75 Million Heroes

On my way to work the other day, I slowed down near the intersection where R. Magsaysay Ave., Gov. Forbes, Legarda, Nagtahan and J.P. Laurel Streets meet, under the crisscrossing flyovers and still under-construction LRT line, to allow a pedestrian to cross the street.

To my surprise, the man, carrying a bundle on his shoulder, waved cheerfully back at me and gave me a most toothsome smile before getting lost in the crowd. That was enough to erase my irritation at the jeepneys blocking the entire road to pick up and let off passengers and the taxis cutting in in front of me.

The rest of my drive to the office became a pleasant one, all because of that one man, one wave and one smile. That encounter reminded me that it is really easy to be a hero rather than a heel; one just has to make the choice to take the higher path, to see the glass half full rather than half empty–and probably dirty to boot.

I must admit there is more than enough temptation to be negative and pessimistic. Just take a look at the headlines–between investigations and exposés, TROs and Senate hearings, charges and counter-charges, what time or energy is there left for governance, for conducting productive business, for development and growth?

This week our republic turns 104 years old. Four years ago we burned with patriotic pride and nationalistic fervor and raised our flag to the world to celebrate. We’ll do the same this year, maybe with a little less enthusiasm, but this is still the time to remember our heroes and recall the spirit of nationhood that drove them to birth the Republic of the Philippines.

We are a nation of 75 million–give or take a million or two. Instead of 75 million undisciplined, rambunctious, anything goes Pinoys we can be one people, conscious not just of self but of community and country, thinking not just of this moment’s gratification but of long term fulfillment. Time and again in the last 104 years we have proven–to ourselves, particularly–that we as a people have it within us to answer the call for heroism. But it is not only in war or in crisis that we need to be heroes. It is now more important that we be everyday heroes, for it is in the mundane everyday tasks that a nation is built, that an economy progresses, that the dreams of those who laid the foundations of our nation will be fulfilled.

These seem like dismal times, but they need not remain so; 75 million heroes can easily change that.