Lessons and realities

For the second time around in the Miss Universe pageant history, Miss USA candidates successively tripped on stage—first was Rachel Smith last year and now, Crystle Stewart. Was it sabotage, purely accidental or intentional? Anyway, before rumormongers could weave their own conclusion, Stewart, in an interview with The Associated Press just few hours after her shameful fall, immediately dismissed malicious speculations. “My dress has beautiful beads on the bottom of it, and I stepped on my gown and they made me slip. It was like I was on rollerblades. There was no conspiracy or anything. Nobody left marbles on the floor. It was just me,” she explains.

The 26-year-old motivational speaker, who has developed a character education program that she teaches back home, has realized one thing after that fall—“to take some walking classes.” On a deeper note, Stewart said she would surely talk about the incident to her students and instill in them some positive points out of what happened. “Sometimes you fall in life, not just in the pageant but financially or emotionally. It’s not about the fall but how you pick yourself up.”

Indeed, Stewart was right. Now I know, her fall was never sabotage, nor it was accidental. It was intended, not of her own doing but by destiny. It had to happen to remind us once again that in life “when you fall there is no other way to go but up.” Stewart clearly dramatized it in her immediate action after she tripped. Rather than linger on the floor, she immediately stood up and even raised her hands, not in surrender but in applause. Cool!

Destiny reminds us through Stewart that in life, when confronted with problems, there is always a way out. It tells us that instead of dwelling on our failure, it is better to move on. No use questioning why it happened at all. Truly, it is very much okay to stumble and fall, what is not okay is not being able to bounce back and learn from ones mistakes.

Overconfident Jennifer

As we all know, our bet Jennifer Barrientos failed in her bid to win the third Miss Universe crown for the Philippines. There is nothing wrong with it, because in every competition it is natural that there is a winner and a loser. But in Jen’s case, the issue does not end there, because right after the announcement of the top 15 or the semi-finalists, I was confronted with text messages questioning what happened to Jen’s pronouncement that she was confident she will bring home the crown?  Hers was a case of optimism that went overboard. But can you blame her for that when it is normal for us to believe in our own capacity? It was maybe her way of conditioning herself so that she would remain strong, poised and graceful even with the pressure the pageant has given them.

Flashback to last May, when I was able to talk to Jen and the rest of the Bb. Pilipinas beauties—Miss World bet Janina San Miguel and Miss International candidate Patricia Fernandez. Jen said that even if she was a first timer she did not only expect to win a title in the country’s prestigious pageant but she also imagined she was already wearing a crown on her head. According to her then, as a candidate you should feel the crown, visualize it because if you don’t you better not join. It was expected that she would use the same trick in Miss U, because the three of them at the time of our interview revealed that they don’t want to be a “thank you” girl in their respected international pageants.

But while it is true that it is important to be optimistic in our daily grind and in whatever we do, (because if we don’t believe in ourselves who will?), the problem in Jen’s case was that she overemphasized. For me, Jen should have kept it to herself if not to the people close to her, rather than announcing it on national TV.

Her case reminds me of my interview with ABS-CBN’s Rico Lucena two years ago, for the feature I did on him for Banat Hugyaw. When I asked him what his next move was after regional television, he refused to answer me. According to him, whatever his career plans or even personal stuff are, he just keeps it to himself so that when he fails, its only him who knows. Clever! But let it be said that by then, Rico was already reporting for TV Patrol-World and not long after, was sent to cover one big story after another, so I had no doubt he was going national. In fact, he was awarded last year by no less than Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN’s VP for News and Current Affairs as “Most Promising Reporter of the Year,” nationwide. I am sure there is a bright future ahead of Rico in Philippine broadcasting, and even if he is not announcing his plans, destiny will reveal it for him.    

So I guess, it’s not only Jen who should imitate Rico’s style as far as predicting the future is concerned, but everybody should do likewise. So that when we fail, its only you and you alone who will know, and there will be no questions to answer, there will be no issues to settle.

In fairness to Jen though, I strongly believe that she did our country proud even if she did not make the cut. In fact, I would agree to the observation of many that she is the best Miss Philippines to represent us in the most prestigious pageant, after Nina Ricci Alagao in 2000. Bravo Jen!

Faces of hypocrisy

I’ve watched the Philippines ’ pride in the recent Cannes Film Festival in France — Serbis — twice last week in Ultra Vistarama. Just a piece of advice: You should see it twice so that you will have a full grasp of the beautiful story it offers. Yes, I love it so much because it is presented in a fantastic (not preachy) yet simple way. Poverty, hypocrisy and morality are the main ingredients that weave together the characters of awarded actors like Gina Pareño, Jaclyn Jose, Julio Diaz and Coco Martin. The scenes are presented with all candidness (very real) and the acting effortless and very convincing. After all, you already have a Gina Pareño and Jaclyn Jose, plus Coco Martin.

A particular scene I like is the one showing Ms. Gina contemplating her financial woes, then she stands up to examine her laundry——feeling the hanged clothes to determine which one is dry or wet. Then she murmurs, “Ito basa, ito tuyo na. Kung ganito lang sana kadali ang buhay.” I can’t help but say, yeah right. If only life is like doing our laundry, washing it and then hanging it dry, everything would be a bed of roses.

Then there is Jaclyn scolding Kristoffer King after she saw him servicing a homosexual inside the technician’s room. She blurts out, “Huwag ‘nyong baboyin ang sinehan!” She bangs the door shut and walks away.  She then passes by a dimly lit area of the moviehouse they operate and see men servicing gay moviegoers. She chooses to turn away as if she sees nothing because her only concern is to attract moviegoers to their moviehouse which is their only source of income.

There are many heartwarming scenes presented in “Serbis” that would tell us why it conquered Cannes with flying colors. Even if it failed to get the top plum in the most prestigious film festival in the world, it received standing ovation from foreign viewers, not to mention many rave reviews. It’s still showing, so you still have the chance to see and appreciate the brilliance of a Brillante Mendoza.      

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