‘The Sweet Red Spot’

Last Saturday, Sept. 9, we woke up to a harsh cloud storm which is the norm during these “ber” months. There was the agony of wanting the warmth of my bed as I snuggled under my blanket. Then again, I am confronted with the scheduled plan for the day; I wanted to attend a youth summit with one of my best friends. The indecisiveness started with choosing to stay warm inside or go out armored with flimsy umbrellas. In the end, we chose the latter and I was so glad that we did.
Award-winning journalist Howie Severino was the highlight of the event, at least this was true for Communication graduates like us. Merely being in the same room with him was magical. Sir Howie in the flesh makes our hearts giddy. While he was having his ted-talk moment, we kept shouting “Awww!” followed by resounding claps. My friend called it a “fangirling moment”, to which I definitely agree.
He was scanning the crowd and analyzing his audience as a way to connect. He started by talking about trendy slangs and the differences between each generation. Of course, my fellow Gen Zs at the venue admired how this Martial Law baby was able to create an open and safe engagement by sharing his life’s peaks and valleys. We were automatically exchanging approval looks with my friend in between climactic points.
Among his sagacity, he focused on the idea of knowing the “sweet red spot”. It was a Venn diagram with four overlapping circles. One circle represents the words “You love it” with intersecting nouns “passion and mission”. Another circle encloses the words “The world needs it” sharing the words “mission and vocation”.
The next circle represents “You are paid for” with overlapping words “profession and vocation”. Finally, the other circle read “You are great with it” with intersecting phrases “profession and passion”. All of the four circles coincided in harmony with “the sweet red spot” which simply means one’s purpose in life. Sir Howie, in between his points, said these phrases were clichés. And I thought to myself that they are indeed clichés because they work and Sir Howie was a living proof.
We finished the event and did not lose the chance to take photos with Sir Howie. With the photo, I am reminded of his other point: “Will you be the selfie generation or will you become the greatest generation and turn your camera to the bigger world?”
The cold and foggy Baguio found warmth in a warm-hearted journalist’s talk on that Saturday. I and my friend chose to be part of it as we share the same warmth in what really matters in life.