NOWADAYS, it is common see an exodus of college graduates to big cities. They view their provincial homes as a collection of old paradigms, of folk beliefs, where the best option to get a job is for a worker to retire. They describe slow pace life akin to "slim opportunities" and "stagnant growth".

Though the metropolis is puffed up with black fumes, dusty roads, and hellish traffic only an angel can bear, it is a head start for job seekers to draw up illusions of a perfect career.

Moving to Manila was an inspiration, a challenge, I had waited. My eagerness to unleash my potentials in the corporate ladder led me to devout my Sunday mornings flipping classified sections for job opportunities. I tried to win from employers the hot seat of a new comer. I did everything, only to find the endpoint of rejection and my aggressive determination for job hunting a failure.

Reality seeped in, presenting a grim image of scarce jobs available in our country with so many of us fresh graduates fighting for the competitive market share--all in a flock heading for the same dream.

Sometimes, I say life is not fair. We spend so much for education, for high learning only to fight for a few jobs.

My search for job took me another six months. By that time, I was nearly broke, felt like going back home. But my pride...I am ashamed to be labeled a loser, prodded me on. I could not imagine going back to a small town to face an inquiring crowd.

My first job assignment was a mismatch to my profession. Nonetheless I accepted my fate. My work then was a routine, which at times left me pondering about what to do next. To motivate, enlighten my spirit, I eyed a writing position, hoping that one day, the job that I should be doing would be in my grasp. After months of playing spy and waiting for the moment to come, I earned the writer's job.

In achieving dreams, it is a let go relationship. Sometimes by not pursuing it, it comes right at your doorstep. Yet there are benefits when you chart your future. For today, we are following a different career path, everyone so engross in the nursing profession.

If Dr. Jose Rizal were alive today, his words, "the youth is the hope of our nation," may turn out a paradox, a twisted tale of the 20th century, since the Filipino youth has become the hope of other nations. The young Filipinos today are a bandwagon of skilled migrants, entice by a promising future outside our shores and difficult to ever refuse.

But regardless of the Filipino exodus, immigrants have always a place for home. How can they forget happy memories from friends and neighbors: the drinking spree, endless chatting, they never have in the west? So in secrecy, they even hook their cable to the Filipino channel, watching movies that remind them of their identity. Hoping to lessen the loneliness they carry along and make them feel closer to home.

We are a race with caring hands, securing our families with monthly remittances. We are popular for sending balikbayan boxes, which the white people find it strange. In international flights bound home, check-in counters will be loaded with these cargoes sometimes a refuel is essential.

Though, some things in life call for long explanation, there are realities we must face.

Regardless the kind of jobs that bring us to foreign shores, to Metro Manila, or in our provincial homes, there are consequences we pay to find comfort in life, to earn a good education and a happy family.

These are the dreams of every Filipino.

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