What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
This is what I thought about the theme of this year’s TEDxXavierSchool, Define X. I remembered how I defined my X: my passion to run and actually pass the love for the sport. I will tell you more why I defined my x as such later but today, allow me to share what were the X’s defined in today’s TEDx event.
The event started with a TED video from Zak Ebrahim, a timely video as tribute to our Fallen 44 (I still could not pinpoint how I hurt for the family and how I am grateful of our police force to enlighten our dying patriotism):
https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/zak_ebrahim_i_am_the_son_of_a_terrorist_here_s_how_i_chose_peace.html
I love how he stressed on: “On a nightly basis, Jon Stewart forced me to be intellectually honest with myself about my own bigotry and helped me to realize that a person’s race, religion or sexual orientation had nothing to do with the quality of one’s character. (6:24)” and his mother, “She looked at me with the weary eyes of someone who had experienced enough dogmatism to last a lifetime, and said, “I’m tired of hating people.” In that instant, I realized how much negative energy it takes to hold that hatred inside of you.”
Sometimes, we believe so much in a principle that we would try to push others to believe in it with brute force to the point of violence and even seclusion; we forget we are no longer bound by that principle but by the negativity that made us believe would make our lives easier.
So we started defining our X’s:
x = Travel
For Harley Marcuap, he already visited 81 provinces in the Philippines at a young age of 21! He shared he didn’t come from an affluent family but after his solo travel in El Nido, Palawan for quite a very affordable price, he thought why didn’t he pursue his thirst for travel? How? He made it possible through part-time jobs. Yes, he worked hard for something he really wanted to achieve. And his solo travels would not be possible if he took risks. I love how he shared travel as acronym (Travel, Respect, Appreciate, Verify, Engage, Live) and let me stress on the Engage and Live. It was in his solo trips that he immersed himself to the people, that he did not only appreciate the surrounding and the culture but the people of that province and when he interacted with them, he really experienced living.
x = Sound
For Ethan Chua, younger than 21 (sorry didn’t get the poet’s age) his defining moment was when he traveled solo in China. He found himself left out sitting in a school bus alone. And when he heard Creep by Radiohead, he thought this was him: he is a creep, he is a weirdo, what is he doing there? He doesn’t belong there. But from there, when he was introduced to slam poetry, he slowly removed his blankets and his mask. The beat of his heart suddenly made a sound that he can no longer be silent and he realized how his words became his passion: to be heard, to be the music of his life. Personally, I find this part with the most impact. For such a young age, you can feel how he longed for his voice to be heard. From Creep he shared the verse from Yellow from Coldplay: look at the stars, look how they shine for you and all the things you do. Great job Ethan!
x = Personal Heroes
For Tim Humangit, he defined his x, the mission of their group Hero of D Day is to appreciate the goodness that surround us through recognizing the small seeds of kindness someone did to us that made a huge ripple to our day. What is with people that we are so used to ranting on our social network accounts or posting nothing but our selfies. Why cannot we spread a culture of gratitude, of hope, of goodness? That is why they created the Hero of the Day in the social networks to make that sense of awareness to appreciate the simple things. I remembered the quote, “Your situation will not depend on the circumstances, but on how you react to it.” So rather than ranting on what this world could not give you, embrace what the world has given you.
From there, we had our second TED video from Hetain Patel and Yuyu Rau that I really enjoyed.
https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/hetain_patel_who_am_i_think_again.html
I love how Hetain fought his authenticity with this concept: the more he tried imitating others, the more he strive and achieve authenticity. How cool is that?! He challenged and at the same time, created a gentle perspective that our language, our race, our culture is not a definition of our identity.
We continued the second part of the TEDxXavierSchool event defining X’s:
x = Teach
For Delfin Villafuerte, he is a public school teacher together with the group Teach for the Philippines that gave a resounding passion to pursue the humbling vocation of teaching. And I love how he simply addressed it with his relationship with a student he endears. He asked the kid, “Why do you think you don’t have a grade?” “Because I think I’m not good enough.” He then told his student (I have to share this in Filipino because I wanted to stand and clap so hard because of this when he said this and I find myself crying while I write this), “Hindi ka bobo. Alam mo matalino ka, tandaan mo yan.” (You are not stupid. Believe that you are smart.) and his student cried. And when he brought him in his class in Ateneo (he was teaching Statistics! Hooray! Haha! Stat undergrad here!), he sat at the back pretending to listen to his class and when he finally wrote something on the board, MAG AARAL AKO SA ATENEO (I will study in Ateneo.). The statement was simple yet with conviction and belief. He shared, as a teacher, you have to be there not just to teach your students to dream great things. Instead, help them make their dreams more real for them. His vocation led to something that he is great at (skills), that he really love and there is a need for it. He ends that we kept on trying to find x in the equation f(x) = y and it makes sense: so that, for x to function, we need to know the why.
x = Leap!
For the beautiful Miss World 2013, Megan Young started as a die-hard fan of her chosen celebrities. She put up the pictures of her idols on the walls of her room that soon, she finds herself lining up to audition for the simple purpose of spending time with her idols. She got in and there she found out it was not all glamour, her idea of a picture perfect industry was all about hard work. But she thought if she did not brave herself to audition, she would not know this. Then one time she was taking an acting seminar and her mentor got frustrated with her and told her, “You will never be good enough for this. You lack the passion.” And she got frustrated. After taking the leap and you get this. She realized taking a leap meant hard work and being certain of what you wanted to be: and that is to make a mark in the world, not just to make a different for herself or for her family. And she did, she actually became larger than life and actually touched more lives around the world.
x = You are a Masterpiece at Work
The Pure Energy himself, Gary Valenciano inspired most in the audience (90% are students). I grew up knowing him as the Di Bale Na Lang, Sana Maulit Muli and Sa-Yahweh singer. I learned his dance moves back in ’89. Yeah Gary V., you have a fan here. Anyway, he asked what is with X-factor? That we kept on striving to pursue it? Because as time goes by, what we thought of our x before would not be what is x today. And this is true when he shared how some people strive for laurels not really knowing what is next for them and soon, will not be the same laurels that they are resting on. For someone who was diagnosed with diabetes and with a life expectancy of only 23 when he was 19, Gary V is the embodiment of a masterpiece at work. He is already turning 50 and yet he keeps on celebrating life. He mentioned, not only should we define x. There should be a balance: x as a result of the heart, the mind, the body, the spirit and the One that knows us best. Because there is a Higher Being that knows when the masterpiece is done. It will take time but for sure there are surprises that await us. Another example is his son Gabriel who excelled in dancing and found his SuperSelfie videos, something he is also good at that it paved way to new horizons and later on recognized even by international celebrities, in this case the 7-11 of Beyonce was his big break as of today.
And so why did I define my X as passion to run? Because it opened me to different perspectives that I may or may not agree but I let it happen and I found myself being geared to better things that I never imagined. I grew up feeling I was never good enough: I lack height, I am not good in any sport, I am just among the top students in our class. I grew up working hard to wear different hats: Jack of All Trades, Master of None so they say. But running has given me a clearer view on things, on life and people. Running helped me define more words, more sentences, more views, more angles to look at and it helped me appreciate life more: that I am good enough for me, that I can actually move others to be better. And whenever I encounter failure, it is not a stop but an opportunity, another chance to be better.
A very fruitful TEDx event, thanks to Xavier School. I hope you can define your x as well.
X Marks the Spot, My TEDxXavierSchool Experience What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? This is what I thought about the theme of this year's
