As Rico Yan Goes Home
By Ederic P. Eder
First published in ederic@cyberspace and Peyups.com

IT APPEARS that most of us who believe in life after death agree where Ricardo Carlos Yan, role model of the Filipino Generation Txt, has gone at the end of his journey in this world.

In the posts that I contributed to my favorite online message boards, I said goodbye and thanked Rico for showing us how to live life to the fullest. I also asked him to kindly say hello to my Mama, who went home up there seven years ago. One of my friends at Tinig.com Forums thanked Rico for joining us in People Power 2 as we fought for truth and justice. He also asked him to extend warm regards to Ka Tato (Renato Constantino), the great historian who sought to destroy the lies and deception that prevail in our official history. The youngest kaTinig, for her part, thanked Rico for the inspiration he has left for the youth and asked him to greet her beloved departed and Jesus himself.

It's not to say I support the campaign for the beatification of Rico Yan--even the Catholic Church's Youth for Christ may not actually be excited with the prospect of calling him Blessed Rico--but I'm quite positive he has gone home where the favored ones are supposed to go. This assertion is debatable, of course. After all, I'm not an eschatological expert of the Church.

But the undeniable fact is that Rico Yan has left behind a great inspiration and his passing away made us aware of this. His departure delivered the message that his life wanted to communicate to us. When he was still around, we probably saw him as just a celebrity: a well-known actor who entertained us and made us smile; or as an idol, someone we'd like to be because he was famous, well-paid and successful. Maybe we liked him and, to a certain extent, envied him because he possessed the sekreto ng mga gwapo; or because he was able to go to the top in the entertainment industry and still managed to complete a college degree in a reputable university; probably because he was a successful young entrepreneur; or perhaps because was our comrade in the Filipino youth's struggle against immorality and corruption in the government. Maybe we secretly wanted we could be like him, but that little secret just remained a negligible wish.

Then suddenly and unexpectedly, Rico Yan left us one Good Friday. His departure shocked and shooked us. Practically the whole nation was affected and touched, from the poorest man and woman on the street to the queen in the Palace. We said "Sayang, bakit ganoon, bakit siya pa?" And then, we were reminded of our longing to be like this 27-year-old boy whom we admired for being very likeable, smart and principled, among other traits. We felt a part of what his family felt. We cried as his close friend Dominic cried every time he talked about Rico on TV.

As the nation grieved, we heard more of Rico's dreams and aspirations. We were reassured that his presence during People Power 2 was not just for show. His unpublicized humanitarian acts were exposed, and we loved him more for these. Who wouldn't be touched upon hearing of the happiness of a nine-year old fan whom he visited in the hospital and helped pay for ? Or of the taxi driver's story of how Rico gave him the flowers after the latter bought all the sampaguita of a street child to help the child? Or of that old cigarette vendor's gratefulness because Rico handed her P10,000 so she would not need to vend all night to raise her grandchildren?

It is understandable, indeed, that we feel so much loss. But may all our panghihinayang be translated into a resolve to continue what he has started, so that our little wish to be like him will translate into actual endeavor. That must be the best way to send him off on his way home. That must make him very happy and give him something to boast to our beloved departed whom he will meet up there.

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