His name was Pedro Flores.
Pedro, being innately nurturing and caring, took his work seriously.
One time when his ward - a little AmBoy - was bored, his Filipino creativity, talent and ingenuity kicked in and fashioned for the child - with the use of a kitchen knife - a homespun yoyo made of soft wood.
Pedro also taught the boy how to use the yoyo. Unfortunately, all he knew was to make the toy go up and down the string. Still, having seen nothing like it before, AmBoy proudly showed the yoyo to his friends and classmates who also wanted to have one.
Pedro, ever dutiful and ever eager to please, made a lot more yoyo for his excited audience. When Pedro's AmBoss saw the little toy trinket, he was immediately fascinated by its simplicity and awesomeness.
AmBoss, or H.B. Preston to Pedro, studied the yoyo dutifully. Is it worth investing in this novelty?, he wondered.
He decided it is. So he developed the yoyo and made it perform tricks: Walking the Dog, Around the World, Over the Falls, Baby in a Cradle, etc.
He then mass-produced the yoyo and purchased from Pedro the rights to the toy. Pedro sold them to AmBoss in 1929 and H.B. Preston then founded the Duncan Yoyo Company.
The Duncan Yoyo became a big hit in the U.S. and Europe. The YoYo also reached the Philippines in 1933 and AmBoss arrived with the toy majestically Christening himself as THE YOYO EXPERT.
To cut a regretfully interesting story short, a Filipino invented the Yoyo in the Philippine shores and it took an American to develop and make money from it to the hilt.
Flash forward to almost a century later.
Charice sings her heart out in a Philippine talent show. Despite her give-it-all performance, she only manages to reach 3rd place.
In fairness, her talent did not entirely go to waste as she was tasked to sing and dance as a back-up performer to the Grand Champion.
At this time, she entertained thoughts of being a nurse instead of a world-class singer.
Fortunately, a bored teen who was spending tons of time online suddenly decided to upload a video of Charice's give-it-all performance. For some magical reason, the video managed to reach Ellen deGeneres who asked Charice to perform Whitney-Houston-like vocal tricks. Not having seen and heard anything like that before from a small non-black teenager, Oprah wanted to see and hear Charice sing too. And Charice did.
Oprah showed Charice to TALENT EXPERT David Foster.
David Foster, recognizing Charice's potential, this time asked her to perform Celine-Dion-like vocal tricks which Charice - ever talented & ever-eager-to-please - did to a T. He was immediately fascinated by Charice's simplicity and awesomeness.
David Foster studied Charice dutifully and wondered, is it worth investing in this talented novelty?
He decided it is. So he developed Charice, made her perform and became a big hit in Italy, other parts of Europe, Asia and - of course - the US.
Charice's album was mass-produced and she is now labeled as the "New Pop Princess" and called by Oprah as the "Philippine Singing Sensation (in the US)."
When Charice arrived in the Philippines this month, her handlers majestically Christened themselves EXPERTS and decided Charice need not be touched, spoken to, asked or interviewed by local media for security reasons.
To cut a fascinating story short, Charice is a Filipina who honed her talents in Philippine shores and it took Americans to develop and appreciate her to the hilt.
Is America taking our natural resources to make their country rich? Are foreign countries taking our natural resources to make their country rich?
Are we allowing America and foreign countries to take our natural resources to make their countries rich? Do we appreciate our natural resources enough to use it and make ourselves better?
Do we always need to have others shove our potential to our faces before we see and appreciate our own beauty, talent, skills, our selves?
How do we go beyond the pain of our colonial past and use it to propel ourselves to finally decide what WE think of US and not what THEY think we should think about US?
Do we need to have someone outside to tell us how good and great we are inside?
Why can we not see our own inside beauty and not wait hopelessly for others to point that out to us?
Charice knew, saw and was aware of her own awesomeness. She knew, saw, was aware and was prepared to do what it would take for others to see it too.
Her preparedness brought her luck.
Her preparedness called on the opportunity.
Her preparedness called on Tita Oprah, Tita Ellen and Ninong David Foster the same way we and everyone else in the world is now responding to her call.
It started from her.
It was all from her.
And her call was heeded.
Would we ever realize what Charice realized in her self?
Am I even helping resolve this issue?
Are you?
Reference used:
Doomed to be like the Yoyo We Invented
Dirty Dancing (Looking Back 2)
Ambeth R. Ocampo
Anvil Publishing'2010
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