It’s a nice graphic if I may say so myself. However, I’m not at all impressed with the message it imparts. My apologies to Mark Gosingtian, the artist responsible for this artwork.

I’m certain Mark got his inspiration for this artwork from the outpouring of assistance for the victims of the recent floods. I can’t blame him. It really is quite a sight seeing people working together to help those in need. The effect is amplified even more when the scenes are rendered in slow motion and set to dramatic music. Such is the power of video editing.

Well, as I said earlier, I am not at all impressed with the message.

Where I’m From Everyone’s A Hero

(Mark I’m really sorry. In case you read this I just want you to know that I don’t mean to offend you especially since I got word that you may actually be doing this for charity.)

My main problem with Mark’s slogan is that it is one big exaggeration and a flat out lie. My other problem is that because it was rendered in such a fashionable manner it will certainly attract a bit of a following. Remember those ubiquitous Ako Mismo dogtags?

I know the message is meant to be inspirational and I sincerely hope it does inspire Filipinos to come out with real initiatives aimed at getting our country moving towards real progress. But that’s the problem. Slogans like these don’t really do that sort of thing. They always fail to produce meaningful results. Worse they even contribute to the dumbing down of this country by reinforcing the wrong notion that everything is alright. Unfortunately, where such an attitude or belief is the prevalent one you can be sure real progress is almost non-existent.

To be blunt about it. We are not a nation of heroes. We are just a nation of ordinary people currently facing extraordinary challenges. How we turn out afterwards is of course yet to be seen. I am betting though that even we apply Rhonda Bryne’s visualization technique to this hero thing there is no way we will become a nation of heroes.

Instead of aspiring for hero status why don’t we just aspire for something a little more down to earth. How about we aspire to be a nation of rational thinking people? And, if having a slogan is a must then I would suggest something less “fashionable” but truly meaningful. I propose this one from the netizen known only as Benign0:

Get Real Philippines!

It’s pretty simple, isn’t it? It may not be as sexy as “Where I’m From Everyone’s A Hero” but it certainly does more than just create an artificial feeling of patriotism. For one it tells you to do something. Now, the great thing about it is that if you feel you’re really up to it there’s already a place where you can go to get ideas. I’ll provide the link in a bit but before that I want to warn you the content in the site you’re going to see will challenge your beliefs and make you think really hard.

So, are you ready to exercise your brain and get real or would you rather just wear the national colors on your shirt and feel all hero-like? Well, if you’re the former then proceed here. And, if you really want to get into the nitty gritty of being real for the Philippines go here.