Keynote Address of Fr. Rod Salazar, SVD

This was the Keynote Address delivered by our Keynote Speaker Fr. Roderick Salazar, SVD, of the University of San Carlos Cebu City during the IPCAP National Convention held in Cebu Last March 12-14 at the Center for performing Arts of University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R).

The Key We Must Turn
Thoughts on the Professional Guidance Counselor and the Law

Keynote Address
First IPCAP National Convention
(The Integrated Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines)
March 12-14, 2009
Center for the Performing Arts
University of San Jose-Recoletos, Cebu City

Theme: The Professional Guidance Counselor and the Law: Status and Prospects
by:
FATHER RODERICK C. SALAZAR JR., SVD
Presidential Assistant for Planning and Development
University of San Carlos, Cebu City

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, officers, members, and guests of the Integrated Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines (IPCAP). Thank you for the invitation to be part of your First National Convention which has been held in different parts of the country, but this time here in home turf, Cebu City.

I am honored to be asked to keynote your gathering. You know that I am neither professional guidance counselor nor lawyer. So, the perspective of the convention theme that I will take will not be of one or the other. I assume this would be all right since, from the overall program, I see that there are other perspectives that will be shared as well.

If this is acceptable to you, let me begin by sharing how I understand my role. Key, as we know, is an instrument for locking and opening. Note, when used as a noun, means a message, a brief record of facts, topics, or thoughts as an aid to memory; an observation of experiences. It can even be a formal diplomatic or parliamentary communication. It may be a written promise or notice of payment. In music, it is a written sign representing the pitch of a sound (do re mi fa so la ti do) or its duration (whole or half or a quarter). Used as a verb, note means to observe, to give or draw attention to.

When these two words are joined together into one -- “keynote” -- we understand the compound word to mean a prevailing tone or idea. In music, it would be the note on which a key is based.

In relation to our conference theme, the keynote I propose would, as key, attempts to unlock a bit of its meaning, shed some light on it; as note, hope to set the tone which each other participant and speaker may hum to or sing along with in a polyphony or symphony that we trust will emerge from our sharing.

Our chosen theme is: The Professional Guidance Counselor and the Law: Status and Prospects.

I note five ideas there: Professional, Guidance Counselor, Law, Status, Prospects. The last two, status and prospects, would have to come from you. You would know, should know them best. So, I shall not touch on them. Law, I can mention at least a bit because it is, after all, a particular law that you are really referring to, namely, Republic Act No. 9258. Its specifics, however, we would have reserve to our lawyer-speakers.

You know more about Guidance Counselors than I because that is who and what you are. So I should not treat that in detail, either. Even professional, you also should know for that is what you are expected to be by your clients and by the law itself. Does this mean, then, that I am now free of my task and I can now say goodbye to you? Of course not, you would say. That would make it too easy for me, would it not? So I will not yet leave. I will reflect on the theme and offer a few ideas about how we might approach it -- but in other than the usual ways.

We start with the word professional. By this we mean someone who by virtue of training and education, and the passing of required examinations or assessments, has acquired the qualifications (documentation, too) necessary for that person to offer his or her expertise to the general public. One may then expect or require payment for services so rendered. One is also expected to behave in a certain way.

The usual word used in contrast to professional is amateur. Without yet defining this latter term, let me share what a certain website called tipsforsuccess.org has to say about the two terms.
Are you a professional? the website asks. And it goes on to say:
“How you look, talk, write, act and work determines whether you are a professional or an amateur. Society does not emphasize the importance of professionalism, so people tend to believe that amateur work is normal. Many businesses accept less-than-good results. Schools graduate students who cannot read. You can miss 15% of the driving-test answers and still get a driver license. “Just getting by” is an attitude many people accept. But it is the attitude of amateurs.

