I CRIED at the opening of the 2020 (or 2021, if you want to call it that) Tokyo Olympics.
I very much liked the lighting of the cauldron, the robotics involved, and, of course, the fireworks.
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The opening ceremony dance number was awesome.
Movements, costume, lighting, use of space.
The drama, the technology.
It’s so modern, contemporary.
But unlike TikTok.
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While watching the dance number, I was thinking: This is dance.
Damn be the TikTok moves!
I’m not against dancing on TikTok; I’m against mediocrity.
People wiggle their butts, grind their crotches, and call that dance?
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I’m glad that Tokyo is pushing the Olympics, even if it is a year later.
I mean, we all can understand the Covid-19 pandemic.
And my gladness is all about tradition, all about history.
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I’m happy that we are still able to show the new generation that traditions do not die that easily just because they want to create new traditions.
And alternate realities.
Even alternate histories.
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I do not hate new things.
I do not hate the newer generations.
I just don’t have the energy to hate things.
If the world do not get any better, I’ll be okay.
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If mediocrity is the new normal, guess who wins?
I am way ahead of these new thinkers who believe that they can rule the world, and pronounce my generation as obsolete.
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How can I be jealous of TikTokers when I know for a fact that I am a good, and probably better dancer?
I was Dancer of the Year during my elementary graduation, and also during my high school graduation.
At the university, my dance moves were a stuff of legend.
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So maybe, I cannot do these silly dance moves on TikTok now.
(Not that I tried.)
But these moves aren’t dance for me.
If your greatest asset in 60 seconds are your boobs or your bulge bouncing to the rhythm, good luck to you.
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Last week, my Facebook newsfeed was flooded with high school students flexing their “with honors” and “with highest honors” certificates for finishing Grades 10, 11, and 12.
Seriously?
How do we burst this bubble? These bubbles of self-worship.
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People hate me for being 52, rich, famous, and egotistical.
But at least, I got money.
I have name recall.
And I can afford to feed my vanity.
How do we help these youngsters?
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For those of you who have been following my career, you know that I am all for empowerment.
For the betterment of the individual.
For people achieving their highest potential.
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But I’m also a provocateur.
I like challenging ideas; and often, in a sarcastic way.
Especially if I find the ideas stupid, and not in anyway that moves towards the people’s highest potential.
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For what good is it that we encourage people if such encouragement leads them to complacency?
What good is giving “with honors” to 95% of the graduating class?
And then, on the following year, they are to compete with all the “with honors” of the world?
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What is one’s “with honors” worth, if in real life, while looking for a job, they are to compete with others who also have the “with honors” badge?
What is “with honors” if that makes them feel that they are too above picking up garbage?
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I cannot be jealous of the new generations’ “with honors”.
I was always the class valedictorian in my time.
At UPV, I was the Most Outstanding Graduate of 1990.
For the UP System that year, I was also one of the three Outstanding Students.
So, please…
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I am not inserting myself to the new honors system of DepEd.
Just trying to give a perspective at how our DepEd ideas destroy our education, and promote mediocrity.
When the world surveys show we are poor in Maths and Reading Comprehension, how do you correlate that with 98% of our graduates this year 2021 having “with honors” and “with highest honors”?/PN
