HOTDOG AND EGGS
am not a seasoned student leader, but I have been given some
opportunities to become one. Back at high school, I was SC president.
In college, I was head of publications and media affairs of the Central
Student Council (AY 2005-2006). I was chairperson of the committees on
Rules and Policies and Constitutional Amendments of the Union of
Catholic Student Councils (UCSC) (AY 2005-2006). Currently, I am editor
in chief of HIRAYA Magazine in CFAD. I don’t know if they are
sufficient to coin me as seasoned, but I have experienced leadership at
both its best and its worst.
At
this point, I am 20 years old, far from my teenage years and far from
the aggression that my body once had. I am at an age where I begin to
think of so many things, and take responsibility at a different
perspective; from the endpoint of a big brother liking the best for his
siblings.
At
this point as well, I begin to reflect what a student leader should
really have. And after years of exposure and moments of thinking, I
realized that a student leader only needs two things: HOTDOG and EGGS.
I can’t even believe that I will find the answer in my favorite
breakfast meal.More…
I am not trying to be green here. ::laughs::
A
student leader needs that HOTDOG to steer their constituency to a new
and progressive direction. The hotdog stands for a pole that will lead
the way. This also stands for the strong ascendancy provided by
pleasured constituents. And I strongly believe that this is relevant.
If you are a leader, you must have the support of your followers to
govern them; you must also have their support and their trust for you
to lead them to where they think you should bring them. Where to bring
them is all up to you.
The
hotdog cannot be soft; soft enough to not have the moral and political
mandate to govern. Nor should the hotdog be stiff; stiff enough to stir
a revolution. It must be cooked just right; with enough room to change
phases at every situation’s call.
The
hotdog must also be firm; firm to resolve any concern and to stand for
what it believes in. It should compromise only when necessary and
retaliate when it calls for it.
But
with hotdog comes another need; EGGS. A student leader must have the
EGGS to make things happen. It must have the strength, and the will to
make his constituent’s dreams a reality. He must have the EGGS to
ensure that he shall stand through his commitments no matter what.
The
eggs can’t be raw though, for raw eggs are immature and are inedible.
Raw eggs cannot have the mature will to decide and pursue. But it
cannot be burned as well, for it may issue weak and wacked judgment. It
must be cooked just right. It does not matter if it shall be sunny side
up, scrambled, or boiled. It just has to be cooked just right.
Hotdog
and eggs are the best breakfast combination. And the same goes with
leadership, one cannot go and cannot be delicious without the other.
Hotdog without eggs may sound delicious, but a leader with vision
without action is not an effective leader. Just the same, eggs without
hotdog represents a leader with much action but no direction. His
efforts are put to waste.
So,
in choosing our leaders, we must ask them, "do you have HOTDOG and
EGGS?" It may sound funny, but inform them tht you mean it seriously.
For without either, a leader is incomplete. Without both, a leader is
not a leader.
To student leaders now, DO WE HAVE HOTDOG AND EGGS?
"Leadership is not an ability or a skill, it is a spirit. A spirit that transforms a person from common to astonishing."
-JOHN CARLO MASAJO
in his inaugural speech, July 2003
