Sunday Life

Yes, we can
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes
Sunday, November 9, 2008

Myths are public dreams. Dreams are private myths. — Joseph Campbell

I had written another article for this week but history intruded in the form of the fantastic win of Barack Obama.

Something new and historic has begun. A new narrative has captured the world. The US election had something gigantically and wonderfully mythical playing out. A compelling story that was impossible to ignore, it had many riveting twists and sub-plots running simultaneously.
Here are some:

This was a story of a young man, black, disadvantaged, from a lower-middle-class family, with a name and background that was, for all practical purposes, politically incorrect in a post-9/11 America. He was not your typical American-as-apple-pie candidate — not with a middle name like Hussein and a father from Kenya. Yet he dreamed beyond what his race, background, his society and its biases and prejudices allowed him to do. And he succeeded beyond measure.

It was also the story of someone, an outsider in the power circle, a virtual unknown who was unlikely to become a major player, at least not so soon. But because of his persistence, his cool demeanor, his superior intelligence, and the most flawless and effective campaign ever run in modern history, he succeeded beyond even his wildest dreams.

It was also the story of a neophyte, an upstart, a political ingénue who rallied a demoralized people whose basic character and confidence in themselves have been shaken to the core. He did so by confronting the monster. He slew the monster of indifference, pessimism and fear and did so by uniting, inspiring, tantalizing and leading them to the Promised Land by way of his rhetoric.

Lastly, it was also the story of youth and idealism rising above the old order.

Wow! It has been a while since narratives as powerful as these have played out this largely on the world stage. Stories of greed, the brazen use of power for power’s sake, lying, terrorism, fundamentalism, vulgarity and destruction have dominated our lives for sometime now. And then a mythical story like this comes along to electrify us!

This election is not just an American story. While a lot of it is about America waking up to its own goodness and better judgment, it is a story that has many meanings in many places, not just among democratic, functional and rich states but also in places like Kenya, the Philippines, the Middle East and other parts of the world.

It’s a universal story and it speaks to a lot of people. They see in Obama the embodiment of hope that everyone yearns for in their symbolically heroic and daunting struggle for a better life. They are inspired and empowered by his message of hope. “Yes, we can,” I believe, is the new mantra for people demoralized and wandering aimlessly in the desert of uncertainty and fear — which is a large sector of the world population.

In the Philippines, many people identified with the persona of Barack Obama and are wishing for a similar phenomenon to happen here. I believe that the “savior” of our country will be someone outside the club of the usual cast of characters who have been parading themselves as leaders of presidential caliber. The time is ripe for a David to enter the ring and cast his lot and challenge the Goliaths who prevent our country from emerging from the inertia of corruption, poverty and squalor. Filipinos love a good fight, and the more heroic the struggle may be, the more we can identify with it.

The last time we had a good “David and Goliath” story going was when Cory Aquino ran for election. It was a paradoxically powerful story of the weak (woman, wife of a victim, widow) overpowering the high and mighty. It was a narrative that had everyone intensely involved and it produced a story that inspired the world as well.

The ideal candidate — the one we are looking for — must have a story equally compelling to move our people out of apathy, indifference and hopelessness. We must find the candidate who can speak clearly and subliminally and on many levels, and situate himself in mythical stories that can move the electorate. He/she must communicate the dreams we have for ourselves and our people and the urgency with which we move to act in a heroic manner in order to pursue it.

“It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic, and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved,” says Erwin Edman, an American Philosopher. The mythical appeal of a leader is not something rational. I believe, in a sense, FPJ had it. People gravitated towards him because his films were about the little man who, when pushed into a corner, could fight and win. Never mind that he was not intellectually prepared for the job. He embodied a mythical story.

Because of the collective experience of our OFWs, today’s Filipinos may be more conscious of the need to find a leader who has seen how things work in more functional societies, and who is willing to take his people to a level where they can experience abundance and good governance right at home. Perhaps that could be one template among many. In a way, it is an elaboration of the story of Rizal who was educated abroad and came home to face the demons of the old order. There are many other templates, to be sure.

Will this leader materialize in time? I don’t know. All I know is that we once experienced how great we could be when we all came together in 1986. We may not repeat that story in the same way. To duplicate it is the wrong approach. Who was it that said the first time anything historical happens, it is drama, but the second time, it is farce? Thus EDSA 2 and 3 failed to move us in the right way.

It is time for this would-be leader to dig deep into his or her soul and respond to the call to animate and embody our national dream and spirit for change. Like Barack Obama, he or she could have the majority of Filipinos believing once again that, yes, we can!