The Impersonator of Miriam Defensor

          Comedians are one of the most underappreciated people. Most of the time we only see them as people who can make us laugh with their jokes and tricks, we only see them as sources of our entertainment and more often than not we forget that they are humans too.

          Out of all the people that I thought would give me great life advice, a comedian wasn't certainly one of them. But that's exactly what happened last February 11, 2016.

          Last February 11, 2016 there was an event that was held at our school (Asia Pacific College) auditorium, it was a talk about following your dreams. I wasn't excited at first and thought to myself that this was probably going to be boring and that was the case until I saw who was going to conduct the talk, it was a comedian, whom I knew very little about.

          His name was Jon Santos, and the only thing I knew about him was that he was an impersonator of famous celebrities and politicians. I will not be detailing his life on this blog post, that is a post for another time, but what I will  be talking about here are the experiences he shared with us and the life lessons he taught us during his talk.

Mr. Jon Santos, wearing a fabulous purple coat.

          So after Jon Santos went up the stage and thanked everyone for inviting him to speak there that day, there was silence, and I could tell that the people were expecting that he would open up the talk with a joke since he was after all a comedian. 

          But he didn't, instead he began with a normal introduction to himself and to what he does, but with Mr. Santos being the natural comedian that he is, couldn't help but sneak in an impersonation of the famous senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to an unsuspecting audience member with the line "Why are you looking at me in a provocative manner!?!"

          There was laughter all around, and the whole talk continued like this, with Mr. Santos talking seriously about the life lessons he wanted to impart us and with him occasionally sneaking in impersonations of other famous politicians, like the former president Joseph Estrada and the aforementioned Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Jon Santos, delivering his talk.

          But out of all the jokes and the stories, what really struck me the most were the 9 lessons he gave us, about life.

The 9 lessons are the following:

1. Listen to everyone but choose whose words you will keep.

2. Learning will enrich you but learning what you love will make you the best version of you.

3. It might be a baby step but if it will move you forward, it is a step worth taking.

4. Knowledge is everything.

5. Win the war before the fight.

6. Adjust, adapt, evolve.

7. Always be grateful.

8. You're never alone in your journey.

9. Love yourself but learn to lose and let go.

          

Mr. Jon Santos, being awarded for his participation.

          After his talk, Mr. Jon Santos was awarded for his participation in the activity. Besides the 9 life lessons that Mr. Jon Santos has imparted us, I also learned something personally from the experience, it's that you can always learn something new from anybody regardless of their background and that even a funny man can teach you something about life.