Where My Faith Has Taken Me

How time flies when you are having so much fun! 

That's me, trying to reach out and share my experiences as a writer to the next generation.

On Wednesday, August 22, 2012, I will be marking my 17th year in Campus Journalism. Though my talent has not grown much with longevity, I am still thankful because I am one of the very few student writers who have actually been blessed to pursue a career in line with their passion. 

It has been 17 years, but my memory still remains fresh. 

It was an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. I was packing up my things to go home when my class adviser and her friend, the Journalism teacher, approached me. Both were excited to tell me something that will eventually determine my future. 

“You will join the editorial board!”, my adviser told me in high spirits.

“Huh? Me?”, I answered in a doubtful tone.

“Yes!”, exclaimed the Journalism teacher.

My blank eyes were staring at their excited faces. At that moment, I was an innocent kid watching two teachers dictate my destiny. The next thing I knew,   I was already taking my foray into writing before my age reached double digits. At 8, I was already holding a pen while other children were playing with their toys. While my friends spent the happiest moments of their childhood playing on the streets, I spent time inside my room immortalizing my memories with a pen and a paper.

Despite my age and lack of experience, my love for writing was overwhelming and empowering. I had doubts, but I have always believed that my passion would be enough to sustain me. I embarked on a journey to pursue writing with an unshakeable determination. I believed that hard work will eventually develop my skills. I attended the writer’s orientation to diminish my inhibitions as a journalist. 

It didn’t. 

I walked into a room full of tall boys and big girls, mainly from Grades 5 and 6. Beside them, I looked like a second-rate, trying hard keychain sitting next to sturdy and mighty towers. They exuded the aura of geniuses, and when they held their pens to write, they have proven that they do not fall short of how they look like.

We were asked to write about environmental protection. Since it was my first time to write, I was very nervous, and my inhibitions manifested into my work. All the more I felt embarrassed to have to read it in front of the “bigger” kids. I felt utmost humiliation when they laughed at my work.

Our organization’s adviser asked us to return the next Friday afternoon. She also gave us an assignment to write about our fathers. When I went home, I sat on my bed side and thought hard. My mind tells me to quit and spare myself the humiliation. My heart encourages me to continue and not let my journey end that way. For a change, I decided to follow my heart.

Since I was being pitted against much older, brighter students, I did not shine in my first few years as a writer. I was a burden in our organization, and some naysayers never fail to remind me of that. But even when the waves become a little too bumpy, I still held on to my faith and kept on sailing. During my elementary years, I virtually lost in all of the competitions I joined in. However, this did not stop me from moving forward, believing that one day, I will be able to win a writing competition and validate my skill.

Faith took a sudden turn when I entered high school. On my first competition, I placed 9^th out of 100 contestants in Feature Writing. Then, awards started pouring in. I started climbing up the ladder of success and even exceeded my contemporaries in elementary!

When I graduated in high school, I was immediately hired by a private school in our town to become an in-house trainer and school paper adviser. That time, I was already pursuing a course in Development Communication at the country’s most prestigious academic institution, the University of the Philippines.

Fate made up for the humiliation I felt during my early years as a writer. In 2009, my faith took me to the apex of the said contest when our school newspaper became the champion in Page Design Category in the Regional Journalism Competition, and 3^rd in the same category in the National Level, against hundreds of other school papers. 

My precious baby, the amalgamation
of my hardwork, and my highest award
in the field of Campus Journalism
 

Some of my contemporaries in elementary who laughed at my works were already pursuing other careers. They already lost interest in honing their skills, and let go of their desire to nurture their gift of writing. They were undoubtedly more talented than I am, but what pushed me to exceed them is my passion for writing. I had the unwavering love for my craft. I write to express my thoughts and keep track of my blessings. I write to enlight younger scribes who dream of reaching the summit of their craft. I write even when nobody will read it. I write because I have faith.

I have a blog which serves as the gateway of my thoughts to meeting new friends and expanding my horizons, to places that are miles and oceans away such as France, UK, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, Russia, Philippines, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, which is the source of most of my blog traffic.

But above all, we have started an organization named Pass The Passion, a journalism-based organization which aims to teach budding journalists to write and light the world with their passion.

I have never even imagined that I will be blessed to be in my current position. All I wanted was to simply write, but my passion took me to the most unimaginable heights I never even thought of achieving in my wildest dreams.   

On this day, 17 years ago, I was forced to become a writer. But to this day, I still feel amazed to realize that talent can be acquired, but passion and hard work are most important to sustain me, long enough to see where my faith has taken me.