A wave of change

MANILA, Philippines - Amid the furor over Dan Brown’s depiction of Manila’s underbelly in his new novel, Inferno, and Catherine Mann’s unfavorable take on Boracay in the LA Times, a viral photo sparked a ray of optimism that gave hope a proper spotlight that it deserved. A UP Manila professor, Sedricke Lapuz, uploaded a photo of a street kid reading a book, slumped on the floor of a Booksale branch along Pedro Gil. Lapuz shared the photo on his Facebook timeline. His caption read: “How often do you see a homeless child reading in a bookstore? I asked him if he can read. He replied, ‘Kaunti lang po.’ I still bought him a book, anyway.”

The photo spread all over social media sites and was picked up by a news network, which tracked down the street kid, MJ. He was given opportunities to continue his education (he’ll be continuing second grade although he’s already old enough to start high school). It’s an inspiring narrative that we rarely find among the tangle of memes, viral videos, and attention-span reducing content online. And it’s something that we need to actively seek amid the negativity coursing through our digital lives.

This is also something that can be said about today’s news. Rarely do we get headlines or banner news that makes us feel hopeful. It’s always a deluge of crises, one after the other, like our country is on a steady downhill trip. If negativity could only be turned into fuel, the Philippines would be a First World country already.

A spark of hope

But it isn’t also about seeing happy, upbeat news shouting from our pages like a cheerleader. Since its inception, The STAR has always managed to mix the positives and negatives of today’s current events, finding a way to dispel the doom and gloom that pervades over the headlines. Because in the end, there’s always a spark of hope that, just like MJ’s story or other successes and small victories, give us a brighter perspective on our daily lives.

With this, The STAR is dedicated to changing mindsets to see something more relevant and hopeful in the zeitgeist instead of just sensational news and fear mongering. There are small things that tell us that our country’s condition isn’t really the worst and taking steps in nation building will eventually turn things around.

These days, people prefer and support local business. As giant corporations make their way into more growing cities, there are small and medium enterprises that challenge the way people think of locally made goods. Kenneth Cobonpue, for example, has garnered international attention for his finely made furniture. He has become the first rattan virtuoso in the world, boasting a clientele of A-list celebrities and royalties including Queen Elizabeth II, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Robert De Niro. His story has propelled the local furniture industry, giving a boost to what was once a little-known craft in the country.

There’s also the story of Mount Pinatubo, once an active volcano that laid waste to its surrounding provinces, claimed thousands of lives, and damaged up to P10.1 billion of property and infrastructure. But slowly, people got back on their feet and Mt. Pinatubo became a popular travel destination, giving livelihood to the locals who give off-road and hiking adventures.

It’s narratives like these that The STAR highlights in our “Read It, Live It” campaign — proof that, despite our troubles, ours is a country that can stand up and rise above any challenge. It’s stories like these that fuel progressive minds, enlightening spirits to move forward.

Young, progressive minds

In many ways, the news becomes a critical part of everything we do. What we read and what surrounds us shapes our perspectives and challenges the way we go through our daily activities, especially for young minds. But it can also be a reflection of how we think today.

For Nex Beñas, an MA political science student in UP Diliman and administrator of third sector start-up Akei, the whirlwind fluctuation prevailing in today’s news media can only lead to aimlessness and unfocused attention on critical issues.

“I’m more concerned with short attention spans and spin in a 24-hour news cycle. For instance, Kris Aquino effectively distracted the public from the President’s handling of the Sabah issue. We keep on losing focus that is needed to sustain discourse and direct movement,” says Beñas.

Lapuz, too, offers this observation about how news is delivered these days. “Unfortunately, I think news is delivered a little too haphazardly these days. Perhaps the technology provided by the Internet through social media is irresistible, so that sometimes facts remain unchecked. It’s feeding our inner chismosos and chismosas, too, when we share these things on our Facebook pages. Both parties — the giver and the receiver — are then guilty of sensationalizing the news too much,” he opines.

There’s also the matter of balancing the good news and the bad news. But these days, when young minds look at a newspaper full of crime, crashing markets, international conflict, and corruption, it can lead to the worst state of mind.

“Ideally, if given in small amounts, I think bad news can be a sort of springboard towards the opposite end. However, if there’s too much bad news bombarding the masses, the feeling of being jaded creeps in instead. And apathy is the worst thing that could infect a nation,” Lapuz says.

Perhaps, like in social media, the idea is to sift through the muck of the news and regain a clear perspective on what’s really happening.

Our nation’s story

We have the choice to read which stories will become part of our mindset. After all, we have control over the stories that we choose to read, and which of these will affect us and push us in doing our part in our nation’s story. We can choose news that makes us feel hopeless or we can view these stories as a means to a happy ending. After all, every narrative has its own share of conflicts, of ups and downs, and they all lead to a good ending. Stories like the achievements of Filipinos, communities working together towards a noble goal, the growth and reform that shape our stronger economy — these are stories that make us feel better, that show we are capable of change and that we can celebrate life, flaws and all.

“Triumphs by ordinary people and unlikely justice make for great — not only good — news. Somehow people need to be reminded that change is still possible to keep us moving forward,” says Beñas.

It’s not a matter of kumbayah, happy-go-lucky living. It’s about realizing how much progress we can make by looking at the bigger story and focusing on the things that will make us better.

Keep moving forward. Read it, live it.