EDITORIAL - We always go for the frivolous

Many newspapers, including this one, had as their page one photos yesterday varying shots of women with breasts exposed, all feeding their young, ostensibly to promote breastfeeding, but actually to also try and make it to the Guinness Book of Records.

We do not know if the women were half of the hundreds of pairs that, several months ago, also tried for the world record in most number of couples holding simultaneous kisses the longest or that the breastfed children were the products of that endeavor.

We do not even now if the kissing effort made it. What we do know is that vying for the world record in trivial endeavors has become some sort of the new mania for many Filipinos. There just seems to be no end to our penchant for the useless and ridiculous.

So what if the Philippines succeeded in snatching the world record for most number of women breastfeeding their young in public. Will it alter some important facts about feeding and the young that seems to be completely ignored in the Philippines today?

Of what use is the promotion of breasfeeding if the health of the child cannot be assured when it grows up because the sole breadwinner in a family of six earns only less than one hundred pesos a day.

With three babies born every minute in the Philippines to mothers who can give them nothing but their sagging breasts, you bet the Philippines can keep the world record for mass breastfeeding for all eternity. So?

And oh yes, that kissing-kissing record. What profits the country if it wins the kissing record and gets listed in the Guinness Book of Records if its political leaders continue to go at one another's throats?

There have been other frivolous attempts by frivolous Filipinos, such as for the longest barbeque cookout, the longest longganiza, the longest pancit, the biggest shoe. But, hoy, listen! Are we not also the second most dangerous country for journalists, next only to Iraq?

And what about our supposed top universities that have dropped out of sight from the Top 10, or Top 20, or even Top 50 lists? On the other hand, the Philippines is in the Top 10 of the most corrupt countries in the world. So what about that? Still game for Guinness?