Don’t ever do anything as though you were an amateur. Anything you do, do it as a Professional to Professional standards. If you have the idea about anything you do that you just dabble in it, you will wind up with a dabble life. There’ll be no satisfaction in it because there will be no real production you can be proud of.
Develop the frame of mind that whatever you do, you are doing it as a professional and move up to professional standards in it. Never let it be said of you that you lived an amateur life. Professionals see situations and they handle what they see. They are not amateur dabblers. L. Ron Hubbard says, ‘So learn this as a first lesson about life. The only successful beings in any field, including living itself, are those who have a professional viewpoint and MAKE themselves and ARE professionals.
A professional learns every aspect of the job. An amateur skips the learning process whenever possible. A professional looks, speaks and dresses like a professional. An amateur is sloppy in appearance and speech. A professional keeps his or her work area clean and orderly. An amateur has a messy, confused or dirty work area. A professional is focused and clear-headed. An amateur is confused and distracted. A professional does not let mistakes slide by. An amateur tries to get out of difficult work. A professional completes projects as soon as possible. An amateur is surrounded by unfinished work piled on top of unfinished work.

A professional remains level-headed and optimistic. An amateur gets upset and assumes the worst. A professional handles money and accounts very carefully. An amateur is sloppy with money and accounts. A professional faces up to other people’s upsets and problems. An amateur avoids the problems of others.

A professional uses higher emotional tones: enthusiasm, cheerfulness, interest, contentment. An amateur uses lower emotional tones: anger, hostility, resentment, fear, victim. A professional persists until the objective is achieved. An amateur gives up at the first opportunity.

A professional produces more than expected. An amateur produces just enough to get by. A professional produces a high-quality product or service. An amateur produces a medium-to-low quality product or service. A professional earns high pay. An amateur earns low pay and feels it’s unfair. A professional has a promising future. An amateur has an uncertain future.

The first step to making yourself a professional is to decide you ARE a professional.
These are the observations of that group that says it offers tips for success. Do we agree with them or not? If we judged ourselves by these standards would we call ourselves professionals or amateurs?

Though generally I personally would agree with the contrasting and differentiating just given, I cannot say I agree with everything in the list. Being the organization that it is, tipsforsuccess.org would, naturally, say all those things about professionals – at the expense of amateurs.

There are, however, things about amateurs that we need not be ashamed of, that in fact we should adopt.

And here is my take on the matter. Though we are professionals and must live and behave as professionals, there is something in the amateur that we must understand and savor, learn, and even live. Why and how?

Let us consider the etymology of the word amateur. The original word comes from the Latin amare, to love. One who loves, or a lover is amator. The French took the word and spelled it their way, amateur. It was in this French form that we got the word in the English language. But whether in Latin or French or English, amateur means one who loves, or more precisely, one who does things out of love, or for love. It is this aspect of amateur that I invite you to be conscious of, to savor, and to save.

My note, then, my keynote is: Be as professional as you can or want to be. But never completely depart from your being amateur -- lover --one who loves, one who does things for love and out of love.

This is my keynote. Set it to music. Compose a theme from it. Weave a poem or a song around it. The real professional is one who, though professional, has not completely lost his or her being an amateur.

I share the thoughts of John S. Tanner of Brigham Young University. In an article titled Amateurism and Excellence, he says: Professional excellence may be best achieved through the ideals of amateurism. He continues: “ Following my appointment as academic vice president, I received many kind notes from faculty colleagues. As the congratulations came in, I thought of the sobering remarks by Hugh Nibley:
‘Anyone can become a dean, a professor, a department head, a chancellor or a custodian by appointment – it has happened thousands of times. But since the world began, no one has ever become an artist, a scientist, or a scholar by appointment. The professional may be a dud, but to get any recognition, the amateur has to be good.’ Tanner pursues the point, “Nibley aptly reminds us that true excellence comes not by appointment but by accomplishment. He posits a link between excellence and amateurism. At first blush, this may seem counter-intuitive. Normally, we presume the reverse: the professional has to be good while the amateur may be a dud. But I want to explore the less intuitive connection between amateurism and academic excellence because I think it holds a key to the “more excellent way” in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians (12:31).

He mentions what I earlier alluded to: “An amateur is at root a lover – a lover of sport, science, art, and so forth. It is this sense of amateur that I believe we must preserve if we are to achieve a more excellent way. There is much to recommend the professional ethic, including rigor, methodology, high standards of review, and so forth. Yet I hope we never cease to be amateurs in our profession – that is, passionate devotees of our disciplines.”

Thus far, our thoughts on being professional and being amateur.

