Law school

Manong Ralph has told me time and again that he has always wanted to be a lawyer since time immemorial. I’d always tell him, “But law is boring. I just can’t imagine myself being bothered with other people’s legal woes,” and then he would shrug his shoulder and smile like a horse. Last year, he took the UP Law Achievement Exam, which happens to be—as they say—one of the toughest law school admissions exams in the country, if not the. By the grace of the God, he passed the first round and was scheduled for an interview.

Weeks before such interview, he would call home to tell my parents of his anxieties, to which my parents would respond, “The grace of the Lord is sufficient, Ralph.” This is not surprising at all since we’ve all heard people tell of the inconceivably inconsiderate panels of lawyers that often make the interviewees shed buckets of tears in front of them. And only a small number of aspiring students could actually get into the colorful world of law school.

But he did manage to get in. The results were posted this afternoon.

My point is simple: Manong couldn’t have done it on his own. I share in his joys. But more than my joy over his having been able to pass the rigorous interview is my joy over the words he uttered, “It’s all because of God. It’s not I, Lance. I couldn’t have done it on my own.”