MAKING EXCUSES

I was reading a magazine in the bedroom when my wife and daughter turned the TV on and asked me to watch the Miss Universe pageant. I said ” why don’t you watch downstairs at the family room ?” My wife replied ” no, I want you to watch because Miss Philippines might win this darn contest !” Okay, so we all huddled in the bed to watch Maria Venus Raj and her fellow finalists jostle their way through the last hurdle of the contest, the burdensome and exacting question and answer period. Raj was asked by actor William Baldwin a rather familiar question which some of us had been asked before, most likely in a job interview- ” What was the one big mistake that you did in your life? And what did you do to make it right?”

Raj slightly froze, evidently taken aback by such a simple sounding but loaded question. She was under extreme time pressure to draft up a spontaneous and witty reply. More importantly, she had to make a split second decision whether to tell the truth or lie without embarrassing herself in front of the millions of viewers watching the show. Her third option was to bullshit around, make people laugh and deflect the question without actually answering it but she’s no Rosie O’Donnel nor Margaret Cho. If I had tell a white lie, cook something up to get through a benign crisis such as a vainglorious beauty contest – this was it !

Possible answers :

– I shoplifted when I was a teenager ( sound familiar? 😉 )
– I had sex with someone I didn’t like ( ayayy..)
– I once wore my dad’s briefs to school ( ugh.. )
– I cheated at my final exam in high school ( and who did not ..)
– William Baldwin, you’re a real jackass for asking me this question 🙂

This was her reply : ” In my 22 years of existence there is nothing major, major problem I’ve done because I’m confident in myself and my family. Thank you for being here. Thank you, thank you very much.”

Raj’s reply was quick and spontaneous but ” inexplicable and unintelligible” according to critics from the media. Some say that with her gaffe she finally committed the big one mistake of her life 🙂 Aw common now, give the girl a frigging break will you ? She didn’t want to say she poisoned a puppy with a tablespoon of monosodium glutamate ( Ajinomoto) when she was 10 🙂 In retrospect though, William Baldwin was indeed a jackass for asking such a potentially incriminating question. In our bedroom post mortem analysis of the pageant result, my daughter asked my wife ” what about you Mommy, what was the big one mistake you commited in your life ?” My wife replied ” marrying your Dad ”

PAGEANT GAFFE AND THE HOSTAGE CRISIS

The gaffe at the Miss Universe pageant and the recent hostage taking crisis in Manila – do they have anything in common ? This journalist who lived briefly in the Philippines apparently thinks so. He compares Raj’s inability to win despite a good command of the English language – she didn’t need an interpreter – and the pathetic failure of the police to deal with the lone hostage taker as manifestations of our underperformance, the lack of commitment and pragmatism in the way we do things resulting in the subpar achievements of the of the country in the last decades. He says – “If the Philippines wants to get its act together and live up to its potential, it needs to demand more of itself. It can achieve this by stopping making excuses for its failures and ending its acceptance of the lowest common denominator

On the issue of the hostage crisis, how could someone with a reasonable amount of common sense believe that he can successfully negotiate to get his job back by holding a bunch of tourists hostage ? A police officer at that ! If I were the ombudsman I would say, OK – you’re getting your job back but only after you serve 10 years in jail for hijacking a bus, forcibly confining the passengers against their will and making death threats with an automatic weapon. Now hear this – if by some twist of fate, however farcical and prosterous this may sound, the man got his job back, alas, talk about a nasty precedent. Now anyone can commander a jeepney, or a bus, hold people hostage to get their case heard.

A blogger friend of mine posted this article in his blog.

Letter to the WORLD

15 yr old Reigno Dilao posted this letter to CNN’s IReport site after the hostage crisis:

As you are reading this letter, I bet that you have seen/heard about what happened earlier in our country.

Tourists were hostages of a policeman here, Rolando Mendoza. After a few hours of the horrible crime, some of the victims were dead including the hostage-taker. I wrote this letter not just to apologize but also to let everyone know that we Filipinos are not all like Mendoza. We are loving and good-hearted people. For so many years, our country has been standing tall and surpassing every dilemma; be it small or big. Years ago (back when I wasn’t born yet), you have watched us fight for what we think is right. We fought for the democracy of our nation.. The EDSA revolution. But that’s just one out of many.

Second. We Filipinos have been serving other countries for our families and we treat you as our own as well. With all due respect, I thank you all for giving us the trust through the years. For helping us to become what we are now.The Philippines is more than just a group of islands. We are a nation of strong and remarkable people. A country of beauty and love known to be hospitable and well-valued. I humbly apologize for what happened tonight. No one in this world would want something like that to happen for life should be valued.

I politely ask the attention of the world. Please do not judge and mistreat us just because of what happened tonight. I have been searching the net and found terrible things. Hong Kong advices to avoid travels here, China and HK bans Filipinos and that Philippines is the worst place to go. I can’t blame you for what you have decided but I hope that you could understand. Our country is now in a sea of problems. And I know for sure that we helped you in a way or another. Let peace and understanding reign this time.

I know that this letter will just be trash but I wish that you would understand. On behalf of the Philippine population.. WE ARE SORRY.

Here’s my comment on his blog :

Dunno what to say but such apology, telling the world that we are “a strong and remarkable people” is more delusional than anything given the fact that our police have no respect for life whatsoever.

There is no sense of bending over because frankly people will judge you for your actions. As one saying goes ” you can’t establish a reputation on what you plan to do “.

The only thing that can appease the victim’s families is for justice, in some shape or form, to be done after a thorough investigation. Historically though, these kinds of events will just die a natural death and very likely no one will be held responsible for the mishandling of the crisis. That’s our trademark as a people which is disgusting.