The May weather had been oppressive with the heat index in the 40s. With everyone feeling like they are being slowly steamed in their own sticky sweat, we can be excused for feeling rather grumpy. The headlines of late also haven?t been helpful.
We lost 44 SAF troopers in a badly executed police operation and our President, who made some bad calls on it, refuses to take accountability. Last week, the whole nation was gripped in a dramatic last minute reprieve of a Filipina domestic helper set for execution by Indonesia for being a drug courier.
Last Sunday, there was hope for a radical mood swing. The whole nation stood still hoping for something extremely positive: a big come from behind victory of the ?people?s champ? in a boxing match billed as the ?Fight of the Century.? Even someone like me, no boxing fan, trooped to Rockwell Cinema 1 to watch it. We were looking for a hero who can make us stand proud before the world. Last Sunday, we pinned our hopes on Manny Pacquiao to make things better. We saw Manny as the one who can give us an emotional boost to counter our daily frustrations.
Humble and soft spoken, Manny is the inspiring hero from central casting. Up to his early teens, he slept on the sidewalk and scratched up a living from whatever source? as a laborer and eventually as an aspiring boxer. He had the determination to break out of poverty?s grip.
But the good things didn?t just rain down on him as if manna from heaven. He worked hard, extremely hard on the road to a $12 million, 3,000-square meter mansion in Beverly Hills once owned by Jennifer Lopez. Manny captured the essence of the nation?s dream of First World affluence rising out of Third World squalor.
Indeed, Manny?s conquest of Beverly Hills upstages those snooty senoras of Forbes Park who made him feel unwelcome enough to leave. Manny is now Beverly Hills, and Forbes Park could well be Grace Park. For many in our teeming masa? this is the ultimate comeuppance. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Our extreme disappointment after that fight is understandable. We had a huge emotional investment riding on Manny. For that one evening when he had the world?s attention, Manny showed the Pinoy is no pushover.
Of course the defeat, controversial at that, isn?t some kind of national failure. Manny Pacquiao?s life story remains as inspiring as ever, his accomplishments have not been diminished. No one should think the failure to get Mayweather shows we are not good enough to be on the world?s center stage.
Still, there was a national groan of disappointment last Sunday afternoon. That?s because we have this national thirst for heroes and we were left frustrated. We have been living our hopes and dreams in the telenovela story of Kid Kulafu?s dramatic struggle from poverty to international superstardom. David was supposed to defeat Goliath.
Unquenched, this thirst for a Filipino superhero seems to be feeding into a national inferiority complex. We are in danger of convincing ourselves that being Third World is our fate.
People need be reminded Manny is not the only Filipino who can make us proud to be Pinoy. Just off the top of my head, I can think of Lea Salonga and Dado Banatao.
Or, consider all those Pinoy chefs who did us proud in the Madrid Fusion events here and in Madrid. Then there is Agri usec Berna Romulo Puyat who scoured the countryside up to the mountains of Kalinga Apayao, to get the local ingredients for the chefs to work their magic with.
Of course, we all know Lea wowed the discriminating world of theater and cinema and is wowing the world still. I heard her sing, during the 85th birthday of Oscar Lopez, a nationalistic song that made me proud to be Pinoy two ways, because of Lea and the song itself. Entitled We Share a Dream with credits given to Noypi/Himig Natin (Bamboo/Juan dela Cruz band), it inspires and lifts our spirit.
Dado Banatao is the most respected Filipino in the high technology world of Silicon Valley. His personal success story is no less epic ? from a struggling young man in Tuguegarao to the richest self-made Filipino technopreneur in America who pilots his own private jet. He cares enough about his roots to help develop our high technology potentials.
There are, of course, many others who have done us proud as world class Pinoys. Pinky Amador and many other local theater artists labored in London and New York theaters to show the world how worthy we are of the world stage.
Our OFWs, as a whole, do our country proud. Their stories are like Manny Pacquiao?s inspiring struggle against poverty. They are a symbol of self reliance. They refuse to wait for our government to fix our economy to create jobs here at home.
There are always Filipinos somewhere doing something awesome.
Let us also not forget, the preparation that Manny did for that big fight is important too. The inspiration part is easy. The part of the story that Pinoys should imbibe is the perspiration part.
This is why I like the pre-fight stories of ABS-CBN News. Dyan Castillejo focused on the very intensive training regimen of Manny and the discipline it required. I hope people caught the message of hard work essential to success.
It is the same thing in nation building? Press releases are routinely issued about intentions. That?s the easy part. But the implementation is fumbled? so no improvement in airports, MRT, essential public services. We need to be hungry and thirsty enough to demand results.
The other lesson last Sunday is the need to combine skills with intelligence. That?s how Mayweather won.
Faith is important, too, but we must be careful it doesn?t blindside us to reality. I believe God wants us to use all the resources He has given us and not just rely on prayers without action.
Here is how a comment in one of my e-groups puts it:
?The defeat of Pacquiao has vital lessons to teach both Manny and the Filipino people. Manny thought he was a sure winner because his spiritual advisers told him that he was in a great battle like David versus Goliath.
The real David was told by God that He would use him as an instrument to conquer the Philistines represented by their champion named Goliath. In this metaphor, Mayweather represents extreme materialism, female abuse, and overweening pride. Manny even said he would talk to Mayweather about a change of heart after the fight, in other words, evangelize him.
?I am hoping that Manny will obtain a reality check instead of the strong sedative of denial and magical thinking. Otherwise, he will be forced head-first into a spiraling vortex of decline and self-destructive behavior.
?And I hope the Filipino people learn a vital lesson too. They should be discerning in accepting a leader whose distorted and overgrown sense of destiny carries him into realms where only God?s fool or the devil?s prot?g?e can win: politics, religion, and national leadership.?
In other words, please lang Manny, stay away from politics. Share your good fortune with the people, if you wish and spread the Word of God. But stay away from the dirty world of politics where your credibility and faithfulness to God will be severely tested.
But there is no denying that Manny quenches our national thirst for a big hero. In the parched desert that is our national landscape, Manny Pacquiao, as retired industrialist Rufo Colayco puts it, ?is one Filipino who has helped cast his countrymen?s international image and stature above the unfortunate one as menial workers have prevailed in the host nations that have provided marginal livelihood for many millions of us.?
Then again, Manny is great but let us however, not forget the many other outstanding Filipinos who can quench our thirst for heroes. More importantly, let us not forget that we ourselves can be the hero we long for.
We all instinctively know how to become that hero. But we lack the guts to step up to the plate, the way Manny Pacquiao did. There is a hero lurking inside each of us, longing to inspire someone else or even the nation if we only let it out.
Manny did not lose last Sunday. On the contrary, he is on a winning streak as his story inspires a nation so that each Pinoy can become a hero himself.
