died.
9. At the age of 45, he ran for the senate and lost.
10. When he was 47, he failed as the Vice Presidential candidate.
11. At 49, he ran for the senate again and lost.
12. When he was 51 years old, he was elected as President of the USA.

He's a firm believer of the Holy Bible and his name is ------- (you didn't study your history, if you can't guess his name) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.