A TERRA COTA OF DREAMS

i never wanted to be a soldier.

that's why in high school, i chose to be a sergeant only in the cadet corps. after checking the attendance, i stayed in the shade while they drilled. better that way. i never wanted strategies and tactics to be confined to formations and phalanxes but to blossom in spontaneous combustions.

it too, had its advantages. during fiestas, where the school cadet corps joined the parades, we (eugene and i) after checking the attendance, were now scot-free to roam around in civilian clothes while our classmates toiled and sweated it out in the afternoon sun marching.

but there were those of us who liked soldiering: roberto catubig, the roderos twins, nelson ludovice and other in the lower sections. i know rogelio would not like such a career but he was our corps commander.

but deep in my heart i knew that military training instilled discipline in us. leadership craves for it while success presupposes it. what with the top echelon of the cadet corps being composed of the intelligentia of the fourth year.

true to form, some of us became generals; others were tested in the battlefields of mindanao and the hinterlands. others now sit in swivel chairs in some airconditioned offices.

now, they have become the leaders of our batch.

in a situation where there are others who need us, we need little sparks of initiatives and direction from them to see us through.

or, are they just terra cota warriors recently unearthed?