Manong Manolo, Subtlety Is Thy Name

I'm such a blathering groupie. In a tribute to a 'matriarch' who has passed away recently, he finally speaks, and does it with subtlety. Quelle classe. :)

No stranger to the joys of the rewards of effort herself, Madrigal offered up a blunt observation: a reward is best savored as a private pleasure, not a communal trophy, and not as an advertisement.

"One good thing about martial law was the abolition of society pages.... Call me old-fashioned, but I continue to be shocked by people who aggressively seek the limelight and even corrupt media to achieve their self-aggrandizement. In my time good form demanded that we avoid too much exposure," she wrote.

Perhaps the only person who cheered the publication of this passage was Carmen Guerrero Nakpil for whom the idea of being passé is just another vulgarity at par with newfangled terms like "eventologist."

Indeed, it was in the closing pages of her book, in her valedictory, so to speak, to younger generations, that Madrigal imparted a clear-headed advice: "Especially in the context of prevalent conditions, widespread poverty, crime and social injustice, it behooves us all not to give scandal by conspicuous consumption. I am upset by the contemporary lack of restraint, the excessive display in clothes, entertainment .... And then they complain about being burglarized, mugged and kidnapped!"

Perhaps she would have said, what is truly passé is to refuse to recognize that things become passé for good reason.