#RepostEDSA: Reflections from a People Power baby

DUBAI, UAE – I woke up one morning from a strange dream – that I hopped on a taxi in Dubai, and then I was suddenly forced to board the “Bicol Express,” the old tram that runs along Paco, Manila all the way to Albay. From there I was taken off to a dingy clinic in a rural town in the Philippines to get immunity shots for an unidentified virus that deletes memory.

Feeling strange, I did not realize what it all meant until I sat down to check Facebook. As a common weekend habit for many of us living away from home, we go online to check news from “Pinas” and see what our friends and family are up to.

It turned out, that day was the anniversary of the EDSA People Power revolution.

‘Happiness truck’ 

I scrolled further and then I came across this clip on Youtube that a friend has shared on her timeline. It was a video of the “Happiness truck” moving around a small community in Marikina giving out sweet little things – roses, cola, pogo sticks, folding chairs and teddy bears. I watched how each small item put an earnest smile on those who received them.

The dream, the video, and news of the People Power anniversary suddenly got me into thinking.

I started the year caught up with the glamour and excess of Dubai – the parties, the clubs, the arena concerts, the shopping festival, their so-called Friday brunches – sparkling, extravagant, exaggerated Dubai. The high has left me setting the bar higher, wanting more and more things for my family and myself.

Seeing the happiness truck brighten a day in a quiet neighborhood in the Philippines was like a shot in the arm.

My memories from home came flooding back – of happy summers spent with friends, eating fishballs from the street, and drinking Coke from a plastic bag.

The video reminded me of simple joys back home and how Filipinos remain some of the most cheerful people you will ever meet despite all the bad news and the hardships we face on a daily basis.

If you are part of the working class majority, living in the Philippines or having a family to support in the Philippines meant being in a life-long Survivor challenge that sometimes you just feel you have earned the right to wear a shirt for it to celebrate your sacrifices.

Many of us spend countless hours being stuck in a traffic jam every day, swapping sweat and faces with the rest of the commuters just to be able to get to jobs that pay barely enough to make ends meet.

Both in the city and in rural areas, life is a daily series of hurdles.

So when a red truck pulls up in the neighborhood to hand out free stuff, we can’t help but smile. You can just imagine how good it must feel to be treated to something you did not particularly had to work hard for.

We all need a shot in the arm for a virus that is spreading quickly – erasing everything we learned, everything we stood for, everything we had been fighting for.  

Somewhere along the way, many of us who have found better lives – who were lucky enough to “get out” – forgot we have been handed a responsibility. It is a responsibility rooted in the faith that we have all been raised to believe – to love one another as much as you love yourself.

New revolution

Its easy to be detached, to be selfish, to lay blame and complain, especially when you are away from home. But we all seem to have forgotten that 29 years ago, our people bravely marched on to the streets to fight for change, to demonstrate our love for our country and most importantly to prove that we can all work together in peace.

Maybe it’s time we stop trying to choose sides, to stop thinking of the People Power revolution as a Marcos vs. Aquino thing, and to stop debating whether the ex-president should get a hero’s burial. 

Maybe it’s time we stop tearing each other down, and just do what we can to help, in whatever way, in whatever industry or situation we each find ourselves in.

Maybe the legacy of the “People Power” revolt lies in our capacity to remember and accept that we are all agents for change.

We may have limited resources, we may come from different backgrounds but our records show that there is strength in numbers.

As babies of the revolution, I realize that my peers and I are now in that stage of our lives where we are actually capable of doing something significant for our own communities.

I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to give up without trying and I believe there are others out there like me who just need a shot in the arm to remember that we, the Filipino people, were all heroes once. We made history by caring enough, by believing that our tiny voices can make a difference, and by choosing peace above all other means.

Never forget. Our time is now. – Rappler.com  

Kristine Abante in a Filipina currently based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An analog girl in a digital world, she has spent most of her career promoting what she loves the most – music.