BEING desensitized means not seeing any reason for outrage even when a situation is deserving of such.
The past week, we’ve been attacked by a couple of self-proclaimed Palarong Pambansa defenders who saw nothing wrong in seeing student-athletes being made to sleep on cartons like street children. VoxPop Davao was accused of destroying the image of the host province, Antique, as if we had any stake in that province that we have not even set foot on.
Faraway Antique has no bearing in our lives. They can host whatever they want to host, on the condition that when they host 12,000 children, these children should not be treated like street children.
They accused of lying, forgetting the fact that smart phones and tablets are now run of the mill and just about everybody can take photos of their surroundings – children and adults alike.
We were bashed by this couple of people, throwing just about every malicious imputations against our credibility. We accepted it as their opinions, but we stood firm that child-athletes in a well-funded annual national sports event should be given the basic care – proper sleeping facilities, food, allowances, and venues to practice long before they start competing.
That we were bashed instead reflects a lot about what we have become as a people, especially in the education sector.
Indeed, change cannot come if the people themselves cannot let go of the luxuries that have become the norm, with little regard for the real reason of the athletic meet – the development of the children as sportsmen and hopefully full-fledged sports champions.
With the shabby treatment the children get, all that they are actually competing for is for their academic standing. Getting medals and competing in national events earn them recognition every end of the year. But beyond that, there is no impetus to take on the road to become real athletes.
What happens then? The desire to be sports champions among the mainstream students are only fanned when college comes and college scholarships and allowances and freebies are worth competing for. What does that mean?
It means the mainstream sportsmen we have only start training really well in college when they make it to the varsity team.
In the international arena, children are honed and taken care of as potential champions and given the best incentives to train long before they start competing as college varsities and in international competitions. Partida, that is what they have.
In comparison, our Palarong Pambansa is just an annual athletic meet where children practice just enough to make the grade and compete once a year.
Token efforts, no real long-term programs. Just a yearly event where the athletes are made to sleep on carton sheets while the host and their minions attack anyone who dare say that children should sleep on beds.
Again, I would want to stress that Sun.Star Davao has nothing to gain from nor any intention of destroying the image of Antique.
We are only standing up for the rights of the children and voicing out our stand on how a grassroots sports program should be managed. It is just incidental that Antique is the host this year.
Had it been Dumaguete or any other place in the country, and the children are just as shabbily treated, we shall raise the same ruckus until the organizers themselves – the Department of Education – realizes that change must come from them.
saestremera@yahoo.com
