The Outstanding Young Men Awarding
Ceremonies
Malacanang Palace
December 19, 2013
Response from the
TOYM 2013 Awardees
by Chris Tiu
His Excellency, President Benigno
Simeon C. Aquino III; Bienvenido Tantoco III, President of the TOYM Foundation;
Mrs. Judy Roxas, Chairperson of the Gerry Roxas Foundation; Jose T. Pardo,
Chairman of the TOYM 2013 Board of Judges; Ryan Ravanzo, National President of
JCI Philippines; Congresswoman Leni Robredo, Member of the Board of Judges; Dicky
Puyod, Chairman of the TOYM 2013 Search, to my fellow TOYM 2013 honorees, to
our families and special guests, good afternoon to you all!
In behalf of this year’s awardees, I
want to express our utmost appreciation for citing us among the great
individuals in the 54-year history of the TOYM foundation. We feel unworthy to
be standing amidst such distinguished and admirable individuals when there are
many other young Filipinos out there who have so selflessly dedicated their
lives for the betterment of our dear country. For this, we feel truly humbled
and blessed!
A CHANGING WORLD
Our world is changing. Because of
global warming, we are experiencing typhoons on an unprecedented scale. We can
now do virtually anything on the go, from reading the paper, to watching
movies, to booking an airline ticket.
We often hear the phrase, “Iba na ang
kabataan ngayon”. If you’re guilty of
saying these words before, malamang hindi ka na nabibilang sa kabataan. The
youth have information and resources at their fingertips and are a creative,
capable, and intelligent generation. On the other hand, this may mean na iba na
rin ang value system nila. We accept as reality many things which would have
been considered scandalous to older generations. Because of modern day
technology, we hardly have to wait for anything anymore and therefore, there is
less need to be patient and persevering.
SELF FIRST
Consumer behavior is changing. The youth
have become more fashion forward, and embarrassed to repeat an outfit because
your entire social network can see what you are wearing with the advent of
smart phones.
Measuring of ones self worth has
evolved to the number of friends, followers or LIKES that one has on ones
social media sites. Thus, encouraging the user to ‘keep up’ by posting more
photos of himself, who he associates with, what he buys or where he eats.
In fact, ‘selfie’ has been named the
word of the year by Oxford Dictionary. Don’t worry, if you lost me or don’t
have any idea as to what I am talking about, that just means you don’t belong
to this generation. “Selfie”, as defined by Wikipedia, is a self-portrait photography
usually taken by a camera or a camera phone.
In an article earlier this year, Time
Magazine has noted some negative traits of today’s youth, such as, lazy,
narcissistic, materialistic, feeling of entitlement, less concerned with
community. This is a cause for concern because these so called “Millenials”
will be our future leaders!
This is why, in its 54-year history,
the TOYM foundation, with its theme of “Inspiring a Nation of Heroes”, plays an
even more important role today. By using modern day tools, it can reach out to
our youth and propagate its core values of excellence, integrity and most
importantly, a deep sense of service to community
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
Despite the many changes we have
witnessed throughout the decades, from climate change, technology, buying
habits, to our attitudes and behavior, there are some things that remain and
SHOULD remain constant. And these are the timeless values that the TOYM
Foundation espouses – excellence, honesty, humility, simplicity, sacrifice, and
charity just to name a few. Regardless of age, gender, social class, race or
religion, these principles serve as guiding pillars for human conduct that are
proven to have enduring and permanent value.
In order for our country to progress,
we cannot accept the “pwede na” attitude. Pursuing excellence cannot be learned
overnight. It involves a process and tremendous commitment. Once it develops
into a habit, it becomes a lifestyle. This is what we call virtue! The
foundation of heroism in the Ignatian Spirituality is Magis, which means
“more”, - being more, doing more! However, this simple motto requires a higher
spirit for it to attain its fullness, which means that our motivation must
transcend our own causes for a greater, higher being.
One of the world’s greatest leaders,
the late Nelson Mandela constantly reminded his people that: “We should always
be patient even if things are going bad, because great things will happen”. He
also said, “what truly matters is the small acts of kindness towards others”.
These words are very appropriate for our modern world where “selfies” are the
in thing and everything has become so convenient that we need not bother to go
out of our way for the good of others.
ROLE MODELS
We, too, have Mandelas in our midst.
Emerson Atanacio, in Social Entrepreneurship
Dr. Nicole Curato, for Sociology
Dr. Custer Deocaris, for Science
Communication
Former Gov. Miguel Dominguez, in Government and Public Service
Dr. Alonzo Gabriel, in Food Science and
Technology
June Cabal-Revilla, for Community
Development
Dr. Karl Reyes and Dr. Paolo Silva, in Medicine.
There is no question that the youth are
constantly looking for role models, people they can emulate. Mainstream media
and Hollywood do not often provide us with the best models, we know that. On
the other hand, the most powerful influencers are those who are ‘real’, those
we can interact with in our everyday lives, those who are one of us. Whenever
we meet people who inspire us, we feel a sense of relief, that there is hope
for the future! And even more, a force of motivation giving us that second,
third, and fourth wind, to do more ourselves. Most of the time, our heroes
don’t even know the magnitude of the impact they have on others. They just do
what they do best, in their respective fields, with utmost excellence,
integrity and service to the community.
Hence, I would like to thank our
dearest family and friends who have served as our personal heroes. Your example
and your faith in us inspire us to serve!
I would also like to thank our Lord for
this blessing. To God be all the glory! We are merely His instruments.
Last Sunday, the priest gave a
beautiful homily about real joy. He said “joy is not in receiving. But rather, it
is when we give, that we receive.” We are immensely honored to be given the
TOYM distinction and we are even more inspired to continue giving by living a
life of virtue, discipline and other-centeredness. It will take some courage to
relay this message in today’s world, but like Mandela and St. Ignatius, we need
to go against the wind!
This year’s theme is “Inspiring a
Nation of Heroes”. But heroes need heroes too. And heroism starts within each
one of us.
Thank you!
