Dumbguard Knowledge

OPENING

(Do the rifle drill) Bang, bang, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. (Rest the rifle on the ground.)

Fellow Toastmasters and guests, good evening.

My Grade School Life

I have been the “typical” quiet, shy type of girl during my grade school years. I abhor recitations, voluntary or graded, in the seat and more so in front of the class. I don’t raise my hand to speak up even if I know the answer. I don’t talk to strangers nor do I mingle with my “noisier” classmates because they belong to the “talkative” group while I belong to the “behaved” group.

Day in, day out, I ride the school bus so I never get to hang around with my classmates after dismissal. I bring my own lunch box and usually eat with 1 or 2 girl friends during noontime. I never joined declamation contests, singing contests, or math & science quiz bees. I have never been a class officer nor have I been nominated to be one. My scores in the report card were all black and I occasionally make it to the honor roll. However, one thing I didn’t like was that my report cards repeatedly show “shy” and “timid” in the Remarks section.

My High School Life

Thus upon finishing Grade 6, I said to myself, I wanted a different life. I wanted to be exposed. I joined the Patrol Leader & Senior Patrol Leader Training Courses the summer vacations before my freshman and sophomore years. I learned to cheer, chant, sing, and serve. I learned to tie fancy knots, join camping trips, trek Mt. Makiling and participate in team activities. I started to get a feel of what “fun” is like.

Still, I felt that something was missing with my being a scout leader. Perhaps because I had to pretend that I was a leader even if leading doesn’t come naturally to me. Being the stiff and serious person that I am, I also associated the word “having fun” with “being shallow”. Obviously, I didn’t want to be shallow.

Thus during the last quarter of my sophomore year, I joined the Commissioned Officer Candidate Course under the Citizens’ Army Training department. There, life became more exciting. Being trainees, we were tagged as Cadet (short “a”) and Cadet (long “a”) Dumbguards for gentlemen and ladies, respectively.

As part of our training routine, we had to report to our training officers during breaktimes for our assignments. We would always have our white tickler notebook, black ballpen, white hanky, and rosary ready for inspection. We were asked to memorize poems such as Don’t Quit, Unity, Invictus, Credenda, and Desiderata. Some were actually a page long. Interestingly enough, they call the entire collection of inspirational poems and quotations as the “Dumbguard Knowledge”.

Role Playing

Me: Ma’am CDT/DBG xxx yyy, reporting for duty ma’am.
OFFICER: Recite “Unity”.
Me: Ma’am, “Unity”! I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do and what I ought to do by the grace of God, I will do. Ma’am!
OFFICER: Good. Recite “Don’t Quit”.
Me: Ma’am, “Don’t Quit”!
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit. Ma’am!

Yes, I learned to answer in terms of “Sir, yes, Sir”, or “Ma’am, no, Ma’am”. Our training was rigorous. During summer vacation, while my batchmates were busy with their theater art performances, choir practices, varsity games, I was busy crawling on the floor with my rifle, doing sit ups, push ups, duck walks, and jogging around the gym perimeters while holding my dear rifle close to me. We developed endurance, courage, and discipline through polishing of our buckles, pins, shoes, eating square meals, standing upright under the sweltering heat of the sun, guarding the camp perimeters in the dark of the night, and doing our rifle and sword drills. Right and wrong was learned in terms of the merits and demerits we received.

Dumbguard Knowledge and my Life

Fellow toastmasters and guests, I may have lost my spontaneity somewhere in the process of being a cadet officer but what I got from it was priceless. I learned about excellence, punctuality, camaraderie, responsibility, and respect for authority. Memorizing the DUMBGUARD KNOWLEDGE may not have made much sense to me before… but it sure has helped built my character and equip me in dealing w/ life’s challenges through the years.

When I feel powerless, I would draw strength from Invictus --- “I am the master of my faith, I am the captain of my soul.”

When I feel troubled, I would be calmed by lines from Credenda. “Be unafraid. Nothing here can harm you except yourself. Do that which you dread and cherish those victories with pride.”

I have grown a lot since grade school and I now have the courage to speak up in front of a class. And if I were to receive a report card again, I will definitely not see the remarks “shy” and “timid” anymore. Good evening.

ENDING

(Pick up rifle and do my farewell act “Tumiwalag”. “Sa-wa-lo” (turn around). “Sa-wa-lo” (leave stage)

- taken from my Basic Speech Project #6 -