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Falling is Learning

by Adan Shaw

The golden tips of San Francisco’s infamous bridge pierced its way through the thick layer of fog blanketing the bay. It was a foggy San Francisco morning at Chrissy Field. Cold droplets of morning dew balanced on the blades of the bright green grass. A fishy aroma of the sea mixed with the smell of coffee from the ‘Warming Hut’. Interrupting the tranquility of the early hours was the rattle of my rickety training wheels zooming over the gravelly path. Today was the day that 5 year old me was going to learn how to ride my bike. All by myself. With no assistance from the training wheels. 

My dad, an avid biker himself, excitedly removed my training wheels and instructed me to get on and try to ride. I got on my tiny bike, pushed down on the pedals and began to ride. Plop. I successfully rode for a few feet before slowly toppling over. Frustrated and knee bloodied, I began to whine. At this point, my dad told me something that has resonated with me for the rest of my life: “falling is learning”. He swiftly helped me up, resituated me on the bike where I gave a valiant second attempt. 6 feet. Plop. 10 feet. Plop again. Each time I fell I tried to adjust. Do I need to pedal harder? Do I need to stay more upright? How do I stay balanced? I slowly improved until  eventually the motion clicked. I was flying. I learned a skill I would never need to relearn. 

In fact, I learned two skills, the second being more important to my life. I internalized what my dad told me. Falling is learning. This simple statement he repeated while teaching me to ride a bike without training wheels began to apply itself in all sorts of situations. 

When I was 11, I left all of my friends and my notoriety as a good soccer player in the US, and I moved to Paris, France. The level of competition was far superior to what I was used to. I went from being a star player to barely playing at all. Time and time again, I failed to make the cut for the A team that I aspired to play with. At times it was devastating to get rejected after weeks of taking the metro to my soccer practice alone. Upon return to the US however, my relentless attempts and failures had made me a much better player. In high school I was voted MVP of the league. Learning from my shortcomings in France led me to success and satisfaction in the US. 

While searching for a new challenge, I discovered rock climbing. To succeed in climbing, you must always be balanced. It’s a game of exerting the perfect balanced amounts of pressure to have a precise amount of friction to counteract the force of gravity, constantly trying to rip you from the wall. The only way to learn this abstract dance with gravity….falling. What made me fall? Was I not applying enough pressure? Was I in the wrong body position? Each time I fell, I either made a physical or technical adjustment. Falling is learning. 

I firmly believe that the best way to learn is to experience. Life, like most things, is balanced. Good and bad both exist and bad things – failures, setbacks, falling – will inevitably occur. When you fall, do not stay down and accept defeat like 5 year old me initially did. Think about how you can change the outcome, and try again. It is for this reason that I decided to attend Cal Poly. The school’s motto, ‘learn by doing’  presents essentially the same message that my dad instilled in me while helping me back on the seat of my miniscule bicycle. Try. Fail. Adjust. Learn. Persist. 

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6 Reasons (in Chronological Order) Why My Grandfather, Jaime Pabilonia, is the Most Interesting Man

Knowing that my grandfather had an exciting and somewhat mysterious life story, I decided to investigate by conducting an intriguing interview where I learned many new things including these 6 reasons why my grandfather is one of the most interesting men in the world.

1. He grew up in the Philippines during World War II.

My grandfather, Jaime Pabilonia grew up an only child in a small town in the Philippines with his mother and father. He spent his childhood helping his father with construction work, helping his mother with gardening and developed a sense of creativity that he carried with him throughout his life. He made money by climbing coconut trees, cutting them down with a machete, compiling them into a raft, riding them down the river, and selling them in town at the marketplace. 

2. He worked with guerilla soldiers to aid the Filipino resistance against the Japanese.

During the war, his town and family witnessed egregious atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers. He saw public torturings and killings including an uncle who was left in the middle of a public square to bake in the radiating sun. His family’s house was even burned down during a Japanese raid. Due to the state of the war-torn Philippines, he decided to help the guerilla resistance by being a runner. Runners would run through the complex jungle trails to spread messages between different units of soldiers. They would gather intel on Japanese camps to ambush. They would even collect nails and scrap metal and steal supplies from the Japanese to help fight back. 

3. He was awarded by the Filipino government for his service as a runner.

The government recognized Jaime’s work as a runner and acknowledged him as a veteran. They offered him a full scholarship to pay for his higher education. Although he hoped to pursue architecture as a career, his father urged him to go to medical school. This was because it was easier to get out of the country as a doctor because they are highly demanded worldwide. He eventually left behind his small town to move to the United States and continue his career. He began to concentrate on child psychiatry, a very specialized field that requires immense amounts of education and hard work. 

