HOTSPOT
Tonyo Cruz
I have been refusing to attend big events but the Manila Bulletin’s recent 123rd anniversary celebration was an exception. I made sure I would be able to go so I could again see and of course thank our editors and our president for the space and moral support for my role as a columnist in this newspaper.
It is now difficult for me to imagine not having a space in this newspaper, especially since October last year when I lost my mother. I cannot thank Dr. Emil Yap and my editor Pinky Concha Colmenares enough for their patience, understanding, and words and acts of kindness. In return, I pledge to stay focused on my job as columnist.
If anyone’s wondering if Manila Bulletin would survive for another 10 or 123 years, the turnout at the anniversary would be your answer. Friends of the Yap family and of the newspaper came out in full force: Political, business and society leaders, cabinet members, lawmakers, local executives, ambassadors, and representatives of brands and agencies.
Friends have kept me sane since the pandemic started and especially in the past few challenging months. They checked on me, asked me how I’m doing or feeling, listened to me and stepped up when I needed help. Without them, I would not have been able to survive the pandemic and the sudden personal loss.
My friends have their own minds, and could also speak as tough or as com-slash-passionately. I love to listen to their own stories of struggles and successes, and to their insights. We sometimes challenge one another’s beliefs. We may not always agree on everything, especially in politics, but we always find common ground, interests, or passions. These friendships reinforce my political creed that we share far more things in common than what divides us.
The importance of friendship stares at us at trying or tragic times. Many of us lost loved ones and friends — in droves in the early, deadly and pre-vaccination stages of the pandemic — and many have yet to properly mourn their passing. Perhaps it is just a matter of time before friends and families nationwide find the time and courage to honor those we sadly lost. That’s what friends do, and we as a nation of friends and families should do that.
After maybe a hundred years, when future generations would look back to our time, I think it wouldn’t make any sense if they see that many opted for perpetual hyperpartisan bickering. It won’t make any sense to them that we failed to see what’s really important and what’s infinitely more important than any political affiliation or election result. It is not too late and definitely not impossible to change this seemingly pre-ordained “destiny.”
Surely, onion and rice farmers have millions of friends and “sukis” nationwide. Jeepney drivers, minimum wage earners, “endo” workers and retirees too have friends by the tens of millions. We have countless friendships among commuters. There are many friends among students, job applicants, odd-jobbers, entrepreneurs, OFWs, academe and policy makers. How these echelons, layers, federations, alliances and overlaps of friends and friendships would be able to help make life better and get politics to work for us, be it from personal, local or national levels, could only be a matter of time.
The mindsets, ideologies, realities and algorithms in today’s era unfortunately promote, incentivize or even cash in on divisions. Labeling used to be exclusively for products alone, but have since been used for people. They make us put ourselves and others in boxes. But true friends would always find a way to think out of the box and give friends second chances or the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t think our generation and the younger set are worse than those who came before us. They faced their own challenges in their own time. Surely, there were differences as well among those who fought in the revolution and in the war. If they were able to find common ground and a common purpose, so should we as well.
Even the most basic relationships between our parents is instructive and insightful. They could be like cats and dogs, perpetually at odds and quarreling. But they always find common ground and stay under one roof. Family and friends can make sacrifices for the right and noble ends.
Friends and family gifted me this profound insight, and I hope we could use this prism as a better way to look at ourselves and our country today.