Pro EARTH Crusaders

PRO EARTH CRUSADERS

by Antonio C. Antonio

July 22, 2014

Earlier today, I bumped into a graduate of the College of the Holy Spirit in Tarlac (CHST).  It was a rather unique and interesting meeting in cyberspace... to be more particular, on Facebook.  Her name is Amy Sangalang Pascual and she is presently based in Singapore.

Amy initially said “Hi Sir Anton” but I could not really recall where we’ve met.  Sincerely, her name did not ring even a tiny bell in my head.  She gamely re-introduced herself as a member of the Rotaract Club of CHST (which my club, Rotary Club of Downtown Tarlac ’86, sponsored and I was the Committee Chairman) sometime in the early 1990s and I was her “thesis defense tormentor”.  I still remember that, at about that time, I was also invited by CHST to be a member of the thesis defense panel and Amy was one of the thesis proponents.  She went on to say that I placed her on a hot seat on the day of the thesis defense and had she known that I was part of the panel, she could have approached me on the nature and scope of the questions I would ask.  She also implied (although in very friendly terms) that I was largely to blame for their collective anxiety during the defense.  I suddenly realized that I should have given them a big scare and I was a “hated” person among the candidates for graduation at CHST back then. Gee… was I that bad before?

In most of the proponents’ theses, I remember having segued from purely management and financial matters to environmental concerns.  Curiously, the environmental issues were never anticipated in their preparation and review.  I could only imagine now how they were placed in horrifying situations.  It was just too unfortunate that I already put emphasis on environmental issues even (way back) then… some 20 years ago.  To Amy’s credit, however, she was able to successfully convince the panel on the acceptability and merits of her thesis with flying colors.

Now that our paths (Amy’s and mine) have crossed again, I thought we could have a better start or, more appropriately, a better re-start.  She is no longer a thesis proponent and I am no longer a panellist.  As a measure of goodwill, I thought of making it up to Amy by inviting her to “like” the Facebook Page “Pro EARTH Crusaders… a pro-environment advocacy community.  And she readily did.  This time, she will be in the company of super heroes (please see photo)… And if, by any chance, Amy is again tormented by a “bad ass dude” in the defense panel named Sir Anton, she could always ask for help from her new-found friends in a group of Mother Earth lovers called Pro EARTH Crusaders…

Just my little thoughts…

(Please visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders and Landscape Ecology UPOU on Facebook or follow me at antonantonio.blogspot.com)