We need heroes
As the country anticipates another long weekend due to the celebration of National Heroes Day, the events of the past two weeks seem to remind us that there is a more significant meaning to the holiday. For two consecutive Sundays, the Philippines has received recognition for the honor achieved by two of its citizens. The first, of course, was the exhilarating and historic triumph of boxing icon Manny Pacquiao. The other one, less celebrated but still widely acknowledged, was the hailing of Efren Peñaflorida as CNN’s “Hero of the Year.”
Peñaflorida’s work may seem to be a fun outreach activity every weekend, but I’m glad that the organizers from CNN were able to appreciate the hard work and commitment of his group that has made his kariton education last for 12 years. In his background at the website, he mentioned that he was inspired to do the project because of the threat of gang life in his hometown. Having been coerced himself to join a gang when he was young, he was determined to provide an alternative lifestyle to the children in his community.
Gang membership and fraternities are indeed a major problem in poverty-stricken communities. I distinctly remember feeling shocked when I saw a student of mine last year go to school with bruises, cuts and wounds all over his head and body. He was there to inform his teachers that he was caught in the middle of a frat war and was beaten up because he was accidentally mistaken as a member of a rival gang. He told me that the wounds he bore were the effect of the broken bottles and improvised weapons they used against him. He was not able to go to school for three weeks because of his condition. Since he was already having difficulty with his studies, he was unable to pass the year level and was eventually withdrawn from school by his parents.
Affiliation with violent gangs and fraternities is a coping mechanism that many teenagers use to deal with the difficult experiences in their lives. Most of these students crave more attention from very busy parents working to eke out a living. Some join these gangs because they were raised in violent backgrounds, and aggression and intimidation has become a way of life for them.
For Peñaflorida’s group to bravely challenge, head-on, the culture of gang life is indeed a laudable act worthy of being called heroic. Schools have looked away from these incidents, as they are helpless in addressing problems with teen-agers that do not belong to its student population. Barangay officials and municipalities, who are supposed to address the issue, are already numb to such incidents. As is the trend nowadays, private citizens are often forced to take up the cudgels themselves in the war against poverty and injustice in society.
And it is for these reasons that Pacquiao and Peñaflorida deserve to be remembered along with our forefathers who offered their lives for the country. These two people are shining testaments that there are still Filipinos who believe there is goodness worth fighting for in our motherland. They are the ones who chose to stick it out with their country in its darkest times and gave help and inspiration to those who need it the most. Manny Pacquiao came to fame during a time when Filipinos were frustrated, ashamed, and questioning the integrity of the current political administration. I remembered at the time that nobody wanted to be called a Filipino and talk of migration and hopelessness again filled the air. Pacquiao refused to be one of those Filipinos and wrote a song in which he dedicated all his fights to his countrymen. So proud was he of being a Filipino, he even used this as his entrance song to the ring. Peñaflorida, on the other hand, never gave up on his people in the midst of massive poverty and violence. With an unbelievable resolve, determination and passion, he is able to widen children’s perspectives that there is a better world out there than their squandered paradise of violence and misery.
Incidentally, Peneflorida was a guest panelist on last Sunday’s Isang Tanong, GMA-7’s presidential forum program. He had one question for all the candidates: “How does one become a hero?” The question sounded simple at first, but the brilliance of the query shone forth as the candidates grappled to answer the question. A few candidates attempted to answer it by spouting the cliché statement that everyone is a hero. Some attempted to sound smart and sounded like they were lecturing Peñaflorida and the Filipino people about how to become a hero, especially in the realm of politics. These candidates missed the point. Efren and the Filipinos did not need to be lectured on what heroism was. These candidates should have been humble enough to learn the essence of heroism is shown in the work of Peñaflorida and all the private citizens of this country who have done so much more than the people they elected to govern. I personally thought there was only one candidate who answered the question brilliantly, though he said it with such simplicity. He was the only candidate who said that Peñaflorida was the hero and that he was able to read his story and, from there, gather that heroism is to treat one’s neighbor with justice and with compassion. I salute that candidate and all those who voted daily in the CNN website for believing in the hero Peñaflorida. In doing so, they have also made heroes of themselves by starting to dream the kind of change Efren believed in, thus ensuring that, as he becomes recognized as a hero, they can become heroes themselves.
Indeed, it takes one to know one.
