The ongoing news story on the so-called “spirit possession” of more than 20 students of Jagobiao National High School in Mandaue City is quite unfortunate coming as it is during graduation season as the month of March is oftentimes associated with.
It’s still too early to confirm if what happened to the students was indeed a case of spirit or demon possession or simply yet another case of mass hysteria, the kind that had occurred in some schools in Cebu and even in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in June last year.
The inmates were made to undergo counseling sessions conducted by both psychiatrists and priests. There was no exorcism held and if there was one, I doubt if it somehow found its way to public attention though with the advent of social media you cannot rule out that possibility.
Just remembering the film “The Exorcist” is enough to creep mostly anyone out. I join the public in hoping that the students are cured of this malady ahead of their exams and graduation.
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Speaking of graduation, a lot of schools in Cebu have by this week or next week held their commencement exercises though there are some that are scheduled after the Holy Week or early next month.
As the graduates in elementary, high school and college whoop it up and celebrate their completion of studies—the celebration is expected to be especially more memorable among the bar or board topnotchers—those of us who have long since graduated and are now part of the rat race can only watch and remember perhaps with equal parts nostalgia and whatever it is that one feels at the moment about the time when we also had our own graduation.
Of the many films both foreign and local about graduation or had graduation as one of its themes that I watched over the years, the one that I had little effort recalling was the 2000 film “Almost Famous” by Cameron Crowe.
The main character, William Miller as portrayed by Patrick Fugit, was an aspiring teenage rock journalist who joined a whirlwind concert tour with the 70s era band Stillwater, rather than attending his own graduation to the chagrin of his mother Elaine played by Academy Award winner Frances McDormand.
Throughout the film, Miller was exposed to the excesses and travails of the rock band touring lifestyle while getting caught up with his own unrequited romance with Penny Lane, one of the groupies played by actress Kate Hudson.
One of the movie’s most memorable lines was spoken by Lester Bangs, a veteran music critic played by the late acting great Philip Seymour Hoffman, who told Miller to be “honest and unmerciful” in writing about Stillwater to Rolling Stone magazine.
“Aw man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong. My advice to you; I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.”
That’s good advice to ruminate on not only for young people desperate to fit in, but also for journalists/media practitioners and aspiring journalists assigned to cover candidates running in this election season or any public official or popular personality for that matter.
As the election season heats up, the pressure for candidates to look good to voters builds up and more often than not, they call on media “friends” to help them.
For some, the temptation to acquiesce, to help, is quite strong especially when laced with booze and other favors. Thankfully, there are those who not only maintain their professional integrity but also, in Bangs’s words, are “honest and unmerciful.” That coupled with judicious compassion is what this world sorely needs.
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