Teary-eyed Over the Olympics

Last Friday, August 8, 2008, 8PM, many Filipinos have gone to Sharon Cuneta’s grand concert hailing it as “Sharon Mega 30″ but for Decode Society and the rest of their friends, allies, geeks and geekozoids (a small group of people), it was a time of anticipation and gathering of what is to be a pivotal event in modern history. No, we are not conquering the world, as much as we want to as geeks. We just gathered in one small library in Quezon City, and set up a 7 feet high and 17 feet wide projector screen, and we tuned in to Solar Sports (that is, with no commercial breaks) and watched in awe what the rest of the world (except the Philippines) is watching.

We watched the Opening of Beijing Olympics 2008, with millions tuning in from all over Asia and the world.

But prior to that were several dances presented in the Bird’s Nest Stadium itself, a humongous-gigantic lump of metal beautifully curved into what is fondly called by the Chinese as the “nest.” Located in Beijing, the stadium and the rest of the city was like one big stage full of fireworks! The dances themselves, we were told by a kinetic geek with us that evening, represented each ethnic group in China, and each dynasty in their course of being an empire. These dances, we were told, influenced most of the dances of Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. It was China’s showcase of the best of the best of their culture.

Then, the countdown… as thousands of drummers light up the ground stadium that form numbers 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… and then ZOOM! So many fireworks! And I haven’t seen so many fireworks in my entire life! It was China, and with that, the whole of Asia! I was so teary eyed the moment a little girl sang the anthem of China, as children with costumes from different ethnic groups of the country carry a gigantic Chinese flag. If I were Chinese, I would have wept for love and pride of my country. Newsweek commented that China has a “National Day of Humiliation” remembering the Opium Wars, the atrocities committed to them by other nations. That humiliation is now over. Oh how different it was in the Olympics now!

A gigantic scroll that lit up by who knows what, unfolded on the stadium… and I was thinking, what material did they use? It must have stretched for several meters… The scroll! OF COURSE! They invented paper! A scribe appears, drawing in the gigantic scroll a calligraphic drawing of the Chinese landscape. Then the 3000 men with feathers on their heads appeared. OF COURSE! 3000 disciples of Confucius, were responsible for China’s philosophy of the “Mandate of Heaven.” Then the moving print! They invented that even before Gutenberg! And who would have thought that they were moved by actual people on stage. They must have been thousands! And how synchronized their movements are!!! It’s like they’re shouting to the whole world, “we can manage ourselves no matter how many we are!”

“Friends have come from afar. How happy we are!” translated the commentator over the Mandarin chants the drummers and dancers were shouting during the 1-hour presentation. Then after the Parade of Nations, the torch was lit… lit by an Olympic runner running in mid-air, as a scroll behind him unfolds, with the history of the Olympics. GRABE!

I can’t help but be envious. How they loved their country so much. And how I wish we Filipinos could love our country the way they do for theirs. The whole event was a joy and a pain. The joy is that, finally, what was downtrodden is now a triumph. Pain, that tinge of pain in me says, the Philippines can’t even show one athlete worthy of the Olympic gold. As China, the US, and Russia would grab all the medals they can get, we still miss that its not about the medal or the money. It’s something more deeper and something beyond the self. Thats what I saw as I watched Yao Ming cry as he held the Chinese flag, with a little girl.

Here is China for all the world to see! The tides have changed. The rise of Asia shall inevitably shake the world. It took them 5000 years of history to get to where they are now. But we can learn from other histories and perhaps avoid their mistakes. Their love and pride for their country were just overwhelming! Beyond the visual effects and the beauty of the presentation, they showed their roots, their history, and they were proud of it. How I wish we can do the same for the Philippines.

~resplend3nt

Olympics Theme sang by Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman