|
COTANGENT
By Daphne Cardillo
People that matter
For as long as I can remember, I am
extremely fascinated with personalities, especially great leaders in
politics, religion, the arts, and even those anti-social characters that
cunningly get around the law.
It is simple fascination with what a man
can become given his societal and environmental limits, and plain
admiration for sheer talent, intelligence, will, and determination to
rise above the ordinary and commonplace.
It is simple fascination when a man shapes
society rather than be shaped by it.
No wonder I am more inclined to read
biographies and histories of people from different lands.
I also like reading Reader’s Digest as
early as grade school where each copy tells us true stories of people
who rise against different odds and adversities, where the spirit of man
can be clearly shown as one person surpasses his present situation and
predicament, giving us hope that nothing is impossible and that we can
conquer the unknown.
It is not only the great law abiders that
fascinate me but also the great law breakers who appear to show more
cunning and genius.
Early in high school when I was reading
Confucian writings like a bible and considered Confucius a great human
being, I was also fascinated with Patricia Hearst and the leading
members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Late in high school though, I got hooked
with the American anthropologist Margaret Mead and the great religious
leaders of the world like Tagore and Buddha.
But the fascination for royalties and
revolutionaries will always remain.
I got exposed to European royalties at an
early age as they were depicted in big colored pictures in Life
magazines we had in our home.
I used to browse their photos even before I
could read, marveling at their magnificent attires, dignified bearing,
their sleek cars and royal houses.
The revolutionaries I was first exposed on
television, on watching Western movies with American-Indian freedom
fighters.
By the time I reached college, I started
reading on Mao Tse-tung, his life and writings, and the great social and
political thinkers in the 19th and 20th century.
I was not familiar with Che Guevara then
but he was my brother’s idol, along with his fascination with the secret
services, from the KGB to Mossad.
But my most interesting revolutionary and
socialist leader is still Josip Broz-Tito of
Yugoslavia.
In our Philippine setting, we have
personalities, past and present, who influenced the course of our
nation’s history.
Marcos, the great operator, reorganized
Philippine society, then Cory, the greatest Filipina in our time,
restored it.
And we have our great revolutionaries like
Andres Bonifacio, Macario Sakay, and Vicente Lukban.
But my most interesting Pinoy is still Erap,
for he makes me laugh and smile, and he is man enough to face the
charges brought against him and accept the consequences.
Yet we have in our midst now the unfolding
of a new leader in the person of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
Having lived in the shadow of his
illustrious parents, Noynoy appeared to have stayed in the background
all these years, probably internalizing the characters of both Ninoy and
Cory.
And it was Cory’s death that allowed him to
spread his wings as he was partly freed from that shadow.
Listening to him speak at his first press
conference after his proclamation as president-elect by Congress, Noynoy
was quite a revelation.
He is pragmatic but firm with his
principles, and he’s turning out to be a quick thinker like Ninoy yet
uncompromising like Cory.
I like the way he answers questions; direct
and down-to-earth, clear and not delusive.
And like the transformation of Cory into a
great leader and personality, we shall be seeing the transformation of
Noynoy into a promising one in the years to come.
June 17, 2010
|
