Accents
Once more, with feeling
I glance once more to 2007, prying into my mountain of verbiage (did I hear you say, "Garbage"?), feeling the vim and vigor of the past year in our pursuit of the true, the good, and the beautiful—the feeling to get even more intense in the unfolding 2008. And yes, to be even more caring to "comfort the afflicted." And of course, to be mightily potent and assiduous to "afflict the comfortable" whenever the latter do the afflicting on us, their fellow travelers on Planet Earth.
Last year, on the 5th anniversary of the death of Gina, I criticized the insensitivity and hypocritical stance of the Church for denying blessings to one gentle, kind, lovelorn soul just because she committed suicide. Unforgiving is not my idea of the Church, but what it did, rather, failed to do for Gina made me hypercritical: The Church that opens its doors to criminals ad nauseam, to adulterers and concubines, to murderers and drug addicts, to hypocrites and politicians of all shades, the same Church had closed its doors to one simple-minded girl who, to paraphrase Shakespeare, had loved too well and perhaps not too wisely.
2007 also marked another death anniversary, the 10th year of Princess Diana's untimely demise by car accident. We spent a night at Marriott's in adjacent North Carolina to listen once again to Elton John's heart-breaking rendition of Candle in the Wind which we first heard him sing in the televised funeral of Princess Diana. The lines continued to haunt "…And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind/never fading with the sunset…" The English and people from other countries whose lives she had touched continue to cherish the memory of England's Rose, then her eponym.
Song after song, Elton John regaled us with moments on wings of songs. But what I really wanted to hear was Skyline Pigeon which he did not sing that night. Skyline Pigeon became very popular in 1973 when idealists (count the hubby in) languished in the Marcos stockade as they (Major Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, Col. Ariel Querubin, et al.) languish now under the present dispensation. Utterly far-fetched to bring this in? But music does that. Takes you down the long, long memory lane and keeps you humming the lines: For just a skyline pigeon/Dreaming of the open/Waiting for the day he can spread his wings/And fly away again/Fly away skyline pigeon fly/Towards the dreams you've left so very far behind.
I cited statistics in my column of Dec. 10, 2007, Universal Human Rights Day: Human rights groups have counted close to 900 victims of extra-judicial killings since 2001 under the present regime. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines says that in the same period, 54 journalists have been murdered, the highest toll under any administration. Again, these lines from the PREAMBLE of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to give us pause to see where the Arroyo government has failed the people: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world/ Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people/Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, human rights should be protected by the rule of law…"
The last quarter of 2007 saw the Pinoy anchored here in the U.S. of A. and in other nooks and crannies of the world denounce ABC. Through the worldwide web, a torrent of unprintables rained over the network's "Desperate Housewives" sit-com for its brazen denigration of physicians with diplomas from "some med schools in the Philippines." In my own column condemning the sweeping generalization, I exercised verbal restraint if only to show to the lowlife that I exist on a higher plane. Too late to be included in that column was my daughter Randy's award as Physician of the Year by the Hilton Head Regional HEALTHCARE. After its Christmas Party of more than 2,000 attendees, the HEALTHCARE published this citation in the Bluffton Today, Dec. 17, 2007 issue: "Dr. Randy [Lagoc] Dingus – our Physician of the Year: A hospitalist, typically sees 20 to 30 patients on her daily rounds, yet seems to know each patient's case in depth. Her colleagues and nurses say she's amazingly compassionate – ‘a constant, always reliable.' Totally respectful, she handles stressful situations with immense calmness and expertise." The accolade certainly tore to pieces the racist slur of the "Desperate Housewives" episode.
Full steam ahead now as we take up the cudgels against slurs that 2008 may bring, whether these are directed to us Filipinos or to any other ethnic group. Resolve to battle head on all forms of injustice via the printed word—to write as we do—strengthened by faith, and always with a chunk of heart and a prayer for a kinder, gentler world. (Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)