THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
Dr. Jun Ynares
Last Monday, the nation marked this year’s celebration of National Heroes Day.
We scanned social media on that day to find out who most of our countrymen – who are constantly online – have chosen as their “modern-day heroes.”
Here are the Filipinos who landed in many social media habitues’ lists.
First, doctors, nurses and other health-workers who are manning the frontlines in the battle against Covid-19.
Second, Overseas Filipinos Workers who endure lengthy separation from their families just to be able to provide them with basic necessities and with a brighter future.
Third, our teachers who remain committed to the task of educating future generations of Filipinos despite limited resources, less-than-ideal pay, and the challenge of adjusting their teaching methods and venue to the realities of the pandemic.
Fourth, the Filipino soldier whose patriotism and bravery are displayed in the two bitter fronts of our country’s unending war: The first, against insurgency; the second, against natural disasters and calamities.
Fifth, the “rider:” The motorcycle-riding men and women who brave the uncertainties of Philippine weather, the perils of our thoroughfare and the risks posed by the Covid-19 virus just to make sure that food and other necessities are delivered to homes, especially to those where the sick and the elderly live.
To this list, we would like to add the “Filipino breadwinner” – the members of our families who are employed or who manage enterprises and whose mission is to make sure that there is food on the family dinner table.
Most of the Filipinos in the earlier list are “breadwinners.” We believe that it is the burden of providing for their families which give them a compelling reason to get up in the morning and to face the daily hardship of earning a living.
To us, breadwinners are heroes. What they do each and every day for their families are acts of selflessness and love. They do not work for “self-fulfillment.” They do not work “to attain their fullest potential.” They work so that the people they live can study, can live decently and go to bed without being haunted by pangs of hunger.
They work so that others may live. Many of them may have given up a lot of their dreams for their own future so that the people they love can fulfill theirs.
We cite, in particular, the heroism of single parents – men and women who perform the role of breadwinner without the luxury of the inspiration and moral support of a better half. They are the breadwinners who will come home after an exhausting day and will have no partner with whom to share the delights and disappointments of one more day of hard labor.
In many ways, the heroism of our modern-day breadwinners is no different from the heroism of the Filipinos of the revolutionary era and the Second World War.
They all lived by the timeless principle of “giving up one’s life so that others may live.”
This was the principle which led Dr. Jose Rizal to Bagumbayan, and Marcelo H. del Pilar to endure untold hardships in Europe just to champion the cause of Philippine Independence.
This was the principle that inspired young Filipinos of the revolutionary era and the Second World War to face the might of colonizers in a bid to win freedom for future generations: In addition to Dr. Rizal, there were Emilio Jacinto, General Gregorio del Pilar, Emilio Aguinaldo, Gregoria de Jesus, Isabelo delos Reyes and the ROTC cadets who were barely in their teens when they fought foreign invaders in the Second World War.
The heroic spirit of these young Filipino heroes came into full display again when calamities and tragedies struck our country in more recent times.
We remember the heroism of two high school students of the Christian College of the Philippines in Cabanatuan City: Robin Garcia and Florencio Agapito. We recall that when a deadly earthquake hit parts of Luzon in 1990, Robin and Florencio risked their lives to save some 50 of their classmates who were trapped in the rubble of their collapsed school-building.
In their effort to make sure that their classmates lived, Robin and Florencio died as a result of injuries they sustained from falling debris.
We remember, too, the heroism of another young Filipino: Sajid Bulig, who, at 13, gave up his life saving others who fell into the river of Bocaue in the aftermath of the Pagoda tragedy which took place in that Bulacan town in 1993.
Sajid could have lived a long, fulfilling life. Sajid chose to give up that life and opted to jump into the murky river several times to save others from drowning. He perished in his effort to save more.
Our young heroes of old and of more recent times remind us that “heroism” is not only part of our culture; it is also “instinctive.” When called to lay down his life for others, the Filipino would most likely do so. We are, after all, a heroic race.
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