M.O.I. (First of two parts)
We have various labels that define who we are or what was expected of us. For me, my labels were along the lines of the acronym M.O.I.
High school: M.O.I. meant Mediocrity Over Individuality. I have found my passion for words and the art of writing. It was an interest I kept to myself, thus, I never sought after mentors to help me develop the skill. As I read written works of my classmates, I knew right then and there
that I had no place in writing, they were so much better than I was. As a result, every written composition we had to submit, I presented one that was mediocre rather than one that shows my individuality as a writer. The words that represented my individuality never got to see the light of day. I was too selfconscious of my written work and had already decided that no one wanted to read it. Over 10 years later, and here I am speaking, sharing my thoughts, my words, in the attempt of making up for lost time. Took me over 10 years to realize that I just had to speak my mind, to let raw emotions flow. We need not be afraid, because when we show our individuality and my genuine soul and spirit, then, the right audience will surely follow.
College: M.O.I. meant Majority over Integrity. Alas, I was one of the people who fell into the deep abyss that is peer pressure. I drank during breaks and skipped a few classes. I took pride in being part of the dean’s list despite all these and I was ever too generous during examinations. We weren’t ashamed of these actions, we weren’t even trying to hide it. I followed the majority over my integrity in the hopes of gaining approval. This led me to yet another mistake. 4th year college when the majority of us got into a cheating issue and because of this, I had the biased and subjective notion that the faculty were against us and maybe they were. I had to take accountability for what I did and at the end of it all, I had to repeat a year. From that point on, I no longer aimed for awards during graduation. I lost my chances at latin honors the moment I failed in that subject. From that point, I worked not to excel, but rather, to survive internship. Despite friends and mentors saying I was doing a good job, my work was no longer good enough for me, I wasn’t good enough for me.
Graduation day came and I was just as glad to have been able to finally graduate after everything that happened. Graduation came a year late but the day has arrived and I was happy beyond words to describe it. All colleges have acknowledgements during graduation day, validectorian, salutatorian, latin honors and for our school, we had one award whose announcement we look forward to. Not because it is the highest of all honors but mainly because the recipient is withheld and comes as a surprise during the ceremony itself. The award is the M.O.I., the Most Outstanding Intern and yes, I was called to receive that award. I was dubbed the MOI of our batch. I was shocked. I never thought I would be receiving the award. Quickly though after the ceremonies ended and as we moved on with our lives M.O.I turned from being the most outstanding intern to being the Most Overrated Introduction. I felt I no longer needed to be introduced as such, that acknowledgement should no longer be brought up, afterall, there’s a new MOI with each batch, some of them better than I was, and for our batch, I had classmates who received higher honors, the Latin honors.
*Pria is the secretary of The Queen City Toastmasters. The club meets every 2nd and 4th Saturdays at Salt Restaurant, St Patrick's Square near the Redemptorist Church in Cebu City.