In Roman times, Cato the Elder was never honored with a statue. while lesser men were. When asked about it, he said, ?I would rather people ask why there is no statue of me than why there is one.?
But the world cannot restrain its adulation for those larger than life. There are statues aplenty of distinguished personages in their lifetime ? Nelson Mandela?s was unveiled in 2007 at Britain ?s Parliament Square; a Michael Jordan statue in Chicago; a Michael Jackson statue in the Netherlands installed prior to his death. A 25-foot towering statue in Chicago of Marilyn Monroe with a draft of wind lifting her dress has thousands having their pictures gazing up at her undies.
From the naughty to the pious, Pope John Paul II, long before he passed away on 2 April 2005, was honored and revered by Poles (who couldn?t wait) with several statues ? at Francis Kazska in ?80;Tarnow cathedral ?81; Piorrkow ?99; Lowitz Lodz ?87; Liche Basiica ?99; Karkow Good Sheperd ?98; Kolbe church ?91; Srzilecki Park 2000; Wadowice ?99; Laskowiec 2001, Rakowiecki Cemetery on the morrow of his interment in Rome on 10 April 2005; etc.
Now Cleveland is determined to honor with a statue its prodigal son Lebron James, whose return ended a 51-year drought for the NBA championship. There is no gainsaying James? superhuman solution to lead the Cavaliers over the phenomenal Gold State Warriors. And Cleveland expects more of the same in the ongoing series.
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A reader wrote to say that our Kamao ng Bayan is no less deserving of the highest recognition:
?Manny Pacquiao has put the Philippines on the world map and deserves a statue now! A champion of no equal, he is the greatest boxer of all time ? the first and only eight-division world champion, wining eleven major world titles, as well as being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. Pacquiao is also the third boxer in history to win genuine world titles in three of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the ?glamor divisions? (flyweight, featherweight, and welterweight).
?Pacquiao is also into basketball, business, acting, music recording and politics. (A true full-blooded Pinoy, he is both player and head coach of the Mahindra Floodbuster basketball team. He was draftee as 11th overall pick in the first round of 2014 PBA draft, making him the oldest rookie and the shortest player and the first dual sport athlete in PBA.)
?In May, 2010, he was elected to the House of Representatives at the 15th Philippine Congress; and in June 2016, he was elected senator and will serve a six-year term until 2022. He is the only senator to climb into the ring when he defeated the Mexican defending world champion Jess Vargas for the WBC welterweight title. (Senator Frank Drilon chose prudence the better part of valor not to pursue interlocution of Senator Pacquiao, which would have required him one round with Manny in the ring.)
?Pacquiao?s rags-to-riches story is an inspiration. Manny is a role model, not only to prize fighters but for his ability to rise up from poverty, his devotion to his mother who raised the family alone, his generosity to friends, his learning the English language, his elevation to Congress and to the Senate.?
?If you want to fix traffic, a Manny Pacquiao fight guarantees a clear path on highway as the archipelago is riveted to the TV. BTW, remember how accepted a loss without excuses, because the referee?s decision is final. (Unlike politicians who never lose elections, but were always cheated.)?
The reader who bent my ear and claimed my space extolling the legendary fame of our champion is Oscar Violago, who has a larger-than-life bust of himself dominating Casecnan Irrigation and Power Project in Nueva Ecija which was inaugurated by former president Fidel V. Ramos and CalEnergy Phil. President Joseph Sullivan. The founding father of the project beat the odds and surprised all naysayers to irrigate 135,000 hectares of Nueva Ecija, making it the only all-year-round province, with a bonus of 150 MW power to light up 355,000 homes.
FVR is happy for Oscar?s monument, even if, as a former President of the Republic of the Philippines, like Cato the Elder, he has no statue of his own.
