By: Arthur Demain
Describing what transpired in the WYA Track A Summer Training Camp is nothing but a brave attempt to put into words what I have seen, experienced, and gained for a week. On my part, my journey toward knowing the worth of a human person all started with a bold decision to put aside my indifference and discover what exactly WYA has to offer. It is this very same decision to know who I am and who I could possibly be that allowed me to experience this monumental training camp, and by monumental I mean with no exaggeration.
Attending the training camp is a worthwhile undertaking because the lessons that I have learned have helped me reconnect with my inner humanity. I feel honored that the philosophical readings I patiently pondered upon have allowed me to view humanity alongside the great minds of C.S. Lewis, Nelson Mandela, and the Blessed Karol Wojtyla, among others. I feel humbled to have met my fellow campers and our facilitators, all of which are dignified human beings whom I had the pleasure to relate with in various ways. Their diverse life stories have certainly enriched my own life story, and I am glad that our sense of togetherness has made this experience of knowing the essence of ourselves and others worth sharing.
I consider my entire training camp experience as a personal triumph because I have realized a universal truth that some of even the world’s educated minds have failed to realize: the intrinsic, inalienable, and inviolable dignity of the human person. From this point forward, I will never look at an oppressed person in the same way as I used to ever again. Life presents abundant opportunities to educate, uplift, and inspire other people, and I will use those crucial moments to uphold the dignity of the human person in my own humble way. In doing so, I know I will achieve what Aristotle suggested in terms of “putting our own immortality” in relation to humanity and in leaving an indelible imprint from one human life to another.
