Hero?

In the past week after the Pacquiao/Morales boxing match, everyone has been buzzing about their beloved "Pacman." Everyone, as in, all Pilipinos including my very dear Joe.

The main reason for my non-bandwagon jumping ass is that I'm highly disturbed that the Philippines and Pilipinos around the world, have found a new persona to place their "heroic" labels on, yet again. I can see it now. When Pacquiao retires from boxing, one of his "homies" is going to talk him into running for office and there you have it...the tradition of non-qualified elected officials and the Philippines being at the bottom of the international economy continues. I'm SO looking forward to it!

Ok, maybe I'm making too many assumptions. Who's to say that he'll decline pleas of running for office? Who's to say the he won't genuinely become more politically active and informed? So maybe he will be a great leader some day but that day has yet to come!

The bottom line is that Pilipinos have a history of placing "famous" people on pedastals as if they know all, see all, hear all, comman all. In general, expectations are set for falsely idolized individuals as high as God sometimes! And when things go awry, the blame gets placed on those individuals who were elected or put in charge. Shouldn't the blame go to the people who elected the person to office? (This, in particular, applies to all the Bush mo-fus, too.) The good leaders or at least the ones with a little more ethics are the ones who decline to be in such a position of power because they personally feel that they are unqualified for the duties. The ones who have helped to keep in the Philippines in disarray as well as maintain its wonderful status of "developing country" are most likely those who are in power and will most likely stay in power for the rest of the country's natural being.

Is there hope? If so, what kind of hope may that be? Can the country be "saved"? I'd like to remain optimistic. But just like my uncle who tills the talon and struggles to send my cousins to school, one at a time, it's difficult to keep hope if you get pushed down so often.