Care for your Children's Future before you need to.

They say that time is horizontal. First we are born, then we start getting older. With each passing minute, we move forward in the journey of life, going past certain chronological milestones.

When we are born, we are at the infancy stage of our lives. We are cared and groomed and fed and taken care of by others. We feel like the little kings we are, and we don't want to grow out of our diapers just yet.

Then we go through childhood, still being looked after, still little kings, although life has now started placing certain demands on us, such as to put on our clothes by ourselves, do well in school, make our beds and go to the latter when asked to. We like the autonomy that comes with it, but still prefer the carefree phase we enjoyed at infancy.

A decade down the road comes adolescence. Now, this is a stage where everything on and within us changes. We start feeling rebellious for no apparent reason and there is a great deal of exploring in which we indulge. We realize that there is a lot to be learned about the world, so we set sail to find out as much as possible. In this journey of ours, we are mostly independent, by personal choice, but there are times when we wish that somebody tucked us in at night, like when we were younger. An occasional tear may accompany our thoughts, but we make sure to quickly wipe it off our face so as to uphold our rebellious reputation.

Enter adulthood. A new era has dawned for us, one where we can drive a car, vote, open our own bank account and take out a loan to buy a house. We are now considered full-fledged adults, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with the title. One such responsibility that we set course to fulfill once we reach adulthood, is to obtain a university degree, which is nothing less than the best kind of insurance that we can take out on life itself. After all, a university degree carries the promise, if not the guarantee, of future employment. Once we are employed, then our adult life takes shape, our goals start coming to fruition, our possibilities increase exponentially. We realize that, and we are excited about going to university. We may be grown ups now, but we turn to our parents for the one thing that we need the most at this juncture, second only to their love - financial aid. They look at us with sad eyes and an even sadder heart. They knew that this time would come, eventually, but they did not plan for it. The university entry application must now be accompanied by another application; that of a student loan.

Parenthood. The greatest, most life-affirming milestone of them all. We made it to this point, having graduated from university and with a job that pays well under our belt. We live on rent, until we can manage to get a mortgage. Before that, another loan has to be paid first - our student loan, so our own house has to wait a few years. It is what it is, so we don't spend much time crying over it. Instead, we opt to invest our time in looking deep into our babies’ beautiful eyes. They are big and crisp and innocent and they look back in puzzlement. They don't know yet what the horizon ahead holds for them. We do.

ORIZONTAS. Care for your children’s future before you need to.