(SPOT.ph) In under seven minutes, Joey Ayala delivers several powerful messages and left most of us in awe. We will give the floor to him immediately and tell you the 10 most awesome things that happened from 0:00 to 6:20 of this YouTube video, in no particular order. There’s just no way to rank everything in it.
1. The best use of the phrase "Mga bading tayong lahat."
At the 1:46 mark, Ayala boldly states "mga bading tayong lahat" and he gets away with it because it’s not pejorative. He explains that the "Lupang Hinirang" is a marching song and we’re not a marching country. We like to sway, we are "weak" but not in the sense that we aren’t courageous or strong. We are soft and kind. Saying that "mga bading tayong lahat" to mean that we are accommodating and non-confrontational (even in our martial art!) is a step towards reappropriating the word "bading" to mean something good. How cool is that?
2. "I tampered with the National Anthem. This is an illegal act."
At the onset, Ayala disclaims that what he is doing is against the law. People fancy themselves as rebels, especially when they vandalize things or when they proudly light a cigarette under a "no smoking sign". Forgive us if we think that’s silly, especially when we see Joey Ayala breaking the law with purpose. What people forget about revolutions, no matter what size or form it comes, is that it is motivated by something grander than the act. Ayala makes a case for why he is breaking the law. It’s not simply to raise a figurative middle finger to the man or the establishment, it’s to examine the foundation upon which the law stands. Singing the anthem has become ritualized and we forget that it is supposed to rouse positive feelings towards the land of our birth.
3. "New sky, new birds, new life...tapos mamamatay ka. Palagay ko may grave psychological damage na ginagawa yang kantang yan sa atin."
Once more, forgive us for our literary geeking over this. New sky, new birds, new life. Always, the Filipino spirit soars through tragedy-a gift and a curse all at once. But he’s right. We get to the end and we die for our country (and sometimes, because of the country-rather, because of the people who run the country) and that’s just sad. We complain a lot and for good reason. There’s a lot to complain about and Ayala jests that people who complete their education make a beeline to the airport, leaving everything behind. However, Ayala doesn’t leave us hanging on a depressed note. He moves along.
4. The mispronunciations: sa dagatat, sa simuyat, may dilagangtula, et cetera.
Ah, the Filipino language. The poor thing’s not even being used in this article, but in our defense, we are a multilingual nation-not everyone speaks Tagalog (on which Filipino is based)Â