Imelda Marcos, wife of the late president Ferdinand Marcos is a philosophical, idealistic, borderline insane woman who I had to watch for roughly a couple of hours in our Science, Technology and Society class. It was a documentary about her and how hard she tries to represent the beauty in every Filipino and Filipina by living extravagantly.
Imelda is known for her beauty and for wearing hand-sewn Filipinianas that match her handmade shoes and fans to better express beauty. And oh, I forgot to mention her expensive jewellery, each costing more than a small family's expenditures in one month. And why does she do all that? Simple. To represent the Philippines well and to inspire Filipinos especially the women.
To me, those goals look more like an excuse, for the means to that end is to live filthily rich while the rest are suffering. In fact, she failed to represent the Filipinos because she is not representative of the population of interest. But sadly, that's how she sees things, and I have nothing to do to change her mind.
Imelda strives to see beauty in everything that comes her way, to the point where she turns her eyes away from the truth. I remember her saying that whenever she sees garbage, she looks away and chooses not to see it. She chooses not to see the things that exist and need attention and action.
She did the same thing when she and her late husband had infrastructures built during their time - when they were rushing buildings and someone told her that workers died when a part of the building collapsed due to cement that did not dry properly, she just wanted the damage fixed and ignored the death of the workers.
She had a good intention (or excuse) that explains her deeds. She is indeed a beautiful beast.
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