EDITORIAL - No heroes where a nation forgets

Today is National Heroes Day. But except for a few obligatory rituals at various sites expected to be performed perfunctorily by some officials, most people would be where they most prefer to be -- in the malls, beaches or wherever they may choose to relax.

While almost everybody gets to enjoy the holiday, and the privileges that come with it, it is almost a safe bet to say not many people can name even five national heroes in, say, ten seconds.

Believe it or not, but we are not exactly a people who would place a very high regard for heroes. Had the lives of heroes not been part of the school curriculum, we doubt very much if, left to our own devices, we would truly make a conscious effort to remember them.

We have said this here before and we say it again: A quick look at the current state of monuments to our heroes would serve as a damning indictment of how we regard our heroes, which is to say not very much when you see the goats and laundry on or around them.

And yet, whenever the fad strikes us, we fall head over heels in proposing the creation of even more heroes. Not that there is a dearth of extraordinary lives worthy of being elevated to the status of being heroes. But after the status, what?

We are a very forgetful people, which is not really so bad until we realize our kind of forgetfulness springs from a genuine lack of concern. The way we allow the rape of our National Anthem as if it were an ordinary song open to any interpretation is one such indication.

Under the current political mood, many will not admit, and may even get angry, when we say that Ninoy was on the road to being forgotten until Cory died and it became hip again to beat our breasts with "on again" fervor.

But hasn't anyone noticed that the attendance at Edsa commemorations had been dwindling? It is the same thing with heroes, which is to say that if we cannot be consistent in how we regard our heroes, then maybe we are not wholehearted in our regard at all.

In a country where there is no wholehearted and genuine regard for heroes, there can be no genuine and wholehearted reforms, and anybody who claims so, especially now that elections are near, is only trying to win your vote.

Arangkada