Breaking My Record

I just broke my own record this New Year. I ate rice last New Year's Day. For twenty years I didn't eat rice on a New Year's Day. It is because it is a day filled a lot of other foods that I just enjoy eating meat and pasta and salad. So for twenty years I made it a point to not eat rice every January 1 as part of a personal tradition. This year I ate rice because Ron cooked really good and yummy I can't even help myself from eating rice with his adobo-a-la-pininyahan.

Breaking record has been a habit of many countries now even during New Year's Eve. Almost all countries specially the Philippines in our case wants to be in a world record for something. Sometimes we need to rethink what is the premium in holding world record events.

Last December, the Philippines was in awe because we broke our 42 year record of not winning in the Miss Universe. Pia Wurtzbach won us a title as our third Miss Universe from the Philippines. It was a source of jubilation throughout the Christmas break. Everyone is talking about since that the announcement of winner is not only record breaking, it was even controversial. Steve Harvey made a terrible mistake of announcing Miss Colombia as the winner instead of Miss Philippines.

Everybody considers Pian now as a hero though however, prior to her winning the crown, Pia was bashed many times and even harshly in social media after she tweeted something oozingly confident last May. The tweet goes like this;

"Kalma lang guys. Ako bahala. Babawi tayo sa Miss Universe!!"

She was judged by others as overconfident and thought that her comment was unnecessary and untimely after the Filipino nation felt frustrated of Manny Pacquiao losing to Mayweather who by the was has no one to break his clean record of zero lost in professional boxing.

Almost nobody believed Pia at that point but she was confidently beautiful even before she joined the pageant she was claiming victory which is an attitude of a winner. And true enough, what she said was a prophecy of her own fate. Pia won as the 2015 Miss Universe.

What record do we need to break really? Does it have any worth on our becoming?

Pia proved it to us that breaking a record is good. How about Mayweather? Will it do him or the world any good if he remained undefeated in Boxing? Is he a hero for what now?


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Yesterday during the MT Meeting in Sucat I was able to reflect on who is the real undefeated. The kinds of Secretary Jesse Robredo whose clean record speaks for itself. Unlike the number of winning and belts that Mayweather has, Robredo's record is not quantifiable. His clean record is about quality more than the numbers. And the same thing is true with our dear Sir Roy Algo who passed away last December. His record is amazing. Just like Robredo, the vacancy he left is a very big shoe to fill not only for the drum teacher who will eventually succeed him but to the assistant leader who survived him. Stepping up now to where Sir Roy used to be is a challenge more than it is a victory.

Nonetheless, Sir Roy's inspiring teaching career and meaningful life brings to me a lesson since that I am a new comer in the field of music education. He is leaving all up to our shoulders now, the new generation of music instructors. I know there is so much to learn from all this as I prepare myself for the entire year of laborious seasons.

I think, another record has to be broken.

In all of these, may God continue to bless us.