Tags: People Power and Edsa, Public Holidays and Celebration
By KC Santos
PASIG CITY, METRO MANILA – I was never fascinated with history. In fact I was lazy, always disinterested when it comes to it.
But after stumbling upon a book entitled “Waltzing with a Dictator (The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy)”, I had a sudden change of heart. This time, I decided to be a part of it.
I’m a post EDSA 1 baby, born two years late. I grew up in Cebu, still miles away from this historic highway. At least, in last Friday’s 25th anniversary celebrations, I was finally there.
The celebration was marked with one color and one color alone.
Yellow souvenir items, banners, ribbons were all over the place. In fact everything was too yellow it became the new black, as they would say.
I saw kids, with their innocent grins, proudly raising the iconic Laban sign, making me wonder if they really know what it means.
Vendors, meanwhile, are having the time of their lives selling silk-screened shirts, umbrellas and other EDSA souvenir items.
Despite the scorching heat, the EDSA Shrine was packed with hundreds, maybe even thousands of spectators. The song Magkaisa by singer Verna Lisa was played in a seemingly endless loop.
It was the closest I could get to experiencing what happened 25 years ago.
Thanks to digital cameras, everyone had their photos taken in almost every corner of the historical shrine. Like me, I thought these people wanted to be involved in something significant.
After a multitude of activities, the pace of events became slower as it drew to an end. Street cleaners started clearing the streets with the piles of trash people left behind, Our Lady of EDSA once again stood tall and looked down on an empty street.
Despite everything that had happened during the day, I myself felt empty.
The feeling I got from reading books that described in detail what happened on the day of the People Power Revolution was better compared to what I felt after that day, left with nothing significant to remember but an elusive experience.
I now hate myself for my previous lack of interest in history. I realized it doesn’t just serve as an account of previous events, good and bad, it makes us relive the past and bask in a feeling that another event might not be able to give you.
History is an opportunity to be part of something and in my interest in looking back at it, I also become a part of it. I didn’t have to be born in 1986.
Related stories:
‘Old-timers’ share memories of People Power
Bicol native sells embroidered EDSA souvenirs
EDSA I exhibit shows Aquino’s rise to presidency
EDSA Shrine lasts through the decades
How well do Filipinos remember EDSA?
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