I heard the lengthy Christmas message of Cong. Nene Ramirez-Sato over 92.1 One-FM on the morning of December 3, 2021, where she shared the story of Artaban, a fictional character. It would be better if her camp have a social media version of this to share with our millennials via any available apps. By the way, the radio station is managed by my former co-worker at DZYM and a personal friend, Ms. Lalaine Karangalan-Aban. Catch it. The station will be airing it again for sure.
What
Cong. Nene shared is perhaps a synopsis of a 1985 TV movie titled The Fourth
Wise Man directed by Michael Ray Rhodes. Lest we forget, it isn’t biblical but worth sharing or pondering upon especially now that Christmas is near. It is based on
Henry van Dyke’s classic novel, The Story of the Other Wise Man (1895), a
fictional story set in Biblical times told in moderately comic expressions.
Cong. Nene Sato tells us about a Magi named Artaban (played by Martin Sheen of the Apocalypse Now fame) who sees a sign in the heavens that he hopes will lead him and his faithful servant to the Messiah. Artaban takes with him three precious gifts to present to the Child on the Manger. For 33 years Artaban pursues Jesus, only to miss Him on every occasion.
Along the way, Artaban uses his gifts to help people in terrible need. He now has nothing to present to the Messiah when he finds Him. The story concludes on Easter Sunday as Artaban, old and dying, finally encounters the new King, bringing peace to his life. Like Artaban, we may all be hopeful in our quest to uplift this province and by doing so honor our true Master in Christ.
Only
a few politicians know how to tell a story not realizing that we Filipinos are story-telling and story-listening people. The electorates love
the storytellers, especially those telling positive stories. This trait is one
of the reasons why Nene Sato perhaps stayed in public service for 33 years. At
67, she’s still an effective storyteller, orator, and communicator.
What Cong. Nene just shared (and still sharing) today over the radio is a quest story. A quest story is an adventurous journey undertaken by the protagonist of a tale. The main character usually meets with and overcomes a series of complications, returning in the end with the benefits of knowledge and experience from his or her quest. The retelling of the story of Artaban by Cong. Sato in a very inspiring manner is so timely as we are already in the time of Advent.
Neuro-economist Paul Zak’s laboratory studies show that people listening to a story with a melodramatic curve release more brain substances associated with understanding—and that, in turn, prompts more generosity, or if I may add, votes. A politician must be creative for storytelling is a creative as well as transforming endeavor. So are the citizens like us in general.
Politicians or not, voters or not, here at home or from far away land, we all have our own quest story to tell about our province and country. We aspire for something for the benefit of our people and keep on trying that we will eventually be able to deliver in the spirit of participative governance and a sense of community. These are the same reasons why I blog and tell stories about local politics and politicians in a personal capacity since 2008 even before I entered government service.
In telling and listening to stories, we discover something we could accomplish together but let us also remember that Occidental Mindoro with all its socio-political logjams, - the out of order public health approaches, deforestation, unstable power supply and distribution, the negative effects of the Rice Tariffication Law,- cannot be prospered by sharing stories alone. I am also addressing this to myself.
It is wrong to divorce the stories we articulate from how we act politically.
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Photo: PR Team San Jose
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