I’m not a football fan. I wouldn’t know how to explain exactly what offside is. However, I can take pride in one thing: I have a green heart. Racing de Ferrol won us all over, and continues to win us over, whether in the second or third division, it doesn’t matter to us.

This summer, the club gave me a special reason to be proud. They launched a wonderful promotion to encourage people to sign up, which made me think: “You’re the one who decides our league status.”

And this team has understood that greatness isn’t just about goals or league position. Greatness lies in the people who support each other, who look out for each other, Sunday after Sunday; who follow the team both at home and away; who cheer each other on in the stands and in life.

How wonderful it would be if we all realized the status that the people around us give us.

How wonderful it would be if schools and institutions understood that it’s their students and their families who give them status. Because, as I say in *Adolescence in God’s Key*, we can’t measure people’s worth solely by academic excellence. We can’t value the families who contribute to a school solely by their EBAU grades.

We have to learn to look at the invisible actions: those hands that reach out to help, that classmate who creates a good atmosphere in the cafeteria, that student who accompanies someone who’s alone at recess. Likewise, we have to take care of our own, those who make us better… even if the score isn’t in their favor.

Because the important thing about a photograph isn’t the likes, but the people in it with you. As Félix Arriazu’s latest song says: “It’s not the song: it’s who you sing it with.” Because this, at its core, is living Christian charity. Christian charity, throughout history, has often been confused with giving what we have left over. It’s not understood, it’s not fully understood, that it’s a charity that asks for something more: that values giving, not giving away objects. That looks differently, because it has a scale that weighs, that counts, that recognizes what this world doesn’t value… that category that Racing de Ferrol speaks of.

Let’s value people

Let’s value those who support us in our family, at school, in life… and yes, also in our football club. Because, in the end, that’s what gives us true class. Why not?