In this era of the Internet and 24/7 social media, a lot of news are unregulated or unedited, leading to not a few inaccurate reports about the supposed deaths of various famous people ranging from British comedian Mr. Bean to former California governor and Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger. And just this early October, the false death bug victimized actor Coco Martin, actress Kathryn Bernardo and FHM Philippines’ “Sexiest Woman” awardee, actress Jessy Mendiola. Called “death hoaxes,” they spread quickly online, often satirical pieces passed off as journalism.
Even before the Internet era, in the late 1890s, the famous writer Mark Twain — who supported the Philippines’ struggle for independence against his country’s colonization — was victim of two false reports about his death. The second news was published by no less than the New York Times. Twain retorted with typical humor: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
Another recent death hoax subject was the Philippines’ No. 1 billionaire, SM Group and BDO founder Henry Sy, Sr. At a recent private dinner hosted by RFM’s Joey Concepcion for ASEAN business leaders with Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Senator Cynthia Villar, Senator Migz Zubiri and Senator Bam Aquino, BDO chairman Teresita “Tessie” Sy-Coson shrugged off the false reports. She told me her father was fine and that he didn’t even go to London.
This thing about “death hoaxes” and the recent announcement of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature led me to think about how we wish others and the world to remember us.
Dylan won for famous folk songs such as Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changin’, although I was also rooting for American novelist Philip Roth, South Korean poet Ko Un, Syrian poet Adonis, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and Southeast Asia’s late great Nobel candidate Pramoedya Ananta Toer of Indonesia (his four novels in the Buru Quartet are literary masterpieces).
Congratulations also to the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner, outstanding Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who coincidentally was one of only two heads of state I was able to interview during the 2015 APEC Summit here in Manila.
Alfred Nobel’s Premature Obituary Led To Famous Awards
Not all things negative are to be viewed as sources of distress. We should try to turn all negatives into positives. A great example was the 19th-century false report about the death of Swedish tycoon, inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). The reporting error actually led to the creation of the Nobel Prizes, which encourage world-class excellence in the fields of literature, peace, economics, medicine and the sciences. But before that, Nobel produced explosives and was the inventor of dynamite.
When Alfred Nobel’s brother passed away, a French newspaper published the headline “The Merchant of Death is Dead.” The tycoon was horrified to read his mistaken obituary, describing his career and life as that of a person who had made it possible to kill people faster than anyone else who had ever lived.
Nobel didn’t want the world to remember him only as a manufacturer of death, so he donated part of his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, which are given every year to outstanding achievers.
Zest-O juice and RC Cola billionaire Alfredo “Fred” Yao once told me why we should try to do good things while we are alive and maintain a good reputation. He said: “When a tiger dies, at least he leaves behind his skin, which people keep as décor in their big homes or museums. We human beings, the only thing we can really behind after we die is a good name.”
How do we want our eulogies or obituaries to read? In all the funerals I have attended, people never cite the big mansions or fancy cars of the deceased, nor do they mention how much wealth a person amassed.
When SM Group’s first high-end mall, The Podium, opened in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Henry Sy, Sr. invited me to a five-hour dinner at a café and restaurant. In that unforgettable conversation with the soft-spoken, humble, brilliant rags-to-riches taipan, I mentioned that in future generations people may not remember him for his trendsetting shopping malls or his great wealth, but for his investments and support for education.
Sy asked me why. I mentioned to him that the late early-20th century overseas Chinese taipan Tan Kah Kee of Singapore and Malaysia was then called the world’s “Rubber King,” but his companies are now forgotten, yet his name is a legend in Asia for having donated and supported schools in Southeast Asia and China. His generosity established China’s first privately funded university and perhaps its most beautiful seaside campus, the Xiamen University in Fujian province. Tan also established the Jimei schools, now Jimei University, in his ancestral hometown of Jimei in Fujian.
Tan Kah Kee, Harvard, Stanford & Cornell
I also mentioned to Mr. Sy that aside from the Confucian example of generosity, nobody now remembers the career highlights or wealth of John Harvard, Leland Stanford and Ezra Cornell; but the whole world remembers them for endowing the excellent universities that bear their names. I told Sy that when Harvard died in 1638, he donated half his monetary estate or £780 plus his library comprising some 400 titles to what would become a renowned university.
Like many immigrant self-made taipans all over Asia, Henry Sy, Sr. has a simple lifestyle yet he and his family have generously supported educational causes through scholarships, and has become a prime mover behind the success of National University (NU) and Asia Pacific College, and an investor in his alma mater Far Eastern University (FEU).
We need not be a business tycoon, singer/songwriter, poet, novelist, scientist, president or senator or a hero to leave behind a good name. We can and should think about our future eulogies and obituaries, so that will lead a more meaningful and selfless life.
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