Law professor Tranquil Salvador told senior and junior high school graduating students of the Philippine Christian University to “pour in hours and hours of committed work” to achieve the level of competence in their chosen business or profession.
“In this digital age, there is this notion that everything can be accessed by browsing using your fingers, and this includes access to information,” he told 1,400 graduating students at their commencement exercises at the bayside Philippine International Convention Center.
“It may even lead you to believe that what you can perceive you can achieve (but) this is only partly true. In between perceiving and achieving are hours, days, months, years, and decades of dedication, hard work, and sacrifices to achieve your goals,” Salvador, who writes a column in the Manila Standard, said in his speech.
He shared with the graduates, led by senior high valedictorian Dhenzo Tyler Montojo and junior high valedictorian Judiel Charl Del Rosario, lessons he learned as a teenager from his misadventures.
“I thoroughly believe there is as much to gain from misadventures as there are from achievements,” said Salvador, listed among the Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines for 2021 and 2022 by the Asia Business Law Journal.
But he said: “Misadventures, mistakes, and slips are instrumental in the formation of a young mind. I am by no means encouraging you to make mistakes or engage in adventurism. All we are saying is that missteps can offer wisdom in retrospect or what we know as 20/20 hindsight vision.”
Salvador, who teaches law at the Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, and the University of Makati, then told his audience some lessons he said could help them.
“I learned early in life that there is a God who I can depend on—for those who have a different religion but believe in a Divine Being you know what I mean.
“Challenges are mere stepping stones…find what you love to do and work hard to achieve it.”
He quoted his father as saying there is no substitute for preparation, stressing “We have to persevere and work to achieve our goals in life.”