BREAKING STEREOTYPES
By: Iris P. Concepcion
Staccato is a very disciplined musical form, the arrangement of which not all individuals could master. It is not for your average musician.
A few people may discern its split second beats. Everyone may claim to have complete mastery of it but only the wisened can incorporate it into real, compelling songs.
I am opening this entry with a musical reference to weave a tale on our perceptions of the past which may no longer hold true as I am inking this pen on my scratch sheet of paper.
A link on Philippine T.V. 5's Interaksyon, a portal for Philippine news, has definitely relaxed the rules on newspaper writing in my archipelago, the pearl of the Orient, home of both Jose Rizal and adobo. It has welcomed these new forms of information perception.
Akin to the abovementioned musical arrangement, I had read a column by Teodoro Locsin, Jr. today via this news link. Mr. Locsin is an eminent worshipper of the divine dictionary and punnery who had been photographed before to have flashed his middle finger unto the faces of those who had virtually made it a cottage industry to irritate the sanctified institution of the Presidency. The writer had dropped his rock star reply to hecklers and had linked it with fellow writers. He had likewise lent his columns to the marginalized, voiceless sectors of the writing universe along with Conrad de Quiros. Post-modernism has come out alive, in daring lithographs, debunking myths and yarns long held sacred.
Here is the link: http://interaksyon.com/article/14263/teodoro-l-locsin-jr-thank-you-harry-and-cancel-their-us-visas
By virtue of this insurmountable decree from the Higher Beings, our view of the oppressed and maligned in other countries may just prove to be false. In fact, hypothetically speaking, I may be portrayed as a nomad with drug problems who had been begging bread on the sidewalks. No one was telling the story of how I had made children appreciate the good swing rides at the Children's Playground at the Rizal Park. I wonder what other rumors may be spread to cast aspersion on people who had wanted to taste the rosier and more comfortable side of the world. Those who want you tied up to a water pump for life is not a good voyager.
To cite an example. The best speaking English conversationalist that I had met here is a Muslim woman who is also conversant with modern "tudong" and the like. She is friendly with her white friends. The most amiable and polite people are the Orientals whom I have met at the Church Assembly Hall. The Caucasians whom I had met on my travels prefer to know Nepalese culture and are quite far from the sex vultures usually portrayed about them in the media. The best American burgers that I had tasted here did not make me thin nor obese. They made my arms plump.
Where are the writers who can thread properly their tales, the food's nutrient forms, the humanity beneath the face of wars, the triumph of common decency? Nobody is writing about their advocacy. They teach, they spread their word, they make people functional, literate beings.
Far from the sex fiends often peddled for rumor mill excitement that may have been repeated often through walls, no one dares to take the pen and write about their heartfelt purpose to save cultures from bigotry and hatred. I had often wondered before why I had amassed quite a number of bibliography of English literature and why I had developed quite a deep love for the vocabulary. These people had actually placed them there for me to browse. They are not after my ass.
It is only today that I had learned why Mr. Locsin was a raging bull before, protecting then President Corazon Aquino from sycophants. A lot of people had retreated but not him. My other fathers had disliked laziness and booze while at work and I only understood the essence of this discipline today.
These people always step-up, clean up the mess, bite the bullet, bong the gongs to understand the real cries of the natives from orchestrated threats, prejudice and disorder.
Respect for authority is a code only for the brave men.