How now do we relate to the Law? The Law we are looking at is, as we all know, Republic Act 9258, also called the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004. It is an Act that was meant to “professionalize the practice of guidance and counseling and create for this purpose a professional regulatory board of guidance and counseling, appropriating funds therefor and for other purposes.”

It was this Law that led to the organization of the Integrated Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines (IPCAP). Consider yourselves then, as children-in-law of Republic Act 9258.

We are in convention these days precisely to assess what has become of us, what we have made of ourselves since the law was enacted, since we came together as one organization.

Our lawyers will no doubt enlighten us on the specifics of this law, so I will not preempt them. I would only relate to this Law, what I earlier said about amateurism and professionalism, namely, that as much as we must know the Law that made us band together as Professional Guidance Counselors, we must practice also the Law -- of Love in the practice of our profession.

This is a dangerous thing to say, I admit. I know that we have been taught that in the practice of our profession, we should be objective, detached; that if we feel that in any way we are getting involved in a counselee in an emotional way, we must immediately detach ourselves if we are to be “professional” about our actions. I understand the dangers of falling in love or being in love with a patient or a counselee. We know, for instance, that if we were medical doctors and someone close to us, a member of the family, say, a wife or husband, son or daughter, were a patient, we are advised to refrain from acting as doctors – if only to ensure our emotions do not cloud or get in the way of our professional judgment and expertise.
Still, I submit that we can love, even must love even as we continue to be professional. The love I mean here is basically the will and the willingness to relate to our counselee as subject, not as object, and treat him or her accordingly. We may know the rules of the profession and the professional and play by them, and still continue to work and live from the heart.

I look at this in the same way as Moses did the commandments of God. Though he had received from the Lord the Ten Commandments and the other prescriptions of the Law and etched them in tablets of stone, just before he died he told the Israelites,
“The commandment that I lay on you this day is not too difficult for you; it is not too remote. It is not in heaven, that you should say ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to fetch it and tell it to us, so that we can keep it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to fetch it and tell it to us, so that w can keep it?’ It is a thing very near to you, upon your lips and in your heart ready to be kept”.

The law of love that we must practice in relation to our clients and counselees and to all the people in our offices or clinics -- that law is in our heart. We must follow it.

To be sure we have to ask ourselves “what have we become, what have we done because of the Law, this Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004?” But we need to also ask how has love affected my practice of guidance and counseling? Has my supposed “professionalism” enhanced or has it detracted from my relationships with those around me? Amateurism arises from love. And professionalism need not be devoid of it – amateurism or love itself.

As for Guidance and Counseling, while I do not wish to add more theories about it, I offer a little off-beat view of it. Some might take it as too cute or contrived for comfort, but may we listen to it anyway. I received this in my electronic mail:
When I meditated on the word GUIDANCE, I kept seeing ‘dance’ at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn’t flow with the music,
And everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
Both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
Or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.
It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness,
And attentiveness from one person
And gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word GUIDANCE.
When I saw “G”, I thought of God
Followed by “u” and “I”.
Guidance: “G”, “u” and “I” “dance”.
God, you and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
That I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings
And mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
And to guide you through each season of your life.

I must say I find this little meditation inspiring. I hope you do, too.
Since in this convention we are also considering what the status and prospects of the profession of guidance counselor is in relation to the Law, we could as well ask ourselves what is the status of our practice of guidance and counseling, and what are the prospects of our improving it not just in relation to the law but to the very heart of our profession. Are our souls and spirits free enough and light enough to help us – dance? Are we able to help the people who come to us see the finer things in life?

While we are at this, let me add that a spiritual writer, Joyce Rupp, not too long ago, published a book titled, May I Have This Dance ? What is the background of this question? The older ones among us would most probably remember. The younger ones might not know. (For, these days, in a night club or a party, if people want to dance, they just get up and match their movements with the music.)

In times past, when a little more formality on the dance floor was expected and practiced, the ladies used to sit in a line on one side of the hall, and the gentlemen stood on the other side. When the music played, the men would go to the line of ladies and ask, “May I have this dance?”. If the ladies said yes, or stood up to take the inviting hand, the dancing would begin.

