What it means to be Filipino today is all about Cory. It will probably be that way for at least two more days, when we all make - in our own ways and wherever we are - our final farewells.
We were at Ayala today, one of the stops along her trip from La Salle to the Manila Cathedral. Even in death, it seems that she found a way to offer, as her final gift to us, a poignant reminder of how we once tasted - and therefore have the innate capacity to achieve - our greatness as a nation.
It was also nice to re-live, even for just a bit, the crowds, confetti, emotions, passion, and fun-of-just-being-there feeling that characterized our collective experiences in the early to mid 1980s.
There are differences between then and this one, of course. For one, in the 1980s, we went out in these numbers onto the streets in anger and rebellion. This time - for Cory - we went out to honor her life and collectively find meaning in her passing.
And in the 1980s, we raised our fists in protest. This time - we raised our arms, cellphones (we didn't have those back then) and cameras in hand, and hopefully captured this all-too-fleeting moment to help us remember and celebrate what we once were, and could be again.
Maraming salamat, Cory!
What it means to be Filipino today is all about Cory. It will probably be that way for at least two more days, when we all make - in our own ways and wherever we are - our final farewells.
We were at Ayala today, one of the stops along her trip from La Salle to the Manila Cathedral. Even in death, it seems that she found a way to offer, as her final gift to us, a poignant reminder of how we once tasted - and therefore have the innate capacity to achieve - our greatness as a nation.
It was also nice to re-live, even for just a bit, the crowds, confetti, emotions, passion, and fun-of-just-being-there feeling that characterized our collective experiences in the early to mid 1980s.
There are differences between then and this one, of course. For one, in the 1980s, we went out in these numbers onto the streets in anger and rebellion. This time - for Cory - we went out to honor her life and collectively find meaning in her passing.
And in the 1980s, we raised our fists in protest. This time - we raised our arms, cellphones (we didn't have those back then) and cameras in hand, and hopefully captured this all-too-fleeting moment to help us remember and celebrate what we once were, and could be again.
Maraming salamat, Cory!
No comments:
Post a Comment