The Wall of Fame and Shame

I bumped into a girl last week. She looked rather familiar, but I just couldn’t place her in my thoughts. “Cleo..is that you?”. “OMG, from the camp rite??” As we held our hands forward for a shake, we locked eyes and suddenly it all came back……

We were young and had just discovered our new found freedom. 80 teenage boys and girls with raging hormones and boiling thirst for excitement were rounded up and dumped into a quiet house on the top of the hills for 5 days and nights. Two dormitories beside each other, unlocked. This was the camp that marked our passage towards adulthood. We were promised a fun and unforgettable experience, and that’s what we got… more so for some of us.

For the first two nights, people were still a tad bit shy and reserved, trying to portray their best behavior to their newly discovered friends. There were fun activities planned out for us, from plays to dance to a mud fights, which got us closer and closer to each other. During the night after lights off, the boys and girls would sneak out to the back of the wooden dorm to get to know each other and giggle and flirt while the mischievous ones would go around playing pranks on each other.

By the end of the fourth night, people were already starting to feel the separation anxiety. We have had the best weekend of our lives and it was almost time to go home. Many first kisses took place at that camp, many best friends were found on that weekend and many memories were found in that time. There were many gossips that were lingering around, and we were all curious to know about “who was dating who” and “who had a crush on who”. I still believe that the camp was basically a secret match making effort by the church to keep the Christian teenagers within the clan.

On the last day there, there was a little surprise planned out for us. The organizers had invited our parents for a little “sharing and public confession session”. There were many of the boys and girls that broke down in tears in front of the crowd for committing sins such as “kissing” and “dating”. The entire session was almost like a joke to my mum and I. There was nothing that I felt that I should have confessed, God knows I was doing much more at that time and enjoying every moment of it thus we sat at the corner of the room criticizing almost every one that walked up to that stage.

There was this elderly and dignified looking man that marched his way up stage. He was the only one who had no guilt or sorrow or anger to unleash. With pride, he told the crowd what a beautiful relationship he had with his son and how he was the luckiest dad on earth. The change in dimension caught my attention for a while, but I couldn’t hold it for long. Slowly, his voice drowned into the background as I was filling my mum in on the “who did what and where”. The entire church gave him a standing ovation. This man, stood on stage, and nodded his head to his son as an invitation to join him up stage to say a few words. Little did he know, that that invitation was about to be one of his biggest mistakes.

Lollipop head walked up to the stage as his father took a seat in front of the crowd. Lollipop head turned around to the priest and said “ I’m sorry father, if what I am going to say may upset you”. With a shakey voice he said “ I think my dad is a fucker!’. “Everything he aid was a lie, and he is a bastard”. “My father walks around with a mask, and pretends to be someone else so that people will like him, but I hate him”. He broke down in tears, and as he was dragged down by our fellow friends he ended his speech with … “ He is a fucker!!” pointing at the direction of his father. There was silence in the crowd, and everyone there tried their best to hold their tongues. Whispers were passed, and confusion were lingering. The priest quickly apologized on behalf of the drama that took place, and things resumed to what it was.

We all thought that Lollipop head would have been crowned king on the wall of fame for Camp 2004. Theres always this one incident that happens in camp that is usually remembered for life. Least did we expect, that there was another public confession that would steal the thunder and wow the crowd. Something worse than that? Is that even possible??

Up on stage walks one of our friends, an average looking girl that I would have never remembered if it had not been for her tragic confession. Call it being humbled upon by the Holy spirit or just plain stupidity, I think I would have rather be caught dead than to be caught in such a nightmare. Cleo walked up the stage, and since she was not associated with the “popular kids”, nobody paid much attention to her presence until she made her announcement “I AM ADDICTED TO MASTURBATION AND I HAVE BEEN ADDICTED FOR TWO YEARS NOW”.
…………………….
…………………………….
…………………….. *silence*
……………………..WTF???????????????????????!!!!


………..OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She did not just do that………



None of us could believe it. It was hard to get over, we were feeling embarrassed and suicidal on behalf of her. When she decided to go up the stage and say IT, it was committing to a lifetime of embarrassment to more than 150 people and A PRIEST!!

The story of Lollipop soon faded, he was talked less and less about as the months went by. I regret to say, every time I bump into someone from the camp and we reminisce about the good old times, Cleo never fails to be mention. Talk about making an impression heh. Its been six years since the disastrous incident, yet as I held on to her hand, God knows I was thinking about all the possible places her hands could have been prior to the hand shake.