Joyce Rupp, in her book, alludes to the time when God, in the Book of Ezekiel, led a discouraged prophet Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones. God says to the bones, “I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.” Joyce Rupp reflects:

Remember this is now the valley of dry bones.
Here I am, in Ezekiel’s valley, one heap among many.
Just another stack of old dry bones.
Some Mondays feel this way and Tuesdays too
To say nothing of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Most dreams and forgotten pleasures
Sold like a soul to a gluttonous world,
Feeding on my frenzy and anxious activity.
But just when the old heap of bones seems most dry and deserted,
A strong breath of life sits among my dead.
Someone named God comes to my fragments
And asks with a twinkling eye: “May I have this dance?”
The voice stretches into me
A stirring lifts into my heart,
Lifting up the bones of death.
Then, I offer my waiting self
To the one who has never stopped believing in me
And the dance begins.

We know that for some of our counselees life may be so hard or so dry or so seemingly hopeless that they can hardly smile much less sing or dance. But perhaps this is one of our responsibilities as guidance counselors – if we cannot immediately or even finally help those who come to us to solve their problems, may we, at least, try to help them live another day, with hope in their hearts.
For us to be able to do this, we ourselves must have the light of love and hope within ourselves. We have our own problems and troubles, to be sure; not one of us is spared that. But by how we handle our own struggles we can show our counselees how they might handle theirs.

A month or two ago, there was the big news that a plane which was hit by a flock of birds crash-landed on the Hudson River in New York. Fortunately, not a life was lost. A century ago, however, this was not the case.

In a book titled Soul Prints, author Marc Gafni relates that there is a bridge that stretches between the Bronx and Manhattan. It is called the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge. This bridge receives trains coming down from Westchester, which cross it and ride alongside the Hudson River to lower Manhattan. What is special about the bridge is that it is constantly opening and closing in order to allow ships, large and small, to circle Manhattan.

In 1904, a train was coming down from Westchester, wanting to cross the bridge. In those days, there would be a lantern swinger who stood at the bridge to let the train know if it could pass. When he heard the train’s whistle, he would swing his lantern if the bridge was up. If the conductor didn’t see the lantern swinging, he would understand that the bridge was down and safe for passage of the train.

That fateful Friday at about three in the morning, a train crashed into the water. It was a serious accident, a great tragedy. People died, others were injured, and the route was closed for eighteen months after the crash. Everyone wanted to know who was responsible.

Suspicion naturally fell on the lantern swinger. After all, he was the one responsible for swinging his lantern if the bridge was up and could not be crossed. He, however, protested his innocence with such vigor that the case, which had been brought to court, could not be decided.

After six months of hung juries, his lawyer decided to make a dramatic break from courtroom practice at the time and call the lantern swinger to the stand.
“What is your occupation?” the bailiff asked.
“I am the Lantern Swinger,” he responded with alacrity.
“Where were you early on the Friday morning in question?”
“At my post”, he responded calmly.
“Did you see the oncoming train?”
Yes I did”
“Were you drunk”
“No, sir, I never drink.”
“Then tell the court what happened when you saw the oncoming train. Did you or didn’t you swing your lantern?”
A hush fell over the courtroom. Only the absent sound of bated breath and reporters’ pencils could be heard.
Strangely, the lantern swinger, who up to this point had remained completely poised, began to stutter. “ y y y yes. I d d did swing the lantern, “ he finally blurted out.
The jury did not know what to make of his stutter – was it a sign he was lying? They argued for a long time, but finally they decided to believe him. He was acquitted. As the last person filed out of the courtroom and the defense attorney was left with his client, he explored, “ I’ve been defending you for six months!” he shouted. “I’ve worked day and night! I’ve barely seen my wife and children, and you told me you were innocent. Then why the stutter of a guilty man? We nearly lost our case! Were you lying to me all these months?”
The lantern swinger looked sadly at his attorney. “I never lied to you… you just always asked me the wrong question, “ he said. You always asked me if I swung my lantern. And I have always answered “I did”, because I really did. You never asked me if there was light in my lantern.”

