R E D ! [Under Revisions/Editings]

"One Heck of a Dream"

"I want to be The Doctor for the Poor!" - I keened for this dream..

M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) in the Philippines, is a dream only made for the elite. Its like a dream manufactured and framed only for the sons and daughters of the big bosses, millionaires, and CEO's.
The tuition fee was like multiple stab on the back of any poor soul who wished to pursue it. I mean, the money, the fees, are worst than day-time bank robbery.
Universities do not really offer it..
It was as if this kind of course was only tailored and designed for the few rich kids, born with silver spoons in their mouth. I'm not being sarcastic.. It was (and still is) all true!

So, when the panel who interviewed me for my application for ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP heard that I am keening for a possible FREE GOLDEN TICKET to that CHOCOLATE FACTORY.. They were like, "Oooooooooh"!

There were three interviewers in front of me, and I am sitting on THE HOT SEAT. There were two middle aged men, wearing suits and ties, and I believed that they were both Licensed Doctors, who also happened to be professors and also Board Members of the University I am applying for my Academic Scholarship.
On the middle of them was a man, an old man on his prime. His skin was soggy. His face so downcast. His head was already covered with his thick gray hair. But unlike the two gentlemen who wore suits and ties, this old man, only wore a plain black polo shirt and slux.
Later then I knew, that he was the Dean of MD. He was a well-respected generous man, named, Dr. Azriel Arañego.

The old man in middle, Dr. Arañego was just staring at me eye to eye, blankly. But the two gentlemen behind him, threw all those penetrating questions, right away.

"Well, let's start this, so we could move on already, kindly tell us your name please..", they smiled sarcastically.

"I am Red, sir. Red Santos."

"Oh, perhaps, that will explain why you're wearing a red T-shirt for an interview, right?", and the two gentlemen laughed so hard, but the old man, Dr. Arañego just scratched his head while looking at me.

I answered them with a wide sarcastic smile on my face, "Yes, sir, I guess that would explain it.", the two gentlemen stopped laughing in disgrace. And I saw a smirk on that old downcasted face of Dr. Arañego while continuously scratching his head as if fidgeting.

I saw the two gentlemen doctors behind Dr. Arañego turned red-faced and became serious.
"So, Red.. You wanted to be a doctor, aren't you?"

"Yes sir, I have always dreamt to become one.", I answered courteously.

With a sinister, devilish grin of the gentlemen on the left, he asked, "So, you are a keener, huh? But you don't have money, that's the reason you applied for this Academic Scholarship, right?"
That was so blunt and rude.

"Yes sir, I don't have money.", I answered.

Then, with that devilish sarcastic grin again of the gentleman on the left, he said, "Uh huh. Let me tell you frankly, and bluntly. This University is one of the Top 10 University in this country. Last year, one of the student of this University ranked number three in Medical Licensure Board exam and that put as on one of the Top 5 Medical Universities in the whole country and perhaps, even in the whole South East Asian Region."

Dr. Arañego, continuously stared at me again, blankly, without any words.

But I replied immediately, without any hesitations in my mind and in my heart, "I know it all sir. That's why I chose to enroll here sir, because for me, this is not one of the best Medical University in the country.. but it is the best in the Philippines, and perhaps, in whole South East Asian Region."

There's a temporary silence that surrounded the place. But I saw the face of the old man in the middle, smiling at me.. FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Then the gentleman on the right throw a very direct, blunt and rude question, "So you know it huh? Then I guess that you know also HOW MUCH the fee you need to pay to pursue that thoughtless dream of yours in this precious University, right?"

I answered honestly, "Yes sir, I know how much."

"How much?!", he asked me back.

"It's more or less 100,000 pesos,plus the miscellenous fee per semester, sir.", I answered.

"This is a Trisemestral University, so multiply it by three and you will get...?" He made me do the math and to smack on my face.

"300,000 pesos... SIR", I answered.

Then, the gentlemen on the left, once again, who wanted his own vendetta for the disgrace I have done on them, muttered, "So, you want us to shoulder 300,000 pesos a year to finance your lucid illusion, huh? And you ask us here, to do that for you for FIVE STRAIGHT YEARS, with that kind of attitude, huh?!"

I didn't speak a word. I just look each one of them in the eyes. I am not distracted.
Maybe its a test. I don't know. But I know in myself, that I am not the one guilty of rudeness.

The gentleman on the right add another pile of blazing maths to drag me down in hell, "Add the miscellanous fees and the yearly tuition hike, and that's more or less 2 million pesos, and that's a brand new bungalow and a second hand Toyota Vios, MR. RED SANTOS! Speak up young man, and answer us, why would you think that we will accept this heck of your APPLICATION?!!"

I look into the eyes of Dr.Arañego and stared him, eye to eye, "My mother and father died, but I still managed to live. I grew up in hell everyday - being beated, but I don't give a damn. I managed to be on the top of almost 1,400 students who were my batchmates with an average GPA of 98.7 percent. That's the record I made - the highest GPA in all government school in this country. And yes, I don't even have a decent shirt, but I have a dream. A dream I carved in the grave of both my father and mother....... SIR!"

They were all silenced by my answer, so I continued..

"I grew up differently from any ordinary kid that you saw walking in this University, with their Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. I know I don't have a car, not even an own roof to stay, but I am better with those rich young spoiled brats driving there Pajero and living on their fancy brick mansion. This is why I am here in the best Medical University in the Philippines : because I believe that I am one of the best student you will ever see in this country. Well, if you want to prove that, then I will do whatever test you put in front of me, and answer all the damn question you will ever ask of me. But for me to do that SIR, I need to prove that to all of you, and it wouldn't be possible, if you'll never give me one heck of a chance! So please sir, please.. I beg you, just give me a chance, and I will promise to never fail all of you. That one day, I will put this University on top of all the other Universites in this sinking country.

And for the very first time, Dr. Arañego, spoke a word..

With that husky old voice of his, he said, "Would you mind to sit down, young man, PLEASE?"

(....To be continued. )