A cliche of change came into my life not more than two years ago. I was then a junior high school student of the Integrated Developmental School, the "hardest" year, according to the previous batches. Indeed, it was, with all the terrifying subjects involved, including two Math courses; Trigonometry and Geometry. And as for me, the cliche of change came with the latter.
Jude John J. Maña Jr., that was his name. He wore eye-glasses, tall, and always tucked-in his polo every time he went to school. Sir Jude, as he was liked to call by many of his students, was assigned to be our Geometry teacher that year. We didn't like him at all at first, maybe because the subject he handled was just too mind boggling, or just maybe because I was never a Math enthusiast. Moreover, I continued to have a bitter treatment on the subject. It didn't help that our notebooks were thrown to us every time Sir Jude returned them, and that he did a lot of group activities and gave out endless assignments. To summarize it up, the academic part of the class was exhausting. But in contrast to that, what we truly learned in class was what Sir Jude taught by heart. He shared a lot of his experiences as a child, his disappointments, and how God was all a part of his existence. He never failed to enlighten us with his words, and that actually made all of us get the lighter side of things. That's when things started to get pleasant between Sir Jude and our class, III-Radon. He became more like a father to us, thus we called him Daddy Jude.
June and July swept by, and by August, our first grading exams were scheduled. All of us studied hard on our subjects, most specially on Geometry. I threw all bad vibrations I had for the subject, and instead thought of it as an easy one, mainly because Sir Jude made us think that way.But when I went through the exams, it was far from what I studied at all, and I panicked for I really can't afford to fail an exam. I promised myself to complain to Sir why he hasn't warned us of all those things that popped up in the exam. A soon as I was done, I marched straight to the Math Department, and it was there that I learned that Sir Jude was hospitalized for a few days then at the Intensive Care Unit of a nearby hospital. I was completely baffled by the news, and so were my classmates after I had told them. We last saw Sir Jude on July 29,2010,which was a quiz day, so our last meeting wasn't really pleasant. We inquired further about our Sir's conditions and we found out that our teacher had a surgery on another hospital days before and acquired an infection. The infection got worse; the virus had spread throughout his bloodstream and eventually, he was in a coma. The news caused a heartbreak to all of his "children". We never got to see him on campus a week after that, but my classmates and I agreed to visit him every after classes in the hospital. And when we got there, all we saw on that small white room were these tubes and IV lines all connected to our Sir's body. The first thing that I noticed was that Sir had gotten 'fat'. His cheeks got big, and so were the rest of his body. He was only breathing through a medical ventilator, and his eyes were always closed. His skin was pale, like all life was drained out of him. Still, it gave us hope to see his chest moving in rhythm with the machine he was connected to. Tears poured out of our eyes unconsciously when we stared at our poor Sir's condition. Who would ever thought that this man, who was a very energetic one, could end up bed ridden? We prayed and prayed ,along with the senior students who were also under Sir Jude, that our Daddy would get well soon , and he'd be back to his usual classes once again. For consecutive nights, all I could ever think of doing was to pray for my Geometry teacher's recovery, and fast. It was sort of awkward talking to God then, for I always forget to pray before I sleep. But even so, I prayed wholeheartedly, and it was never like anything I've done before in my whole life. I wasn't prepared to lose Daddy Jude now, not ever. But I knew he was in the brink of it, and all of my prayers were already asking for a miracle.
The next time we went, we wrote a letter for our Sir saying, or more likely, ordering him to get back to school and teach us the lessons because we were falling behind. Sir Jude's wife, Maam Yani read the letter to our teacher, and according to her, Sir Jude laughed. We had high hopes then that sir was getting well, and so we went home with a positive mood. But on August 12,2010, the only day on which my classmates and I agreed not to go because we had tons of requirements at school, at exactly 4:50 pm, Daddy Jude passed away after several heart attacks while undergoing a dialysis.
All we could do then was cry so hard and hugged each other after hearing of such loss. I prayed deeply that night , and asked God of why He took Sir Jude away from us on a time when we longed for him the most. Why now when he hasn't left a single child to his wife? Why take away the good people when there are in fact a lot of people who don't deserve to live? The prayers for the nights that followed were long and emotional, and I never failed to wet my pillow every night.
Sir Jude was scheduled to be buried on August 15th , and all sections went to the 1st mass service for him, with III-Radon as the only 'baby' section. We were allowed to see him for the last time in the coffin which was positioned at the front. He still looked like what we last saw of him on the hospital, only this time, he has make up on and a Barong Tagalog. After a days of vigil, we offered our last prayers at the Ma. Cristina Gardens Chapel. The coffin was slowly lowered and white roses went along with it.
I could still remember how hollow my heart felt at that time. Yet, at that very moment, I understood the reason why Daddy came in and out of my life. Through him, I learned to pray wholeheartedly; to be grateful for every moment that I live; of every moment my heart beats. I understood the real meaning of prayers; it will always connect you to God in all unimaginable ways, and you can always be assured that He hears your prayers. The answers will be hard to understand at first, but you will, at His time. Moving forward, my memory of Sir Jude now only involves a man with a tucked-in polo with a huge grin permanently stuck on his face. I will never forget the things he taught me, be it about Math or real life, all of it made me thankful of why I live today. I have never failed to pray before sleeping since then. Farewell, Daddy Jude John J. Maña Jr.! Till we meet again! :)
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| Maam Yani with us, Sir Jude's children, during their 6th Wedding Anniversary (c) Harvey Apal |
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