On Maria's Hysteria

IF Maria Theresa Pangilinan feels she’s done the youth a huge favor, she’s wrong.

There was nothing commendable in what she has done in that fateful graduation day which was held at Cavite State University in Indang.

Miss Pangilinan’s commencement hysterics is nothing but a show of utter disrespect to the President of the Philippines. She may think Mrs. Arroyo is a crook, but nonetheless, she is a person that deserves some respect.

OK, she has the right to opinion.

But sadly, this right has become more and more dangerous nowadays. Anybody can go out in the streets cursing a poor soul without mercy, but still, other people will love him/her for it. Only in the Philippines you get to see such a shameful act being lauded as an act of bravery, sometimes of nationalism.

But no matter what you say, the right to expression should not undermine the basic right of all to be respected whether he or she is an ordinary person, a convicted criminal, a homosexual, much more, a President of the Republic.

Miss Pangilinan can be likened to a schoolgirl who is testing her teacher’s patience to make up for her lack of understanding the subject.

May the President forgive her for she did not know what she said.

I’m sure the President will.

But I’m more in favor of giving her a little pinch in the nose.

Pangilinan may not be aware of it, but in her reckless pursuit of attention, she has affected several other people. It wasn’t only the President whom she put in an embarrassing position.

First and foremost, she has embarrassed her own school. She has placed her professors, and her entire university in a bad light. How this institution treats issues, particularly, political matters are now in question. Do they inculcate left wing and right wing ideals? I doubt if they do but you cannot control other people’s thinking.

Second, she has embarrassed herself. What she did is unbecoming of an educated person. She might think she’s smart but sadly, her adventurism has once again highlighted the kind of opposition we have in the country: desperate, hopeless and pathetic!

But what I find more embarrassing is the fact that Pangilinan ruined the solemnity of the graduation rites. If I were her batch mate seating next to her, I would’ve slapped her in the face. The event is supposed to be a peaceful one and the graduates should be following protocols. With the heckling incident, she just turned the ritual into a circus!

And if I may ask, what gave her the right to use the ceremony to stage her personal displeasure over the President and Cha-Cha? What she did was out of sheer selfishness.

Well, you have gotten what you wanted now, Maria. You’re on national television and all over the papers.

Happy?

I'm sure alot of companies will be itching to hire you. Wanna anchor your own show?

OK, so lets focus on the message rather than shoot speaker. This time I’m going to make it short.

Oust Gloria?

This is not the solution to our social and political problems. The most basic solution is for all of us, not only the administration or the opposition, to abandon greed, desire for power, shortcutting and bigotry.

There’s no such thing as a perfect administration. The GMA regime is not perfect. But the opposition is equally blemished. But there is still hope. We could always pray to God to enlighten our officials of the true meaning of nationalism.

That is sacrificing their personal convictions and reservations for the welfare of the majority.

Pray that the men and women within the government, NGO’s and the different socio-civic organizations to learn to meet halfway.

This is the true yearning of the youth.