dual*ities

If memory serves me right, I believe I’ve never missed even one JVP send-off mass (in the Manila Local Community) since I myself became a volunteer, uhm, 8 years ago. Things haven't really changed that much after all these years. During yesterday’s event, the same sending-off rituals were still practiced. The volunteer designated to talk on behalf of her batch still choked over her speech. Her mom likewise teared up as she delivered her own message on behalf of the parents, thus causing many others in the audience to cry along. After the mass, the volunteers’ parents, friends and loved ones still gathered for a simple “salu-salo” before finally sending off the new JVP batch to Sacred Heart Novitiate for their 10-day Orientation Seminar. The only difference was that this time around, the “salu-salo” was held in Cervini (whereas traditionally, it is usually held in the College Cafeteria), and that the bus arrived fashionably late, causing the volunteers and their well-wishers to wait for three hours in the sweltering heat!!! (Yes, their JVP year has really begun. Haha!)

Presenting...JVP Batch 26!!!



Hanging out with former ANI/Pathways volunteers,
who are now JVP volunteers as well.:)


Aside from a few minor departures from the usual practice, however, everything remained essentially the same. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to stay…after the mass, after the salu-salo, and way after the volunteers’ scheduled departure time has elapsed. I hung around until the volunteers and staff finally loaded the bus and made their way to Sacred Heart, no doubt singing the traditional JVP introductory song “Kantaloy” on the way. :)

I don’t know why I stayed. Or why I never miss this particular event every single year, in the first place. I guess I’ll never really get tired seeing the faces of the new batch of volunteers, still full of hope and youthful idealism. Perhaps, seeing them helps “older JVP folks” like me to guard ourselves against the characteristic cynicism and jadedness that besets many people of our generation. Or perhaps, seeing them just reminds us of the younger versions of ourselves and allows us to wax nostalgic about the year(s) when we exchanged our rose-tinted glasses for a more in-depth look of the stark reality around us.

In a way, I guess I look at this annual event (along with the mission mass), as my own personal renewal of my commitment to the path I’ve chosen to take in life. It is, in a very real sense, a reaffirmation of my own continuities. After all, my being JVP did not end with my year(s) of service as a volunteer.

And the journey continues…