Shrinkage

Our Heroes and Science Reflection

There exists this stereotype of the 'nerd', the 'dorky nerd'. They're not even 'geeks' who are now crossing the line of coolness. There are people labelled as nerds and much maligned for being such. What is the image that comes up in your head when you hear 'nerd'? They're academics, they're obsessive with knowledge, they don't have the greatest attachment to hygiene, they're the antithesis of physical achievement, they aren't very attractive. But when you think about it, some of our National Heroes were, well, nerds.

Now whether you're fiercely nationalistic or very blasé towards the whole Pinoy, World Class ideology, these people are very impressive. A case in point during the lecture was Antonio Luna. Post-doc, brilliant military strategist, and enviable moustache. Even if you hate Jose Rizal, he was,well, better than you and used his potential. You have to respect that.

And what I'm seeing here is a fusion. A fusion that has long existed but we've only recently discovered. Being smart and having potential doesn't relegate you to the armchair, or the cubicle, or whatever. These are people who were much smarter than us, who would've been praised for just being great, ground-breaking thinkers. But—maybe a hallmark of really brilliant people—they weren't satisfied with that. They were living in the dangerous times, much harsher than anything (hopefully) we'll ever encounter. They were in a point in time where a lot of things were happening and they willed themselves to take part in that and put the morass to our advantage.

These were people of action who also had some of the best brains these islands have ever seen. And then think of how in a lot of these anecdotes, things weren't served to them in the proverbial silver platter. They had to fight for their own piece, and they also fought for our country's piece. Now go back to the present and realise that however sad we see our country, it's a much much better place than it used to be. There are boundless avenues to improve that are open for your input. Our society has improved in that—again, however poorly it compares, it's still better than how it was—there is a larger investment in the youth and education. Everything is right there, ripe for taking.

But seemingly as the internet has made research so much easier, and opened our minds to foreign inspiration, and effectively made the world smaller. It does seem that our ambitions have also shrunk unrecognisably, but hopefully not irrevocably.