Diligence is a virtue

By Joshua Corcuera

As a junior accountancy student, diligence is crucial—without it, I would not make it this far. One who aspires to achieve something, especially lofty goals, has to work hard for it. Do not emulate Juan Tamad who merely waited for the guava to fall to his mouth instead of climbing the tree or using a stick to get the guava.

When we were young, being industrious or hardworking was an essential value taught by parents and teachers alike. It remains essential as we grow up. Even though we prefer to play and sleep during our childhood, we have no choice but to study for a certain period of time—because if we don’t, then there would be flying slippers around. Later in life, however, hard work would be necessary and inevitable. To graduate in college, it is imperative to listen attentively to educators, to cooperate with group mates in completing academic requirements, to stay up at night reading thick books to pass examinations. All these difficult demands require discipline, perseverance, diligence. The values we learned when we were young have real-life implications—the more we cherish such values, the better the achievements we attain in life.

Hard work is generally rewarded. We can see this in our everyday lives. If you work overtime, you are entitled to receive your basic salary plus overtime pay. Furthermore, if you work until the dark of the night, you can also be entitled to night differential pay. What does this real-life scenario tell us? Working harder equals better return.

In recent years, working hard is emphasized together with working smart. If more time and clever efforts are spent on work and study, the results could be even better. Nevertheless, the virtue of diligence remains—and it must remain in the future. I never saw a caring parent or a caring teacher telling a child to be lazy, to sleep and play all day, and to neglect responsibilities. It must remain like this. We must continue emphasizing the importance of diligence and praise those who work diligently for they are responsible people who uplift themselves from suffering, enable themselves to help those who are struggling, and inspire others to do the same. Imagine what will happen to our society if we reward laziness.

To be candid, it is frustrating that some people, especially younger ones, neglect their duties and focus heavily on vices and worldly desires. Sure, we want to get wealthier in life so we can meet our needs and help those who have less, but it cannot be attained by being irresponsible, lazy, and hoping for a miracle. Something must be done by our education system, and more importantly by parents, to address issues concerning lack of discipline and diligence among the youth. Sure, there are many hardworking young people like working students, but it cannot be denied that some young people seem not to care about working anymore. Where will this bring us in the future?

Now, just three semesters away from graduation, I can reflect that hard work is crucial, appreciating the things that you do would be even better as it encourages you to be diligent. Thus, it is essential that we admire what we do, so that we would not merely work, but work more diligently and with better quality.