The future is Divine
MANILA, Philippines - In an issue of tech geek magazine Popular Mechanics that came out in the 1950s, an article titled “Miracles You’ll See In The Next 50 Years” was published. In it was a list of nifty technological predictions for the year 2000 A.D. Among the lofty innovations included were a chemical solution that would “whisk away whiskers,” thus rendering razors obsolete (something the decidedly obsolete metrosexual circa 2003 would have loved), cheap plastic plates that would miraculously dissolve in hot water (as if we need more creative ways of contaminating the world’s water supply) and instant homes that could be created by pouring concrete into giant standard forms.
They’re ideas that amuse Divine Lee, successful multi-hyphenate in various industries, such as real estate, fashion and retail, business — this list really could just go on. They amuse her, but they don’t really excite her. “Take the The Jetsons. I mean, they’re cartoons. (People were) thinking we (would be) flying and everything. I think it’s still possible, but just maybe not now,” she says.
Although we aren’t living like The Jetsons, Divine would argue and say that we’ve still come a long way in terms of innovation. “Right now what you can really see is how social media is affecting our lifestyles,” she says. It’s definitely a medium that she’s been preoccupied with as a local Twitter celebrity and recently, as a blogger, and no one would ever argue with the fact that social media has changed lives indeed. More importantly, it will continue changing lives and be instrumental in shaping societies of future generations, unless something better comes along.
It’s interesting to discuss the present, the future, along with what the future as predicted 50 years ago, with Divine. It’s also a good opportunity to try putting her namesake to the test, as in discussing ways of “divining” the future. Considering she’s on the cover of Mega magazine’s “Next” issue containing forecasts of the fashions of tomorrow, it also couldn’t be more appropriate.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t live up to her name, at least not in terms of taking any form of divination seriously. If it were a question of evoking thoughts of higher beings, however, it would be another matter entirely. “Every year, I always get a book from Tim (Yap). They’re feng shui books, but I don’t live my life according to feng sui. I believe that life is what you make of it. It’s really up to you,” she says.
This fascination with predicting the future could be humanity’s downfall, especially for gullible types who base their decisions on such ambiguous, supernatural advice of obviously questionable credibility. But at the same time, with hope for the future comes an attitude of positivity, a prayer that no matter how screwed up things may be at present, the world will be alright even after we’re gone. It’s the reason why people die in the name of religion, nationalism, even the ever-elusive vision of world peace.
It’s this type of idealism and positive thinking that Divine subscribes to and allows to influence her ideas of what’s to happen. In fact, there is one hope for that future that she’s particularly impassioned about and wishes to see realized within her own lifetime. “I don’t know if you know that I’m a crusader for becky rights,” she starts. “And my beki-fierce friends are very loyal. So what happened was the minute Mega posted my cover (on the Megastyle.ph website), sa dami ng beckys na nag-click at nag-support, na-crash nila yung website. They were talking about it on the radio!” she exclaims.
To Divine, the act of her alternatively sexually-oriented friends crashing a website sends a really powerful message. “They have the numbers. Yun yung gusto ko sabihin sa mga tao: Huwag niyong binabasta-basta sila. Please pay attention. Don’t think of them as a minority because they are not,” she points out. While the legalization of gay marriage in New York is a huge step for the LGBT community, in our change-resistant country, progress runs slowly, and that’s what bothers Divine. “I’m not asking for any special treatment. I just want everyone to treat them as equals. It’s not like I’m asking for a special lane on EDSA! It’s just about being human, being compassionate to others. Because you know, it’s all just labels. Male, female, gay, straight, bi, they’re just labels. In the end, we’re all equal. And that’s what should really matter,” she says.
So while we may be perceived as failures in the eyes of a generation 40 to 50 years back, we’re still not doing too shabbily. Sure, we’ve been able to come up with a ton of modern conveniences that make living so much easier, but our progress doesn’t begin and end with invention. We live in a world where we’ve learned to look past a person’s race and color, where people are beginning to accept the idea of gay marriage and locally, we’re a free country that’s grappling with the fact that contraceptives and divorce will not signal the end of human morality as we know it. We’re moving forward, whether we like it or not. In a sense, we have fulfilled the hopes of a “better tomorrow.” And if these things are any indication, then there’s no reason why Divine or any of us shouldn’t hope for the best.
