In the organizing world, we don't often go for tokenism of our leaders. We like that grassroots change, but iunno. Today, tokenism was looking pretty dang good to me. Mad heads Stateside were hatin cuz I was gonna be in Manila while Manny Pacquiao was fighting Margarito in Texas. They thought the riding was gonna be wild over here -parties and screaming in the streets.
On the contrary, my friends, Manila during a Pacquiao fight is straight dead. It's truly amazing. As my family and I drove over to Tita Didi's house for lunch, I was surprised by how fast our drive was. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes to drive a mile or less in Manila with the way traffic is, but nope, not today. It took us maybe 5 minutes to get over there and that is seriously unheard of considering the distance they live from us.
As we had lunch, some of the household help at Tita Didi's were listening to the fight on the radio. My uncles jumped in and out of the kitchen to check on the score. At the table, my Tito Michael and Tita Trinket confirmed for us Americans how much power a Pacquiao fight has in the city. They said that by this afternoon the dvd of the fight would already be at Mercury Drug Store being sold and that during Pacquiao fights Manila is safe and orderly. Folks are all inside, glued to the tv, watching the fight. "There are no robberies. There is no traffic."
You think I'm playing, but the streets were CLEAR and QUIET and that is NOT the way around here. If you walk down the main streets of Manila, town be bumpin hard on the regular -kids playing in the streets, excessive amounts of street vendors selling the same crap, cars, cars, cars, and more cars, jeepneys, and tricycles clogging your lungs with exhaust.
What the power of one celebrity can do... Is this world for real? smh. It was too much, I tell you. The power of one national hero can change the daily culture of a whole city. Imagine if our governments, communities, and citizens had that kind of power in the world. It would bring us to our knees with tears of gratitude.
I guess for now we just gonna have to wait for the next fight...
1 comment:
ah yes the power of celebrity- hoping that this power is used for G-O-O-D. problem in the philippines is that, well, who am i kidding, it happens in the US too! trick is to inform every voter to vote intelligently, and not just from good advertising and reality tv abilities...biba, it's good that you are observing like a pro. opening your vision to "peripheral" mode is always good. keep up the good posts. tita g
Post a Comment