You are what you listen to

(Contributed by Adoreé Almira D. Jabanes)

WHEN I was a kid, my parents had some sort of ‘control’ over what music my sisters and I listened to. It’s not because they imposed rules or anything, but because we were usually busy playing to bother about songs other than London Bridge is Falling Down and Doe-a-Deer.

I have vague memories of sitting in cars during long roadtrips listening to the Carpenters and somebody named Matt Montose? Monty? Morose? Whatever. At the age of five, I was gullible enough to think that they were actually cool. I even started making The Carpenters casette tape a must-have for every outing.

As I grew older to pre-teen, and fancied myself wiser, I finally had the sense to cover my ears whenever a singer started belting out impossibly high notes. Listening to Frank Sinatra sing about how he wanted things his way could be quit tiring.

By then, Girl Power was everywhere. I took it upon myself to try educating my parents about the phenomenon that was Spice Girls. I would blab about them all through dinner, saying how trendy and pretty Ginger Spice was, and how I would like to dye my hair red. I even asked for Santa for their latest album. And yes, that year, I had been a good girl as evidenced by the Spice Up Your Life album in my stockings on Christmas.

My girl buds and I constantly chattered about girls being waaay better than boys, and that we were actually lowering our status by saying that we were equal. The Backstreet Boys were our sworn enemy. In our own little big minds, they were the antithesis of Spice Girls. I debated with my sister, who was a BSB fan, insisting that Spice Girls would cream BSB if there was a showdown. I shunned their music, even though I secretly found Nick Carter so darned cute and their music, catchy.

Spice Girls were the best, and Prince William agreed with moi. They were so good in fact, that they had their own island named Spice Island. (It was until I was in 2nd year high, and taking up World History, when I finally learned the truth.)

However, by the time I was in high school, Spice Girls were already disbanded and the pop boy band craze was larger than life. We started getting into the boy band obsession, particularly Westlife. Yep, I was a self-confessed Westlife and F4 fanatic. People said they were cheesy and so outdated, I should forget about them, revert to being with-it and enjoy Avril Lavigne’s or Ashley Simpson’s music. But I just couldn’t seem to. I thought those sentimental oldies got into me more than I realized. I found the angry mood or punk pop, repulsive. I kinda thought it was partly to blame for the increasing rate of juvenile crimes.

* * * *

Call me a traitor to my generation, if you will, but I think it’s silly to be angry at the world and promote it. True, there are lots to be angry about. But being angry is a choice. To say that the world had been going through chaos these past years is the understatement of the millenium. We’ve already become jaded about the crimes and disasters we see on the news everyday.

But what’s ironic is that - the more the world plunges into near hopelessness, the more Hope seems to be everywhere. The outpouring of assistance for victims when there are disasters is overwhelimg that it seems undeniable there are more good than bad in mankind. It’s just that Bad is more conspicuous than Good.

I remember Hugh Grant’s character in the shockingly daring Brit flick “Love Actually” saying that whenever he would feel down about the harshness of reality, he would remember the welcome gates in airports where people display such outpourings of love and friendship. He also said that during the 9/11 terrorist attack, before the plane crashed into the Pentagon, nobody called anyone to spout about hate and revenge; but instead, people called home to leave messages of love and hope. He said the more one thinks about it, the more one realizes the quote, “love actually is everywhere.”

Maya Angelou,  a guest poet in one Oprah episode, said: “There has always been evil, and there will always be evil. But there has always been good, and there is good now.”

Maybe the cliché about life being what you make it, could be true. Maybe it’s not really about the glass being half-empty or half-full, but what’s in it.

Who knows, maybe even Manilyn Mason will drop his Satanist rocker image and start singing gospel songs. And then hopefully, he’ll stop putting on too much eyeliner and see the light. Whoever told him that basic black eye make up looked good on snow white foundation had seriously committed a major fashion boo-boo.

Seen on one of Otto Hahn’s table: “You laugh at us because we’re different, but we laugh at you because you’re all the same.”