Beyond just her weightlifting skills, which she has certainly labored painstakingly for years to attain global leadership at, there are many reasons why Hidilyn Diaz should be admired and promoted to all our people, especially the young, as a model Filipino. “Amazing grace” is the description given by Rappler (in reference to the unsavory public listing of her as part of a conspiracy to “oust Duterte” by then presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo) to her extraordinary ability to rise beyond the petty. It is her strong faith that gives her strength, say some leaders of the Catholic hierarchy.
We must use her admirable qualities to inspire and uplift our children in the midst of an epidemic of egocentric, materialistic, hypocritical public personalities and truly undeserving leaders.
I never had a daughter, but Hidilyn is my idea of the ideal one. Her weighty burdens in her many years’ journey towards the Olympic gold have not hardened her. She strikes me as sensible and wholesome, possessed of a healthy ego that does not take itself seriously. I love her refreshing candor. When interviewer Karen Davila remarked that she is so unlike most girls who just like to watch Netflix, she interrupted to say that “nag-neNetflix din ako. (“Oh, I also do Netflix”). When asked what she first did after winning her gold medal, her answer, after some hesitation was “kumain” (I ate).
Her wholesomeness in the context of her many years of grim determination to be among the world’s best in her field has got to be a tribute to the parents who obviously raised her well. She has topped the world’s best in a field traditionally open only to men. And yet, she remains truly feminine. She strikes me as someone who could one day be the good wife and mother that she hopes to be.
She constantly expresses her gratitude to her training team and to all those who prayed for her and helped her earn the global prestige that she wished for our country.
It has not been easy for her. She comes from humble beginnings, with parents who were among the poor in her home town in Zamboanga. She came upon an opportunity to learn to lift weights from a friendly neighbor; and she focused on sharpening her skills in it to become among the best. This dogged determination to succeed without losing the right values is something worth emulating by our children.
Getting a formal education has been a struggle for Hidilyn; and in the midst of her global success, she continues to pursue it during what time she is able to grab within her heavy work schedule. She still aims to earn a “diploma.” The high value she puts on her education is something our children can learn from.
Our educational system has rated poorly in competitive international assessments in academic skills such as mathematics, reading, and science. We must at least ensure that when it comes to character building and values education, the Filipino turns out as well as anyone.
It will certainly help if we provide popular public models who carry desirable character traits such as those that Hidilyn possesses. We cannot limit our role models to physical beauty queens, entertainment celebrities, or, worse, notorious politicians.
Hidilyn Diaz has admitted that she hopes to be a role model for the youth who should learn to “dream high” and work hard to achieve their dreams. When she was rewarded by the Philippine Olympic Committee with P5 million (as provided by a law signed by President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino) as a silver medalist in an earlier Olympic competition, she invested it in a gym for training young athletes in weightlifting. She openly aspires to have future champions as her legacy.
Let us get Hidilyn’s story and persona more and more into our traditional and social media content and into our educational system. Today, it is possible to weave it into “modules” in online learning systems. It can be one of the best investments of what PNoy called “the peoples’ money.”
Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and Fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.