“You’re Amazing” presentation sparks inspiration
You're amazing, a simple phrase, which if used in the right context, can completely change someone's day or even life.
That is one of the core messages I took away from Justin Fatica’s presentation on January 30. Mr. Fatica is a motivational speaker who travels the country and the world with Hard as Nails Ministries.
Although the simple phrase “you're amazing” doesn't quite sound so grand, I came to learn in a brief hour and a half how much change the phrase can truly cause. One problem that I see with our society, as was pointed out by Mr. Fatica, is the lack of realness or reality that we experience in our lives. As I understood from Mr. Fatica, our society is on a downward spiral of materialistic people who are not prepared to overcome adversity when adversity hits them in the face. To put it into a clearer context, our society is only preparing future generations to succeed and not to be ready to overcome failure or disappointment. I had never thought of this concept and it struck me and truly got me rethinking my outlook for my future and the future of my peers. This brief message is an example of just one out of many that Mr. Fatica enthusiastically addressed throughout his energetic 90 minute session.
Although some of my peers and teachers disagree with me, I found the unusually energetic presentation to be, as Mr. Artiz would say "a true dose of real". This so called dose of real struck me with strange, but fulfilling emotions both during and after the presentation. For example, at one point Mr. Fatica asked all those students who had been abandoned by a parent to voluntarily come up and receive hugs from fellow Belen students. To my surpriseabout four students stood up. Although I have never experienced this and the guys are not in my same grade, I somehow felt their pain and found myself giving them a hug and telling them that it was okay. Strangely, Mr. Fatica did this multiple times for a variety of different cases of adversity, and to my surprise, I hugged nearly all of the students who stood up and shared. It became almost like I shared an unusual bond with them.
This presentation, although unorthodox in its method of vocal and physical transmission, moved me in a powerful way and served as a reality check. It reminded me that there are so many people in the world with desolate situations in their lives, situations which even their closest friends or peers may not even know about. As perfectly stated by Mr. Fatica, "How can you call yourself your best friend's best friend if you did not even know that his father abandoned or abused him?" Powerful and real statements such as this one are what made the presentation stand out to me and truly touch my heart with a dose of reality.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.