Friday, May 16, 2008 So: Iron Mothers By Jocy So Unraveling
THERE'S something strange in the neighborhood, who do you call? -- Ghostbusters I need a hero! -- Bonnie Tyler
FOR thousands of summers, since the beginning of time, people look for heroes, heroines and superhuman lifesavers with cool powers. The Greeks had Hercules, Scandinavians had Thor, Chinese had Mulan, and our Pinoy ancestor cheered at the heroics of Lam-ang.
Almost every summer of the 21st century features a blockbuster movie with superheroes and superheroines: web-slinging, fighting bad guys, driving fast cars, flying, and always winning and saving the world at the end of the day. In the Philippines, even the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in December has movies starring rubbery and robotic local heroes.
Of course, this summer was no different. We all lined up to watch Robert Downey, Jr., who isn't exactly the most well known actor, don the modern-day equivalent to a medieval armor and fight baddies in Afghanistan and the US. Very topical. Very cool. The movie hit global commercial jackpot.
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I wonder what Iron Man would do in light of the disturbing summer we've been having. There have been events that hardly encourage a happy vacation mood. Excitement for the Beijing Olympics was marred by the Chinese government's actions in Tibet. There was a huge cyclone in Myanmar that killed thousands of people. The crisis continues as its government rejects offers of aid from foreign nations. A volcano exploded in Chile. A small earthquake hit Japan. Recently, Sichuan was rocked with an earthquake that was the largest in China for the past 30 years. As of the moment, the body count has reached 12,000.
There are incidents of political violence in Africa and the Middle East.
This is the kind of summer that makes me wish we do have a real Iron Man who can fly anywhere at the drop of a hat to bring much-needed relief goods and medicines without going through government controls, lift heavy concrete rubble and rescue trapped school children, or provide common-sense solutions to warring factions in the Middle East, like say annihilate all weapons existing in this world and lock up all greedy, violent psychopathic politician-warlords for eternity.
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But, it might for the greater good that these superheroes/heroines remain part of our celluloid daydreams. Based on humans' track record, there is a 99.9 percent certainty that those with great power not only forget their great responsibilities but also abuse their powers absolutely. (The military junta at Myanmar being a prime example.) Also, if we have superheroes/heroines to rescue us from holes we usually dig for ourselves then that would just give us an excuse not to get out of trouble ourselves. Lastly, looking for the superhuman qualities in heroes/heroines sometimes blinds us from seeing the ordinary people who perform everyday acts of heroism around us. Like our mothers who made the most heroic act of all -- enduring months of cumbersome weight before undergoing an excruciatingly painful process of bringing us to the world.
All those Marvel movie superheroes like Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman have nothing on our Iron Mothers. These are women who even without the scientific genius, super human strength or slime-green skin, have made a great impact in making this world what it is. Mothers, they might not stop volcanoes from exploding, but they can soothe our fears. They might not be able to rescue thousands from raging waters or crumbling buildings, but can help us rebuild our lives after lost hopes and dreams. They might not be able to solve problems in the Middle East, but hey, maybe if peace talks are run by mothers affected by the political problems there, solutions will be quicker to be found.
Mothers, like the summer blockbuster heroes, are not perfect. There are many things mothers cannot do, but for all that they can do and have done, they are the real life Iron Man that we need to honor, support, and cheer for not only this summer, but for the rest of the year. Now, let's wait for a real summer blockbuster starring high-flying, earth-saving mothers. Belated Happy Mother's Day!
(Jocy L. So teaches at Davao Christian High School. Enrolment is now going on!)
