Lorryzel Badajos, Surrey 1 Chapter Head, speaks about humility at the Don Bosco Youth Centre in Surrey, BC on September 6, 2013. (Photo: Gylian Pascual)
A lot of people only realize who they truly are after they examine themselves through God’s eyes. We don’t notice how proud we are. At Surrey 1’s September General Assembly we were blessed with a reminder through Lorryzel Badajos’s talk. Before this talk I really didn’t think about my actions. I didn’t notice how proud my behavior was. It really hit me when people gave their shares on their proud experiences.
I wanted to be known.” (Lorrenz Badajos)
Right off the bat I was able to relate with the very first share. I remember when I thought, “Wow my brother and sister are so cool! Everyone knows them! I want to be ‘boss’ too!” Honestly, when I was called to facilitate for camp, I was doing it for the wrong reasons. In my head I only thought, “Yes, I am finally a step closer to my brother and sister.” After a couple weeks of the camp training I said to myself “Why am I really here?” Then I remembered someone saying that we are only instruments of the Lord. That’s what got me back on track. I wasn’t there for the compliments nor the status. I was there for the Lord. After Lorrenz’s share, Pam Atienza shared about volleyball (my favourite sport). I reminisced about past tournaments and realized how boastful my actions were. Sometimes I didn’t even want to play because the game would have been too boring. There was one specific game where my coach basically gave me a wake-up call. In the middle of a game my teammates and I were basically just fooling around and the coach decided to call a timeout even though we were winning. He said, “How would you guys feel if you guys were getting killed while giving it your all and the other team wasn’t even trying?” That hit me like a truck. I would’ve felt terrible, too demoralized to continue to play. We put our pride above their feelings. After the timeout, we gave it our all on the court till the end of the game and ended the game on good terms. When Bryan Abas told us about St. Josemaria Escriva’s “17 Signs of a Lack of Humility”, I thought, “Yeah that’s me, that one too, wow that’s so me.” What hit me the most was, “Arguing when you are not right or—when you are—insisting stubbornly or with bad manners.” What were the chances that we would be discussing this? At home, my parents and siblings were continuously telling me to stop acting rude towards them but I always thought of it lightly. I usually thought, “I’m right, they’re wrong,” but after thinking about it they’re much wiser than me. Lately, it’s been much better but I still have a long way to go. Striving to be a model of excellence, JC Escala, CFC-Youth Pacific Region
