Struggle towards a sense of belonging

       Most people thought of this year's batch of Saint Charles as a competent one. Based on the remarks coming from other people, this class is far different from the other set of Saint Charles. We concede to the fact that every batch is made up of students distinct from one another, each having his or her talents, which others may not possess. Likewise, this batch is unlike the others because of the way students of this class treat one another. They do not consider each other as their competitor, the competition here is healthy and everybody helps in developing camaraderie among us. Though the atmosphere may seem perfect, we cannot deny the fact that there are still some flaws in our class, some imperfections that most of us try to ignore and they continue in believing that everything is fine.

       We were able to observe that one problem in our class is the existence of some students who tend to become indifferent at times and may look as if they feel that they do not belong. They are these students who appeal to the class as the weird one, someone who does not mingle well with the majority. We cannot blame these people if they have a tendency to act in that manner since there are also some factors produced by the majority that contributed to his behavior towards the class. What are these factors we are referring to? First, we have the existence of groups inside the class. Many of us do not want to admit this fact, however, it becomes evident during times of discussions. We are always in favor to the decision that will be beneficial to our own circle of friends without considering the opinion of others. We turn out to be numb about this because we do not look at the situation in different perspective. We should confess that we are like this at times and we sometimes hurt our neighbors unintentionally because of this attitude. Next, most of us in the class are jovial. On occasion, we forget our curbs and regard the whole thing as a part of a big joke. We do not take things seriously and so we become unaware that there are some who are not engrossed with our hoaxes. And these people are commonly teased in view of the fact that they cannot get along with the "clowns" of the class, making them join their colleagues coming from a different class than their own classmates. This can create a gap among the members of the class. Last, we are sometimes guilty of ostracizing a particular person intentionally because he appears to the majority as an arrogant one or we simply think that he cannot fit in due to his peculiar attitude and point of view different from the rest. We grow to be unjust with that person simply for the reason that he does not comply with what the majority wants or he does not trust the decision of the class. We see that fostering a feeling that you fit in a particular group is easier said than done. A person needs to exert an effort in order to achieve this kind of assurance. In our class, we know that there are still some who feel that they do not belong because there are encumbrances that prohibit them to know more and accept their classmates as who they really are.

       To wrap all things up, we advise the members of the class to be themselves. Act naturally; do not be pretentious just to fit in. The best way to feel a sense of acceptance is accepting oneself first before others can learn to love and value you. We hope that through this, there will be no more people who may seem to be left out at times and we also pray that our relationship with each other will remain the same as time passed.