"May we do right by every genuine hero and unmask those masquerading as one."
Today is National Heroes Day — a day when we commemorate the heroes who made possible the things we enjoy and take for granted today, and gave up their lives for something bigger than themselves.
In the context of a nation struggling to contain a raging, lingering pandemic, we have always thought of our medical frontliners as modern-day heroes. Since early last year, we have uttered plenty of praises and given tributes to health workers who risk their lives every time they come to work to attend to their patients. The virus has also claimed the lives of many doctors, nurses and other hospital workers.
Alas, it appears that the only service that the government has been paying to our health workers is lip service. At the barest minimum, they should be compensated fairly and in a timely fashion. For all that they do for the nation in these perilous times, their safety and well-being should take top priority. They should not have to stage protests to assert their rights. That they would be compensated well should be a given.
What we see now, a year and a half into the crisis, are worn and weary health workers, most of them unable to get their due for the work that they do and the invaluable commitment they show despite the odds. If this is not sacrifice, we don’t know what is.
Certainly, it is not the kind that opportunists utter with facility, or the kind that is used to disguise a sense of entitlement or selfish designs. Heroes know that they are part of the solution and not the solution to any one problem. Heroes would know when their time is up, when they have botched the job even with their best efforts. They would have the grace and humility to step aside and let a more competent successor take over.
A “sacrifice” like stepping down from office, as demanded of the current health secretary with the legendary staying power and theatrical skills, is a euphemism. If he does step down—and why won’t the President sack him if he won’t step down?—it would not be a sacrifice. It would be the right, if overdue, thing to do.
Heroes are not ethereal creatures. They are human. They live among us, suffer alongside us, and have material needs that have to be met. They get exhausted, angry, and frustrated. But they carry on and fight another day. Heroes simply know that they have a job to do; they do not entertain notions of eternal greatness, power, or invincibility.
May we do right by our real heroes and unmask those masquerading as one.