For six months now, I have been what my late mom would tut-tut at, "social butterfly," but which is my polar opposite. I have always shunned big gatherings, preferring meet-ups with close friends, family, and peers. I am content staying home writing, reading, musing, and solving crossword puzzles.
But in October, the beginning of the presidential campaign, I metamophosed into a flitter.
On social media, I joined and continue to join ad hoc chat groups (more aptly called work groups because we work and not chat) with past friends, from my childhood up to the workpace that I left years ago. This is not to mention current friends with whom I share the same values, and many new friends whom I will probably never meet in my life.
Technology and our passion for PINK, premised on hope for good and honest governance, transformed me, and them!
This PINK phenomenon has a name: volunteerism.
Tony and I distribute tarps (and pink parol last Christmas); veteran and amateur producers of competing ad agencies are combining their resources (talents, musicians, lyricists, and singers) to shoot commercials; celebrity talents and bands perform in rallies; account executives craft strategies and timelines; artists create logos, images, and memes.
Nobody calls the shots, but everyone (of diverse ages!) is in sync.
Unlike in the workplace where feuding egos derail work, in this campaign, egos are extinct. Nobody cares for credit or glory. Nobody counts the cost.
Meanwhile, this same passion is ablaze among people on the ground: lugawan, putohan, pansitan, and community pantries; free transportation; printing and designing of tarps, leaflets, comics, and other materials; prettifying walls by painting murals; posting gripping photos and stories; uploading testimonies of eureka moments in print and on video; donating cash and whatever is needed; and many more.
Often, I grab images on social media and ask to whom I may credit them. Nobody replies. Meaning, for kakampink (pink army for VP Leni’s team), it’s grab all you want. “We are all in this together.” Like me, many or all of the kakampink, have never volunteered in any political campaign before.
That’s why we were enraged when Governor Remulla of Cavite accused VP Leni’s team of paying us to attend rallies. Not only was it an irresponsible statement, it was an insult to the essence of volunteerism, a burgeoning virtue never seen in such magnitude till today.
My eyes well up just writing about this unlikely pro-bono collaborations (there are gazillions more, but space limits me). And I am not alone. Members of my work groups ask, “Why am I so weepy these days?”
If my Mom were still around today, she'd most likely change "social butterfly" to "firefly" (light in the dark).
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)
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