Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Nation of Heroes



The last few days will serve as witnesses that the Philippines is a nation of heroes. Hearts gripped by pity and compassion mobilized brains and brawns into heroic action. Countless Filipino heroes rose to the occasion and selflessly braved murky floodwaters to rescue, deliver relief, and help in the cleaning up and rebuilding of flood-stricken homes and storm-ravaged lives. Kinetic monuments of heroism were erected across the nation and in other Filipino communities across the globe in the form of millions of monetary donations, relief goods, free or discounted services, equipment, vehicles and physical places, information drive, physical aid like packing and distribution of relief goods and clean up operations, and many more.

However, it is sad to say that with every glorious phenomenon the Filipino nation give rise to, the dark motives of a handful of black sheep would always painfully and exasperatingly catch the eye. It is a relief though that they are a mere minority. I hope they remain a minority come May 2010 elections.

Just a thought on Philippine-made glorious phenomena: I just thought that perhaps the death of President Cory Aquino which rekindled the flames of Filipino nationalism prefigured the heroism and voluntarism that mushroomed in answer to the Typhoon Ondoy deluge.

Anyways, speaking of Philippine heroism, please vote for Efren Penaflorida as your hero in CNN Heroes - Ordinary People, Extraordinary Impact. Please check out CNN's widget above to learn and be inspired on how Efren makes a difference in nation-building, and vote for him. He is truly a modern day Filipino hero.

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