Dear guidance counselors: many people come to us for, well, guidance. We listen to their stories and problems, discuss with them, point out to what they might do and where they could go. We have our own versions of “swinging our lanterns”.
We have to ask ourselves whether our lanterns are lit. Is there soul in our words? Is there life in our actions? Is there understanding in our suggestions? Is there light in our lanterns?
The light within us will help us awaken the light in others.

When U.S. President Barak Obama was to be inaugurated, and I learned that he had invited the poet Elizabeth Alexander to read a poem during the ceremonies, I was inspired to do a little research on other poets who had also been invited to read a poem at one or the other U.S. Presidential Inauguration.
I learned that during the inauguration of Bill Clinton, the poet Miller Williams read a poem that he titled Of History and Hope. Let me read it to you not only for the beauty of the entire poem but for certain questions that he asks which are relevant to IPCAP in your infancy stage:
We have memorized America,
How it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
Telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.

But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we were meant to be.
To keep on going where we meant to go

But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
Except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands – oh, rarely in a row –
And flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer allow.

Who were many people coming together
Cannot become one people falling apart.

Who dreamed for every child an even chance
Cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.

Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
Cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.

Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.

We know what we have done and what we have said,
And how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
Believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become—
Just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.

All this in the hands of the children, eyes already set
On a land we never can visit – it isn’t there yet –
But looking through their eyes, we can see
What our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.

The same John Tanner who I quoted earlier as pointing out the importance of amateurism in attaining excellence mentions a film that I too have loved so much. And I still do. This was the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. The film, notes Tanner, is organized around the contrast between the professional and the amateur. The movie tells the story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell – both gifted sprinters and both, eventually, gold medalists in the 1924 Olympics. Abrahams exemplifies the spirit of the professional: driven, highly coached, obsessed with winning and personal glory. Liddell, by contrast, embodies the spirit of the amateur: he is joyous, heartfelt, animated by the love of running and the glory of God. Abrahams runs on his nerves; when asked why he runs, he says winning is a weapon against pervasive anti-Semitism. Liddell runs from his heart; he says he runs for God.

This contrast is seen in their respective running styles. Abrahams’ running is technically sophisticated and fierce; he scowls his way across the finish line. Liddell runs like a wild animal across the hillsides. At a certain point in each race, Liddell leans back his head, opens his moth, and turn on the jets – abandoning himself to the pure expression of his divine gift. This accurate portrayal of Liddell’s running style symbolizes running that is inspired. And this word, we know, etymologically comes from the Latin in and spirare, which mean to breathe into. O to be breathed into -- by God.

Liddell is required to choose between God and a possible Olympic gold medal. His qualifying heat for the 100-meter dash is scheduled for Sunday. Against great pressure, including from the Prince of Wales, he refuses to violate the Sabbath. Fortunately, he is given a chance to run the 400-meter dash on another day, and he wins the gold.

Liddell is an example of the amateur who had light within him. The light that we, though we are professionals, must continue to have. It is the light of love. For our profession, for the people we serve, for God.
There was, in the 1960s, a song that says what I have been sharing so far:
The words I have to say
May well be simple but they’re true
Until you give your love
There’s nothing more that we can do.

Love is the opening door
Love is what we came here for
No one can offer you more
You know what I mean
Have your eyes really seen?

You say you find it hard
To lead the life that we once knew
But there’s no other way
So now it’s really up to you
Love is the key we must turn
Truth is the flame we must burn
Freedom the lesson we must learn

Do you know what I mean?
Have your eyes really seen?

My dear guidance counselors, dear Integrated Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines (IPACAP), the line that I have adopted as title for this sharing is THE KEY WE MUST TURN.

I have said that although we are professionals and want to continue to work and live as professionals, our work does not, need not and should not preclude our continuing to be amateurs. Amateurs surely not in the sense of the bungling neophyte, but in the deeper sense of professionals excellent in our jobs but ever with the touch of humanity, the fire and warmth and light of love. Amor. Amare. Amator. Amateur.
Love is the key we must turn
Truth is the flame we must burn
Freedom the lesson we must learn

Do you know what I mean? Have your eyes really seen? If you do, and if your eyes have, then it is time I end. I have shared with you the key. Turn it. Love.
*****

FATHER RODERICK C. SALAZAR JR., SVD
University of San Carlos
Cebu City, Philippines