Through the Arts

In an article in 2006 (Art not just for Art’s Sake published in Health and Lifestyle), I wrote:

“Art accomplishes rather easily, what lectures, symposia, and other conventional awareness campaigns often fail to accomplish — an overwhelming impact upon and tremendous response from the audience. For when art speaks, barriers — be they religious, linguistic or cultural, are easily transcended; and the message, however subtle, is readily translated to a language we all understand, and echoed at a pitch too difficult for us to simply ignore. And with the barriers effectively reduced, and the message staring us in the face, we then become more equipped to listen attentively and act accordingly.”

I have always believed that the arts can be utilized to address our social problems and to put into proper perspective our idea of who we are as a nation.

The raping of our collective soul by our invaders, especially the Spanish, has made us believe we are lowly, and made us forget that we are as good as any other race in this world. And so now we have a fragmented idea of who we are. But focusing on the arts and getting deeply reacquainted with our culture can bring us the healing we sorely need. The arts can help us connect deep inside us, and remember and appreciate who we are as a people. Like a looking glass, the arts can help us what we are made of and make us realize that we have what it takes to effect the kind of changes we need to turn around our current situation.

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