Being heroes

I understand the first world way of living now: I have a job at Ikea that pays well enough for me to survive; growth possibility that would give me a stable option to fall back on; an amount of money that when invested properly would grant me decent financial standing in a couple of years; extra time to develop my fondness for cooking that also has the potential of developing into another stable financial direction. There's definitely no denying that life can be good here. I could settle down and live out my life with relative ease provided i don't make overly stupid decisions.

And yet i remember back when i was dreaming of becoming the President so that i could do great things like develop agricultural economies through better ports and logistics systems; enhance the education system by debunking traditional learning, expand responsible media that teach as well as entertain; kill Cory Aquino and turn the Edsa Shrine into a DOTA hub managed by Eugene; focus on dignified livelihood and training. Or the other option of being able to establish businesses that would focus on the skills of the poor and become profitable enough to actually help develop whole countries not just financially but also through the corporation's hyperactive take on social responsibility providing the right education, moral rooting, nutrition and cultural pride all on the company's check. All this I dreamed possible by setting up a high-value business like proper organic farming for the benguet people and I take care of the logistics, marketing and develop the company to enter the global demand and at least pump in money back to benguet. I have other ideas: value eco-tourism, cheaper and cleaner energy through garbage-power conversion, natural and organic medical products, a controlled inter-archipelago transport system, an educational televisional program, an upgraded port to challenge Singapore and so on... lots of other ideas on how to help and make something good for the ones that need it.

It is naive to a certain extent isn't it? thinking that I could actually change the world in a huge way. I can specifically trace this back to when i saw the March 2002 cover of time magazine where Bono was featured and the cover read: "Can Bono save the world?" It triggered perhaps my most distinct and clear dream and direction that i wanted for my life. I dreamt of a time that I, along with the company I create would be featured like that. I want to save the world.

When put in that sense, it does sound juvenile. When people say "I want to help the people in need", "I want to save the world", "I want to be a hero" it brings back moments of Q&A on "little miss Philippines" and "little boy Pogi" where the generic and pleasing albeit pre-determined and fake answers like "gusto ko maging Doktor! kasi gusto ko tumulong ng tao!" were treated with cheer owing to cuteness/naivete of the pre-pubescent contestants. But now, the best we could give to people our age that say the same thing is the supportive nod, and eerie quiet that follows, or worse is the uncomfortable smile with the questionable adoration for altruism. Even worse is when somebody associates and belittles this as an unresolved and childish fascination with comic book heroes.

Heroes were given a gift and they chose to help people by using their gifts. How hard can it be for us to associate that concept to our lives?

When did we stop dreaming big? When do we actually fall into the redundant mundane existence of wake-up, work, spend time with family, sleep. When do people stop feeling the weight of the responsibility they hold for their mere existince? It certainly is controversial to judge people that say they're quite content with having a family and a decent life as lacking, empty and incomplete in their life but i guess that's what it takes. Too many people have lived out and eked a form of dignity in living this concept of a "full" life that it would be social suicide to judge it wrong and meaningless.

However it is still quite disturbing since we know that there's an option on what you can do with your life. The general sentiment is to live you life full; get a dignified job, take care of your family, make sure your kids are decent and that's it. But there are other samples to choose from albeit from printed cartoons. Heroes, people who live out their lives devoting it to filling the needs of other people, the Pederson Specials devoting and eventually sacrificing their lives to change the world, Spiderman forfeiting his simple life to answer his uncle ben's challenge of responsibility in exchange for his talents. These characters are fictional true, but it never limits the fact that their decisions aren't possible for us.

I'm not saying that it's a sin to eke out our lives as so many have done before, However, why should it stop there? Why should we limit our existence and pound out a good life when we can be something great?

Perhaps it's not as stark now for a lot of you and admittedly, i'm writing this more for myself so that if I do shut out my spiderman dreams and settle into that place where I choose the mundane self-devoted lifestyle, i can remember my naive child of a self still dreaming to be a hero. We should never forget.