“He threw his other slipper into the river’s onrushing
water.”
That was the punch line our elementary school teacher
gave away while telling our whole class the story about Dr. Jose Rizal who did
throw his slipper after the other one had fallen into the water. “Why?” I quietly
asked myself. She said someone downstream would find the pair. “Wow!” I murmured.
All at once, not only did such a selfless act leave an indelible mark in my
mind, but also it touched me in looking up to Rizal ever since that day as a
hero. Our teacher won the day by telling us to follow in the footsteps of Rizal
as our role model.
(Btw, public historian Ambeth R. Ocampo in his PDI
column wrote, “There is no historical basis for this story, and if it were
true, Rizal was just being pilosopo
to avoid punishment.” Let alone, it’s unthinkable that anyone could find that
thrown pair of slippers together downstream.)
MENTORS
During my high school years, my role models were my
mentors – my late two brothers and a sister (mechanical, civil, and chemical
engineering students respectively then) – who paved the way for me to become a
civil engineer. My eldest brother, Toto, broke the ice of mathematics on me one
mentoring day by mouthing off: “x plus x equals 2x, x times x equals x squared.
Don’t ask me why. Just accept it. Period.” Another brother, Rolly, fired my
imagination in the world of drawings, paintings, and creative writing, among
other artistic perspectives of engineering.
This one-liner reminds me of my late sister, Nasie: “I
told a chemistry joke, there was no reaction” – speaks volumes humorously about
the sober faces one imagines seeing inside the chemical engineering labs. But,
far from it, what I came upon lying underneath such an aloof chemical engineer’s
façade was an invisible tender heart. Right after I left home for the first
time to get my high school learning off the ground in a faraway strange place, it
was my sister who played the role of a surrogate mother during that challenging
period of my living in a boarding house -- like a 12-year-old boy in an
orphanage.
During my college years, oddly, not a hint of any role
model flashed back, apart from that morsel of a drifting flux called Love --
which I had a sneaking feeling was a spillover of the spirit of the 60s – the
so-called Love Generation. It shaped the way for today’s free thinkers and
dreamers: make love not war theme synthesizing with the sounds in the airwaves
of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Mamas and the Papas, among others. I bought then
a book at a school campus store that delved into the Biblical phrase, “Love
casts out fear.” Amazingly, the essence of the book cast out my fear induced by
the campus security issues then: military presence and ethnic discord.
During my corporate heyday, “management gurus” were
the buzzword for mentors whose out-of-the-box, brand-spanking-new management
theories dominated over the workplace in stacks of hot-off-the-press books with
prominent authors then like Tom Peters, and Stephen Covey, among others.
ICON
Today,
aside from writing, I still love movies and Hollywood icons. One actor I hold
in high regard is Denzel Washington whose commencement address to Dillard
University in 2015 (University of Pennsylvania in 2011) I am excerpting below:
“One, put God first in everything you do… do what I’ve
done, and stick with God. Two, fail big. Today is the beginning of the rest of
your life, and it can be very frightening… Do what you feel passionate about…
Don’t be afraid to fail…have dreams… but have goals… apply discipline and
consistency… hard work works… Three, you’ll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.
I don’t care how much money you make, you can’t take it with you…Finally, I pray
that you put your slippers, way under the bed tonight, so that when you wake up
in the morning, you have to get on your knees to reach them… Say, thank you.”
The embedded nuggets of wisdom above are so rousing
that his videos have gathered close to 50 million viewers on YouTube.
I picked out Denzel as a role model not only do I rate
him highly as a Hollywood actor, but also he is: a) a foreigner and
dodges the biblical rebuff: “no prophet is accepted in his country”; and b) non-partisan
in our present polarized political plight.
The impact of Denzel’s soul-stirring speech was as dramatic as his big-league presence at the graduation which the universities have deemed as an exemplary role model for their graduates to emulate. And why not? He has been described by The Cine-Files as an actor (besides being a director and a producer) who reconfigured “the concept of classic movie stardom.” Two-time Academy Award winner, Denzel was named by The New York Times as the greatest actor of the 21st century. On October 11, 2021, the U.S. Army made Denzel the Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army for his work providing free homes for military families while receiving medical care.
WANTED ROLE MODELS
What about the role models among us – particularly those at the top of the power totem pole? Here’s a Pinoy-on-the-street’s deep-rooted comment
that encapsulates the low-grade value of role models in our country today:
“Filipinos are intrinsically disciplined people.
Offshore, Filipinos manifest discipline, leading to an improved life. In the
Philippines, however, Filipinos tend to forget discipline since public
officials and law enforcers show undisciplined behavior, we lack ROLE MODELS
(underscoring mine) that we can emulate and that can serve as the standard of
discipline.” (Edwin Monares, Rizal)
Based on Pew Research Center, 4.2 million Filipinos
are living in the U.S. as of 2019 – the third-largest Asian origin group – which
begs the question: Why is the group’s representation in U.S. Congress has been
sparse?
Professor Pei-te Lien, an Asian-American specialist at
the University of California, came up with the key. NBC News reported that "she and her colleagues have continuously wondered why the [Filipino-American's] political power hasn't followed the growth of its populations." She said:
"The group could do a lot more in terms of visibility in mainstream
politics, but you need some ROLE MODELS [underscoring mine]…”
Sad to say, we have these PH role model triple
whammies today:
Exhibit A. The SUV hit and run case: a special
privilege in action. “Kapag mahirap nagnakaw ng bayabas kulong agad! What’s
happening to our country, Mr. President?” outgoing Senate President Vicente
Sotto III tweeted.
Exhibit B. “The stupidest thing I heard today is Robin
Padilla forgiving Aljur for breaking his daughter’s heart with no apologies
because it’s 'natural' for men to cheat.” (Nate) As an actor, Robin Padilla’s own
role model should have been Denzel Washington, being in the same industry.
Exhibit C: “If Bongbong Marcos wins, P328-Billion ill-gotten wealth, unpaid taxes may not be recovered.” (Former Associate
Justice Antonio Carpio)
Quo vadis, PH?
Head still photo courtesy of Pixabay
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