We Are What We Believe

"To believe that the young do not feel deeply, desperately and wondrously is a grievous mistake." Robin Easton

We are what we believe and I believe I can sing. Well, not American Idol material (although I'm secretly dreaming I am the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood), but I can sing. I never thought I had the voice until one day my grade school teacher called me to sing for her a song. I couldn't remember what my "audition" piece was but I remember how she told me to tell my parents I will have to stay after school hours for the next couple of weeks for choir practice. Congratulations! We were going to have a school concert and I will be singing with the choir and just like that, I believed my teacher that I can sing. I was seven (7) years old then and singing opened up a whole new world for me- the world of music. I learned how to sing better and even directed a  few chorus in high school(and won contests for that). I even learned how to play the piano, guitar, and a little flute.

Reading Robin Easton's story made me appreciate my childhood more. Looking back now I didn't realize then that I was blessed to have grade school teachers who quickly identified my potential and pushed and groomed me to be the best that I can be. I still remember how they made me read stories from this machine which rolls out the sheets of paper of  a story going a hundred miles an hour! It turns out it was a speed reading instrument to gauge your reading ability and I passed it every time. The next thing I know I was accelerated to the first grade in just months (I think I was only 6 years old then). They made me memorize tons of texts, Bible passages and oratorical pieces. Oratorical pieces? I didn't even know what oration meant and I wasn't sure I even liked it, but I won 1st or 2nd place each time they made me join a contest. For something I thought I wouldn't like, it came as a surprise to me when I found myself joining oratorical contests in high school (and yes, I won a lot there, too). 

My mother always tells me that I can never know if I am good at something if I don’t even try. "You might fail", she says "and that is fine, but you won't know if you'll succeed if you don't try." That had always been my motivating factor whenever I have my "robin moments" to try new things and venture into unfamiliar territories. I do not always succeed, but I find that even disappointments can bring out your potentials.