Eyes Wide Shut II

We're a nation of people who love to hop on and climb up. It's just the way it has always been. I guess no one cares for us, so we find reasons to make ourselves feel an integral part of the society. Last time I was saying we have the most scrutinizing eyes but in some cases, we are completely blind. This is that some case.

A few years ago, no one knew who Charice Pempengco was. Last year, we were all wondering where Efren Penaflorida came from. There are a lot of Filipinos lurking around that we ourselves fail to give recognition to. Now that Charice, as she is called in the international stage, is now a huge star in the hollywood scene, we somehow gave ourselves the right to get up on her when she underwent Botox procedure. The critics will always be there. But where were they when before Charice Pempengco became Charice? None of us discovered her. It took people outside of this country to recognize brilliance on our own damn soil. That is pretty pathetic when you read that statement. It gets sadder when you read it again and again. If I were Charice I'd pretty pissed right now, and given the chance I would run and turn my back on the country who never gave a shit about my talent until now. Now we understand the magnitude of Charice's fame is, we treat her like she is our own daughter and sister. We all want a piece of her now like crabs in a bucket.

In 2009, Efren Penaflorida popped out of nowhere. We didn't know his project even existed. But the thing with us crabs, I mean Filipinos, we felt so delighted that it's CNN much like Charice's stint in Oprah. It's the big stage. Even then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo didn't know who he was. One of her advisors probably just mentioned him, and then she ultimately decided to get a ceremony all rolled out for him at the Malacanang. I hope Efren made noise prior to 2009. Maybe he was making one on the streets, only quietly. This way all the success he made as CNN's Hero of the Year would have been sweeter as we have witnessed his journey as a man dedicated to help others.

I think the media is focused on all the wrong news. Imagine how many news programs there are each day, every day, yet no one was ever to report about Efren. They write about all the usual stereotypical stuff. I am not from the media so I wouldn't know, but if they were doing more than the routine then they must have heard something. I don't know. All I know is there is one thing we need not to report about and that's how we have a good pair of legs to jump on bandwagons and climb up people's backs.