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Friday, May 19, 2006
Roperos: New Pinoy heroes
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
What seems interesting to note is that the first Filipino heroes of the 21st century are persons from the field of sports. I may be wrong, though, because others may later on be declared heroes in the first six years of the new century.
The most recent one is the first Filipino conqueror of Mt. Everest, Leo Oracion, who tackled more than 29,000 feet of the tallest mountain of the world. A mountaineer based in Cebu, fellow climbers call him “robot” because he never seems to get tired.
His feat equals that of Manny Pacquiao, who has been considered a national hero because of his phenomenal exploits in boxing that drew attention worldwide and intense interest in the nation. He has become a rallying point for national pride that has long been searching for a cause.
But it should not surprise us if those giving honors to the country are in sports. It is even a field where we can expect more heroes to emerge in the future.
A country whose people do not show a sense of national pride is a country that does not nourish wholesome inner strength, a collective attitude to meet whatever challenges may come its way, a capacity to endure and overcome. They who have the determination and strength of the athlete but with the vision of a nation-builder.
It is quite unfortunate that it is in this area where our republic needs heroes, the ones who are now in the position to become such and needs only subsume their personal pride in favor of the nation or their personal interest in favor of the country’s.
Right now, we are not lacking potentials in this field. We have dozens of highly capable persons who need only to be selfless, who could muster his inner strength to subsume personal pride in favor of the greater interest of the country and people. We have them among our leaders.
Let’s face it. The last time we had this kind of heroes was at the turn of the 19th century, during the days of the Philippine revolt against Spain. The leaders of the revolution are now enshrined in our history as national heroes.
Then in mid 20th century, we had ideological heroes such as Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmeña Sr., Jose P. Laurel, Don Claro Recto and Lorenzo Tanada. And much later, there was Ninoy Aquino. They were heroes because they fought for our country’s right to survive and be sovereign.
Today, what have we to show as heroes in this field of endeavor? I am sorry, but I cannot point to anyone whom we could respect as one, or even as a potential one.
We have respectable politicians, but they appear to venerate only their personal politics, who will rise to the quick if one would as much as prick their political pride, but would never lift a finger to challenge an issue that concerns national pride if to do so would place their personal politics at stake.
It is painful to note that this situation exists.
And so, it is a matter of national pride for all of us that our need for national heroes at this moment in our history is being met by our sportsmen. There would have been general emptiness, one existing in our history during the first years of the new millennium had these sports heroes not done their bit in keeping our national pride freshly a-burning.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 19, 2006 issue)
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