SAcrifice

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."

– Lao Tzu.

Sometimes when I hear this quote, it truly makes me doubt if it is true. Is it truly a way to be a good leader if the people you are serving don't even know that you are there? Is it really being a good leader if people doubt their decision of choosing you?

To be a Student Administrative Council Officer or SAC Officer, you must jump through hoops as small as an eye of a needle.

First, you must gather other students from other grade levels to make a party list because you can't run as an individual candidate. Second, you, together with your party list, must submit an application form containing essay questions about your qualifications and experiences to be allowed to campaign, but it doesn't stop there. After that, is to be interviewed by the administrators and the future SAC Adviser with no specific schedule so you'll have to wait for 2 to 3 hours just to meet them. Next, plan the platforms you're going to present to the students. Fourth, edit your campaign materials, your line-ups, and your platform videos. Last, is campaigning.

Campaigning is the most crucial part as you will convince the students who will decide if all of your efforts will come to fruition or it will rot and no one will know the blood, sweat, and tears you've given.

In the three years that I've served Graceans as a part of the SAC, there's a common phrase that you'll hear during campaigns: "They're all talk."

You can't blame students for saying that because in almost every year that a new council is elected, only two to five platforms out of 15 or more are fulfilled. For a normal student, it might sound disappointing, but from the point of view of an SAC officer, even having three platforms approved is a miracle.

Most students don't know the struggle just for the admins to give attention to SAC. Staying up late writing a proposal that they won't even read. And if they do, it'll take one and a half weeks to discuss the contents of the proposal or receive a response from them. All of those struggles just for them to reject it without discussing the reasons.

Some of these proposals were read late, that's why it's passed the date that they should be executed, but the fault should not be passed to the officers.

One of the duties of a student leader is to empower their followers. In our case, it's our fellow students. How can we do so, if the platforms that we try to implement to help students find joy in learning were blocked, rejected, and ignored?

How much do we need to sacrifice just for our voices to be heard? How much more?

They say that leaders are people who know the way, show the way, and lead the way, but how can we do so, when there's no way?

It's like being stuck in a catch-22 situation when all you need is a little more room to provide a service that surpasses the title that was given.

I remember that before we were elected, we were instructed that we will get no recognition nor benefits from being an SAC Officer. The greatest gift they can give the SAC is the gift of integrity to their fellow students. Let them be true to their words.

“For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself then he has naught. Not to say the things that he truly feels and not the words of someone who kneels. Let the record show I took all the blows and finally, did it my way.” - My Way, Frank Sinatra