“Where are you in the photo, son?”
I was just five years old. I showed Dad my kindergarten class photo–a free-for-all scene where kids were elbowing each other for more photo exposure.
Where was I? At the back of the pack, peeking over someone’s shoulder. You could only see one-fourth of my face.
Oh yes, I was small. I was thin. And I was also terribly shy.
Sheepishly, I pointed myself in the photo.
Dad blurted out, “Bo, why don’t you be like this boy here in front?”
Ouch. I felt his words slice through my little heart.
He was referring to this mestizo kid who was big and boisterous, his arms waving wildly, his face seemingly three inches from the camera.
That day, I remember feeling very sad.
I told myself, “Yes Bo, there’s really something wrong with you.”
(Parents, if you get anything from this story, I hope it’s this: Never compare your child with anyone else. Not with other kids, not with his brothers and sisters, not even with yourself when YOU were a kid…)
In Grade 2, my grades were plummeting. I remember getting 73% in Math. So my mother got a tutor to teach me twice a week. Because of this, my grades improved: I got 75%. Not because I finally learned Math but because the tutor Mom hired was my own Math teacher in school.
When I was in Grade 4, I discovered I was also bad at sports. My classmates held the basketball and flew with it. I held the basketball and fell from its weight.
In every game, my classmates laughed at me. Even my teachers ridiculed me. At the start of every game, my classmates would ask me, “Join the other team! Please Bo!”
No one wanted me. Because of this, I kept to myself most of the time.
After grade school, I took the entrance exam for the Ateneo high school.
I flunked the test. I was devastated. My parents had to scrounge for another school for me at the last minute.
I remember Ariel, a good friend of mine. He was the first honor in class. He also was the school’s basketball and baseball star. One day, I thought about him and wondered, “Lord, why did you give all the talents to others and none to me?”
I felt incredibly sad that day.
Fast forward many years later….
One day, I had to email four countries: Australia, US, Singapore, and India. All of them wanted me to speak at their conventions on the exact same weekend.
Yes, that same guy who flunked tests. That same guy who got the lowest grades. That same guy who was unwanted by everyone–is now “desired” by the nations.
Ten years after flunking that entrance exam in Ateneo, I never imagined that I would one day be having lunch with the Dean of the College and hear him say, “Bo, how can we convince you to teach Theology in the Ateneo?”
I told him I’d love to teach, but my hands were full: Leading global organizations, writing best-selling books, preaching around the world, publishing the widest read Catholic literature in the country…
My message? Your past does not define your future.
Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do.
Go out there in the world and fulfil your dreams.
Be all that God wants you to be!
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
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