Outdoor sports - one of my frustrations in life, probably because I have a fear of flying objects. The only sport I played as a student was scrabble.
This word game sport brought me to different meets and competitions. I found myself playing against the best scrabble players in Cebu even if I never brought home the gold. However, in this gruesome play of words, I realized that the aim of the game is not just to win, but also to get to know other players. The same goes for all other games, a celebration of the spirit of camaraderie.
Yet it seemed like the people of Hong Kong had a different definition of the game. During the Azkals' football tournament last week, the Filipinos were jeered and booed at when the Philippine National Anthem was sung. It was a terrible sign of disrespect.
A national anthem is not just sung at any moment out of emotion or preference. It is played in honor of a country, to give respect to its identity as a nation. The song speaks about the nation's struggles, triumphs and their identity as a whole. Whenever an anthem is played, there is a proud feeling that nudges the heart of an individual.
However, hearing jeers instead of silence was definitely crossing the line. The expression was correct, but the timing and place was wrong.
A Hong Kong news website said that racism is never a problem in Hong Kong. It said that their act of showing rude behavior during the game was an expression to their disgust over the 2010 Rizal Park hostage crisis.
As an advocate of the arts, I certainly believe that there is nothing wrong with expressing one's emotions. In fact, we Filipinos are very fond of expressing ourselves through different channels - performance art, visual art, street rallies and social media. However, expression is not done to trample on somebody else's rights.
We cannot deny that the 2010 hostage crisis was a disgrace to our nation. But no matter what happened, we did our part to fix the issue. If I remember right, President Aquino issued an apology on behalf of the Filipinos. Their acceptance of the apology is already a blur to me but the mere act of asking for forgiveness is a sign that we are willing to reconcile.
The act of booing in front of the Azkals', the OFWs and international television is unacceptable. We are not "just" Filipinos. We are a people with dignity. Matters like these should not be taken lightly.
Respect was just what we needed. They could have reserved their boos and jeers after the tournament. Athletes are trained well and hard to compete with their opponents. I don't think they deserve the shame the received. But no game is an avenue for disgust, protest, or the like. There is a proper channel for all these.
I'm having high hopes that the people of the east would stop all the bullying against us. China should look into the real history of the Panatag Shoal, Taiwan should not blame all Filipinos for a single death and Hong Kong should move on.
Past is past, I believe so. There are always people who are at the painful end. But in time, we will all realize that we need to work with one another, whether in sports or some other end.