I always introduce my self as a son of a tricycle driver and a primary school teacher. I do this not only because it is a fact but also because I want to emphasize that it doesn't matter where we come from. What matters is we are able to go to where we want ourselves to be.

That, for me, is achievement. In achieving something, we find fulfillment.

[caption id="attachment_2974" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Carmelita Luna, public school teacher, mother of motivational speaker and author LLOYD LUNA. She&#39;s with my dad, Victorino Luna."]<a href="http://www.lloydluna.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/32066_104191066293335_100001073277079_35726_1088298_n.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2974" title="Carmelita Luna, public school teacher, mother of motivational speaker and author LLOYD LUNA" src="http://www.lloydluna.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/32066_104191066293335_100001073277079_35726_1088298_n-300x225.jpg" alt="Carmelita Luna, public school teacher, mother of motivational speaker and author LLOYD LUNA" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

Today is a very special day for teachers because it's a World Teacher's Day. So I'd like to greet my mom and I'd like her to treat me out! Kidding. But I really do appreciate you for traveling the mountains of the Philippines' remote municipalities so you can teach these kids in the province. I mean, I don't have any idea what it was like to go up the hill and teach.

But my mom did it. And I've never seen her complaining about her job. It was plainly doing her stuff and doing it with a heart.

Life back then when I was growing up was hard. And why not? We were not living in the city. It was still a fourth or fifth class municipality. Everything was old. Technology was not yet in sight. It was the old days. It was traditional.

So my mom would have to leave us for weeks. On weekend, she would stay at home and spend time with us. It was until such time that finally she moved to the town proper. Now, we had a longer time to bond.

My mom didn't accept any of us in her class. She let us enroll and study under the supervision of other teachers. Well, I don't know. Maybe she's afraid to know that we're more intelligent than she is? Hahaha. Kidding. But really, she didn't like the idea of us going to school and take her class.

I guess there is a wisdom in that. Maybe she'd like us to learn somewhere else. Or, maybe she'd like us to be independent somehow. I'm not sure and she wouldn't tell. But the point is, she didn't like to teach us in school. Perhaps, she wanted to draw the line between parenting and teaching.

We were all raised with the same treatment yet ended up differently. I was the only boy. Today, I realized that I was also the only one who got my mom's passion for teaching. I am a teacher. I teach people. I may not be in the classroom but my classroom is the world that's just waiting for me to open my notes and discuss.

Becoming a teacher is something that goes beyond material gain. I have never met any person in history who became rich for teaching. Most, if not all of them, became so famous but they all died with not much of a material reward. Names like Confucius, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. These were all great teachers. We thank them for sharing their wisdom, too.

In my case, I'm just starting up. But the teacher in me will always be credited to my mom, Carmelita Abria Luna, a public school teacher with a solid passion on teaching the kids. Now, I'm taking the challenge to continue that passion.