4. He was the first child psychiatrist ever in the Bahamas.

Jaime was at risk of being deported from the US after his visa expired. He was conflicted with the choice of going back to the Philippines or going elsewhere. He had families on two sides of the world and a burning passion to continue his child psychiatry career. Miraculously, he received a call one day asking if he wanted to go to Nassau in the Bahamas to work there. Upon arrival, he became the first ever child psychiatrist in the Bahamas. He spent two years living and working there with his infant daughter and son. This allowed him to eventually be able to come back to the United States. 

5. His creativity and passion have allowed him to live life to the fullest. 

This man is a man of many interests. If you went to his house along the Niagara River in Buffalo, you would notice walls covered in original oriental artwork. You will see statues and figurines that are both handmade by him or collected over a lifetime of curiosity. His garden has been carefully and meaningfully crafted with the skills he learned from his mother. A steep pathway has been constructed over many years that leads down to the river. The stairway is made by a plethora of scavenged objects such as street signs, concrete blocks, railroad ties, and boulders. Despite being a small statured man, Jaime’s creativity and work ethic that he picked up from his father allowed him to move giant rocks that seem impossible. He uses leverage and home-fashioned tools to move boulders into his truck and down onto his pathway. He always finds a way to do what he is passionate about and always pays attention to aesthetics and detail. 

6. He never wants to retire. 

The ninety year old man is still working to this day. he worked as a child psychiatrist for 50 years. One notable quality of the now older gentleman is his longevity that he attributes to his work with kids. He argues, “When you associate with drug users or bad influences, you will become like them. When you associate with older folk, you will act like them. When you hang around kids for a living, you will begin to act and think like them too.” He attributes his success to his father and his passion to his mother. He has become a wise old man with mountains of life experience to consider. He has found a relationship with god, an appreciation of natures course, and an ever optimistic attitude. 

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An Open Letter to Residents of San Francisco

Dear San Francisco residents, 

I have lived in San Francisco most of life and have seen the evolution of the state of the city over the past decade. The lack of housing, ridiculous expenses, homelessness, and crime are some of the many issues that our community faces. Some give up and feel as though they can’t make an impact. Some choose to participate in protests and events to spread awareness. My goal is to show that the importance of researching the ins and outs of our laws to be able to vote for your interests and the interests of the community. 

Although it may not always seem this way, residents of San Francisco have the opportunity to mold their city and promote change in certain ways. Despite the many disagreements that we all have as San Franciscan’s, we can all agree on certain problems that must be fixed. The fact that our city has nearly five empty homes for every homeless person is in comprehensible considering that we have one of the largest homeless populations of any metropolitan area. We live in one of the richest cities in the US with many of America’s poorest people. No San Francisco residents will tell you that our housing shortage and homelessness is not a serious problem. Causes and solutions, however, are where our disagreements begin and end. While some see this as a side effect of big technology companies swarming to the bay area, some view it as a symptom of bad policy and government bureaucracy. Elements of both theories are true and I will be making the case for the importance of researching and understanding the incentives and unseen impacts of various housing regulations. If the general population can comprehend the complexities of the laws they are voting into practice, then the people can decide what will most positively impact their communities, not the powerful web of bureaucrats woven into the municipal system. 

I believe that rules and regulations are generally designed with good intent. Governments are looking for the best way to incentivize the behavior that they think is beneficial. The problem arises when the law is less simple than how it was written on paper. An example of this is Proposition 13, a San Francisco law that caps property tax at a certain number. Originally, Proposition 13 was put in place to protect homeowners from high property taxes. It was meant to be a progressive proposition that alleviated some of the economic burden for small homeowners. Unfortunately, this proposition had an unpredicted consequence. As the government zones land, they are concerned with the amount of tax revenue that they can acquire. With the capped property tax, it is more economically beneficial to zone more land for big stores that bring in large amounts of sales tax than to zone it for residential housing. Often, this land zoning leads to less housing development, further contributing to the lack of housing supply in San Francisco.  

Many policies follow this same suit. The California Environmental Quality Act, rent control, and building height regulations similarly have good intentions but result in a decreased supply of housing. You may argue that we need regulations to protect renters, the environment, and the poor. I would agree as it is necessary to have some form of means of government control that prevents extreme things from happening such as unfair evictions, unsustainable housing and draining property taxes. I would however argue that these regulations need to be more thoroughly designed and slowly thought out before being fully implemented. The implementation is part of the process where mistakes occur. Little details cause large impacts. For this reason, I think that it is important that we are well informed and educated voters. 

As members of one of the most interesting, diverse, educated, and creative communities, we must make sure that we are voting for our interests. We need to make changes in our laws to incentivize the construction of new affordable housing while maintaining regulations that ensure people are not displaced to make room for new developments. We need to go to the voting booth ready to choose policies based off of their fairness but also their practicality. We need to pay attention to the details and be observant of when policies are working or not. I believe that we can change our city for the better and unite as a community to solve these problems that affect us all. I ask you: do research, make conversation, talk to your neighbors, and vote. Together, we can make an impact and escape the political gridlock that we are trying to work under. 

Sincerely, 

Adan Shaw