it is quite sad and surreal that my last ndc as a debater would be during my first year in debating. for the longest time, and in my past life, i have always shunned the possibility of being a debater for several reasons: for one, i do not feel adequate to become one, for another, i have always been irritated with (the) debaters’ brand of obnoxious, exclusivist, and seemingly arrogant intellectual air — but once i allowed myself to be captivated by its bizarrely addictive appeal, i knew it would stay with me for a long time.

debating is so much fun, and challenging, and excruciating, and exhilarating, and demanding, and time-consuming — but none of its tiring attributes compare to the kind of high one gets when a good argument suddenly appears from nowhere, or how the heart leaps when the adjudicator nods with you as you speak.

but now, i momentarily bid debating goodbye — and to have ended my debate life by advancing to the quarterfinals (with my partner kristi in the photo) in the national debate championship (from over two hundred teams all over the philippines) in davao just last month is enough for me (although my competitive side craved for more).

the motions, the newly-acquired friends, the adjudicators, the irate debaters, the intrigues, the issues: everything will remain with me, and everything will remain in me.

debating has been very good to me — and nothing can ever quantify my gratitude to the wonders that debating and debaters have done for me — for it is here where i learned to accept that certain things are what they are, and no amount of effort can alter the course of inevitability of these established truths.

debating is a respite — it is my own solace from the gibberish of the world and the clutter of a society that has long been held hostage by materialistic consumerism (hahaha!).

seriously, i am going to miss this part of my life — and i do believe, with a certainty that cannot be questioned, that nothing can ever fill the void