E.Y.L. – What is it?

This was written by @Reginald Cajayon on July 21, 2007 after experiencing EYL Camp. Reggie captured in words so beautifully what many of us have been trying to say for years and just didn’t seem to have the right words or enough words to describe this experience we have been through. This is as close

E.Y.L. – What is it?

Current mood:full

Extreme Youth Leadership camp. Formerly a regionally-focused event to provide support similar to the Power Camps sponsored by MADD that serviced the entire state and even groups that came from beyond the confines of the Lone Star State.

This summer, there were two camps: the first in San Angelo, the second in Huntsville. I missed the first because of another obligation, but I didn’t realize – rather I didn’t remember what I was missing – until a couple of days into the camp at Sam Houston State.

What is it about these camps that make people return home, yearning for the next camp? What is it that fuels the desire for young people to want to come back year after year? What is it that makes people want to eventually become staffers so that they can be on the other side? Two things…

First and arguably the most crucial: E.Y.L. means “Enthusiastically, You’re Loved”. Many people, both youth and adults alike, come to camp for the first time and are initially freaked out by the unbridled energy and excitement the staff has and shares with everyone. “What in the heck are these people so excited about?”, they ask. And as the shock wears off, you begin to realize that what they’re trying to give to you is boundless and unquestioning love. These people that you’ve never met before are caring for you without ever judging you because of how you look or dress or what you listen to or what you may have done in the past. They accept you as you are at that very moment AND because of what you can and have yet to become, what you can and have yet to do. And so many – too many – of these people have NEVER had someone care about them the way they’re cared about at camp.

Dress different? So what. Aren’t “cool”? Cool is relative & only matters in relation to the people you really care about and that really care about you. Made mistakes? We all have. And none of this affects whether or not we’re still capable of making a difference in ourselves, in others, and in the world around us, the world we live in. Regardless of what your life may have been like before you arrived at camp, regardless of how you see yourself, these people at camp see the value in you and believe that you can fulfill that value, and some.

Second and usually the next step after discovering that Enthusiastically, You’re Loved, you feel free and safe and strong enough so that “Easily, You Love”. You’ve looked all around you at these people who are different shapes and colors and personalities, and they all care about each other and go the extra mile to help each other and everyone else, to see that someone is smiling that day, to make sure that they’ve touched someone else’s life in a positive way.

And so you try it. You see what it feels like to not judge and simply care. You see through the clothes & hair, you see beyond skin color and body shape, you don’t even ask about religion or one’s past. EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL because we realize that beauty means worth. We are all of value and are capable of doing something positive and wonderful; therefore, we are all deserving of being loved. So we – and oftentimes very slowly – open ourselves up to care about people we know nothing about except that they care about us without question. Yet sometimes we take the plunge and jump in head first, and that is often how people feel the rush that the staff feel everyday they’re at camp. And it’s that feeling in your chest that I feel at this very moment as I’m typing these words - that warmth, that tingling, that swelling – that we become addicted to during camp and that we miss when we leave and that makes us want to return as soon as we drive away.

What is it that makes camp special? What is it that makes so many people want to come back year after year?

Love. Everyone Yearns to be Loved, and then to love in return.

Written by @Reginald Cajayon

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