Jacob Sanchez


UC Prompt: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?


If someone bumped into me on the sidewalk and happened to strike up a conversation, I would hope that this person would depart from our rendezvous fully aware that he had encountered a genuine individual. Though I do not claim to be any sort of honest Abe, I strive to be true to myself and therefore seek sincere and sensible people with whom to associate. In the more efficient words of Catcher in the Rye’s existential protagonist, Holden Caulfield, “I just can’t stand phonies.”


It may be the six years spent in the Boy Scouts of America and their advocacy of honesty, or time endured in weekly Catechism, but I have come to believe that the voluntary unveiling of one’s truest form should be valued above almost all else. A known rarity as it is, stumbling upon someone who can express approval or disapproval, fondness or dislike, without reluctance can be the strongest foundation on which to form a firm and righteous relationship. Without this priceless trait, any interaction between individuals is merely a house of cards that may fall with the slightest disturbance.


As an interesting twist, the most genuine encounter in my lifetime was not with a business tycoon, high ranking official, or religious leader. Instead, this impoverished man spent his life on the sullied streets and would periodically come to the local soup kitchen, San Bernardino’s Mary’s Mercy Center, where I have volunteered. Known only by the humble name, Joe, this vagrant thanked me endlessly after receiving his daily meal and began to mumble in my general direction as he ate. To be friendly, I asked him about himself and his past. In absolute genuine fashion, he answered my questions, explaining how he lost his house while dealing with unemployment and describing his rough existence since then, all with explicit detail. Even through his rags and dirty skin, I saw Joe as a person I could trust to divulge his purest thoughts and thus was able to respect the real person he was, despite his financial status.


We live in a world where many people try with great effort to hide their actual character and pursue a false image instead. In my home of media-driven Southern California, that concept reigns. Consequently, the more I explore, learn and grow, the more it seems I have to struggle to find a true friend, someone unaffected by the popularity of conformity. This is why I will maintain this core value - sincerity - in all aspects of my life. While I continue this satisfying practice, I aim to potentially influence the way others choose to live just as a man named Joe once inspired me. Whether I am coaching a soccer team, speaking in front of a class, searching for a lab partner, conversing with my teammates, or even bonding with my pets, I aspire toward sincere sentiments so that people will know that I am no “phony”.


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