WHEN do people become heroes? Definitely the word “hero” is used far too freely nowadays. All sorts of people, including athletes, celebrities and politicians are called heroes when, at times, they shouldn’t be. There have been many so-called heroes who have faltered in real life, even while they were hailed and adored publicly. Too often, we also put our heroes on a pedestal, and then wait for them to self-destruct and fall.
But there are also many actual heroes who go unnoticed—ordinary people who are determined to help others in extraordinary ways without wanting recognition or reward.
The doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel and healthcare workers who are on the frontlines in this war against COVID-19, those who are working around the clock, dealing with one patient after another, have certainly earned the title of heroes.
They perform a vital function and have been saving lives at their own peril, and more than Xi Jinping and China and Bong Go, they are the ones who certainly deserve the nation’s praise and appreciation.
So we thank you doctors, nurses, medical and healthcare people who are helping us survive this crisis. Thank you for saving lives and providing not only medical relief but also some measure of happiness, hope and inspiration to a people hungry for all these. More than any local politician’s speech or national address, you are the ones lifting the spirit of our nation.
Their spirits should also be lifted and indeed there are many social media posts asking Filipinos to show their support, encouragement and prayers for these brave and dedicated medical professionals.
Taking a page from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s last public statement on the COVID-19 outbreak, we also wish to thank not just our health workers but the others providing vital basic services to our nation, the others on the frontlines—our civil servants, military and police, public utility drivers, delivery and cleaning personnel, the farmers and fishermen and other people involved in our food production and delivery.
Thank you as well to our Overseas Filipino workers. The OFWs working as maids in Hong Kong, the construction workers in the Middle East and all the other OFWs have one more reason to hold their heads up high. If heroism is doing something outstanding to benefit one’s country, then this alone makes all OFWs heroes, the best ambassadors our country sends abroad.
A lot of our workers abroad are treated like second-class citizens. Yet they continue to work for their families despite these perilous times. Whether this administration cares to admit it or not, the billions of pesos worth of liquidity injected into the economy from their foreign-currency earnings will be one of the main pillars of our country’s economic stability during this critical time.
These people we are thanking truly give Filipinos a sense of national identity. They make us proud to be Filipino. Their quietly heroic efforts and their struggles on the frontlines in the war against COVID-19 somewhat raises our communal self-esteem as a people and also raises the self-esteem of every Filipino.
It is the kind of everyday heroism Filipinos can identify with. It is the kind of heroism that is very Filipino, as it reflects Filipino values; it shows courage and determination and our utmost faith of leaving everything up to God when surrounded by enormous odds.
These everyday heroes and what they do help us cope and come together as a nation and a people. We feel a little bit better about ourselves. We feel we are worth even just a little bit more at a time when many deaths are just becoming nameless statistics.
Our gratitude toward them should spur us to do our own small acts of kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity, to show empathy, practice calmness and restraint, especially at this time when life is quite fragile and uncertain.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano
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