I was among the lucky stiffs screaming myself hoarse last Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack center in Las Vegas, as Manny Pacquiao pummeled Erik ?El Terrible? Morales and put him away for good in the third round of a 12-round bout (I was seated at ringside, thanks to a free ticket from Anheuser-Busch executive, David Kim, Budweiser being a major sponsor of the fight).
Every Filipino I met?and there were thousands in the arena?was proud to be from our country, and said so with such conviction, one easily forgot that many of them left the homeland in desperation and frustration, some even swearing never to return.
The euphoria was experienced all over the world, wherever a live telecast of the fight was beamed.
?Ang galing ng Pinoy!? people shouted unabashedly. ?Cham?pion ang Pilipino! Mabu?hay ang Pilipinas!?
One wishes that the same cheers will be shouted over and over again, long after the din of battle has faded, with the same conviction, the same enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, like a drug, the high is bound to subside.
Our people?especially those who are working overseas?will inevitably come back down to earth, and turn to their daily grind, bemoaning their miserable fate and wondering when the Philippines will ever be ?as good as the rest of the world? and will provide opportunities for a better life for them and their families.
The past few weeks have been good for the collective ego of Filipinos worldwide. In pool, Ronato Alcano won the world championship, in a field of Filipino world champs. On the other hand, Filipino-American Cheryl Burke teamed up with former Dallas Cowboys running back, Emmett Smith, to win the championship in the popular TV dance competition, ?Dancing With The Stars??Cheryl?s second triumph in as many years.
But it has been in boxing that Filipinos have really savored the triumph, not only in the case of Pacquiao but in those instances in the past where our boxers have prevailed over their foreign opponents. Of course, Pac?quiao?s fights belong to another league, mainly because of the caliber of his opponents and the importance that the encounters have been given in mainstream sports circles, with no less than HBO telecasting them.
But there may be one other reason for the almost fanatic association with Pacquiao?s fistic encounters, his every blow, his mastery over his opponents, and the way he has beaten them to submission.
For many of our people, it may be a way of getting back at their imagined tormentors, the cruel fates, the good fortune that has eluded them, the hardships that they have had to endure. Every punch delivered by Pacquiao has released the pent-up fury within them. Every victory he has notched, they have shared vicariously?a triumph for them, too, even if only in their minds and hearts.
Indeed, Pacquiao has been an inspiration to our people. The more deprived, the more inspired.
American TV?s accounts of Pacquiao?s rise, from ?selling stolen cigarettes for food? to earning $3 million for the fight with Morales, plus a share of pay TV rights, have been delivered with the drama of a soap opera and the flourish of a fairy tale.
But the moral lesson in the rags-to-riches narrative is probably being lost in the dazzling and giddy account of riches beyond an ordinary mortal?s dreams.
Perhaps Pacquiao should give his ardent admirers a reality check. Perhaps he should find time to make the rounds of those places where the most desperate, the most hopeless of them may be found, to bring them a message of success based, literally, on hard knocks.
In the United States, sports heroes often donate their time to appear in public service commercials that extol the importance of education, the pursuit of excellence, the virtues of hard work, diligence and sacrifice. They also make personal appearances at schools to bring the message in person to their adoring young fans.
For sure, kids and grown-ups want to be ?like Manny??but it is likely that the quality they want to emulate is the ability to make tons of money, rather than the discipline, dedication and courage that it takes to achieve that end.
Manny Pacquiao will be doing our country and our people a great favor if he spares the time to translate his triumphs into a message of hope and a moral lesson for those who are want to make it big like him: that success in any endeavor is best gained the old-fashioned way?by sweating and breaking their backs, by being impervious to pain, and by working to be the best they can be.
