school spirit

It bothered me as I sat in the Araneta Coliseum last Sunday that I bisected the maroon and blue sections of the stadium. No, I didn't mean it physically, because the two schools were, and have always been, supportive of each other. As one Babbler coined it, we were all children of Katipunan.

I meant it figuratively. I always said I had a genuine dual allegiance. An Atenean for more than a decade, and a Scholar ng Bayan the past three years, I used to think that I love the two schools equally.

But as the cheers (and jeers) went on, I couldn't understand a single maroon chant. As for the blue ones, I knew I could utter them in my sleep. I couldn't join the Ateneo cheers (vigorously) as I was clad in a maroon shirt and was sandwiched by two die-hard marooners. It would have felt awkward to do so.

But I felt awkward inside already, so maybe I shouldn't have cared. Looking back, maybe I should have shouted my heart out for Ateneo the way I did for UP. Love, as my mom used to say when we were young, need not be expressed in the same way to everyone. She didn't ever to go one of my PTAs, but she was almost always present at my brother's because I didnt have any problems at school. But she always brought me to art classes and to my weekly doctor's appointment. These she never did for my brother because he was neither interested in art nor sick when we were kids. She loved the two of us, equally but not identically.

I believe it's the same thing for the two schools to which I owe my life. I love them both, equally, but not identically. Love, nonetheless.