Thursday, August 6, 2009

four poor but enduring blokes

i could talk about kris and her speech that included yet another self-proclamation of her favored child status in the aquino family.

i could talk about the wonder and awe i felt looking at thousands upon thousands all over the country who gave in to the obviously strong urges they were feeling inside to do something, anything, to show their gratitude to a former president.

i could talk about the nausea i felt when i saw jamby madrigal at the cemetery, yellow flower in hand.


i could talk about how vindicated she must feel, IF cory were a vindictive person, which i doubt, about the humongous outpouring of grief and gratitude from millions, having suffered through those coup attempts and frequent mudslingings.

but i want to talk about the four men instead. the four men who escorted cory's remains from the church to the cemetery. this seemingly inconsequential thing kept nudging itself into my busy brain yesterday as i, along with seven hundred million Filipinos all over the world, virtually walked beside the truck through rain and a sea of people. but at least we walked. and to my mind, at least we could scratch if something itched. and we could carefully sip on the water we imaginably remembered to bring along.


those four could not only not do those things, they could not even move at all! for eight hours! there they faced the casket, standing at stiff attention, on a platform that surged forward, stopped. surged forward, stopped. again and again everlastingly.


i wondered if confetti landed on their lips. but it probably wouldn't stick, their lips were probably too dry from dehydration. i wondered if they felt the urge to take a leak. that must have hurt, holding it in. for eight hours. and on top of the confetti, people hurled flowers, not at them, admittedly, but at the casket, but surely a few must have missed the intended target and hit them instead? and its not as if there was not enough flowers already. they were standing on a virtual flower garden. What if they were asthmatic? and there was that part of the journey where the local fire department felt the need to send cory off with a literal shower of water from at least six hoses. so flowers, confetti, a moving truck, people shouting, strongs winds, and a drenching to boot.

























the
military is so happy with those poor dudes, they're thinking of giving them medals or something. to my mind, the military and the police (because one of the four was contributed by the pnp) should be happy and proud of everything they did for cory yesterday. the best. as for me, i am saluting the four blokes now. a lousy salute, but a heartfelt one. thanks.

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