THE SITTING STATUE OF THE NATIONAL HERO

THE SITTING STATUE OF THE NATIONAL HERO

Over  a cup of coffee my friend and I are waiting out for  the rain to stop because getting wet is out of the question. Rains have their way of holding you off and the only decent thing to do is to seek shelter in the office cafeteria. The bad weather prods us to talk for want of nothing better to do. Lawyers are paid to talk, and my friend is not a lawyer, thank God, for that, because all I hear is lawyer talk every day, and it makes me sick.

My friend is some type of a trader dealing in almost everything within the commerce of man, with one rule. He is off limits to anything illegal. In strictly adhering to his self proclaimed business ethics he visits me once in awhile in the guise of paying a courtesy call, but bringing a few questions to which he wants my opinion. He often rubs me the right way, gets sound advice for a cup of coffee. He knows I dislike legal talk outside the office, so we quietly, listen to the spattering rain, in between sips. Then he breaks the silence. He tells me a story, from one of his experiences.

One time he says, he joined to bid in the construction of a statue which the Mayor of a small  town wanted to build to adorn the grounds of the city hall. This Mayor wanted  Jose Rizal to keep him company so he deemed it fit to have the hero’s statue  rise overlooking the town hall. My friend says he won the contract to undertake the project.

After the paper works were done, my friend asked the Mayor how he wanted the statue of the national hero to look like. The Mayor invited him to his office for a talk. In the privacy of the office the Mayor asked him if had seen some of the statues of Rizal in other places, cities and towns. My friend says he couldn’t lie so he frankly told the Mayor that he hadn’t. The Mayor was pleased as  the contractor was honest enough to admit it. So the Mayor suggested that before undertaking the construction he should visit the other places where there are statues of the National hero and then report his observation. Transportation expenses would be covered.

So my friends says he spent the next five days travelling to other towns, gazing at the different statues of the national hero. Upon his return he reported to the Mayor. The Mayor waited for him to speak. My friend gave his honest observation. He told the Mayor that all the statues of Rizal he saw look the same, the face, the outfit, and the book the hero was holding. All statues of Rizal portray him to be firmly standing  on his feet, confident, bright and gallant. And finally my friend told the mayor that  all the statues of  Rizal showed him to be  wearing the same long black coat.   

My friend asked the Mayor if he would build the same statue from what he had seen in others.

The Mayor reacted with a loud, “Definitely not!”  The Mayor emphatically said, “I want you to make this Rizal different from the rest of them. He has been standing for too long out in the open so he needs to rest. Make him sit. Our hero is no western cowboy and wearing that long trench coat is a disgrace. Dress him up properly with the country’s Barong Tagalog. And he has been lugging that mysterious book, for a long time which for all we know contains a lot of Spanish Friar’s crap. Make him hold his pen, which would serve him well in writing all the names of the Mayor who seldom goes to the city hall.”

My friend says he built the statue of the National Hero exactly as instructed. The rain stops as the tale ends. The coffee cups are empty. We both go our separate ways.

I love this guy, he makes me laugh, but I doubt he isn’t making this one up.