@superjyn
- Oct 23, 2021
- 6 min read

Thank You Canmore and a Story of my Campaign

Updated: Oct 24, 2021

Thank you, Canmore!

Thank you for letting me be a candidate for the council. Thank you for listening to my voice during the campaign despite my humble profile. Thank you to those who believe in the power of spreading kindness. I am also grateful for all the people I met along this journey and to those lives I have touched. You have touched my life as well. I am very grateful for all the friendships built and strengthened.

Thank you to everyone who sent me their message of support after the election. As a human being, I must admit that after seeing the result, I am disappointed because I know I did my best, worked very hard, and many people are rooting for me to win. The adrenaline crash hit me hard, but the recovery was faster than I thought because of the kind messages from supporters, family and friends. It is time to lighten up our hearts to all the people who expressed their sadness and anger. Let's be joyous because we have planted the seeds of kindness throughout the campaign, and let's wait for it to flourish. Things happen for good reasons, especially for those modest.

I can not afford an expensive campaign. Most of my signages were handmade and some of them are repurposed. I put a lot of love and effort in those. Eventually, people donated bit of funds which enabled to produce 20 signs with my face on it. I am proud of my campaign because for a first timer in politics with low budget, I am only a shy of 200 votes to make it in.

To the Filipino community, thank you for putting on your support of me and exercising the true spirit of being a Filipino - Bayanihan. Our interview with OMNI TV about my candidacy has been going viral around the world. I have been getting messages from Filipinos all over the world (from Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Hongkong, Japan, and too many to mention) expressing how proud they are for raising our flag in a first world country. We may not have won officially this time but we will never exhaust of reasons to remain proud of who we are.

I also thank all the disbelievers, detractors and cavillers along the way. I appreciate all of you because you made my life more purposeful. Your attack on me just made my message to humanity brighter. To those who harassed and discriminated against me during the campaign period, I forgive you because it's not worth having hatred in my heart. To those who spread rumours, please use this blog post as evidence that I have forgiven you. I hope you can identify where your fears are coming from, and you may see the light. To everyone who I had shortcomings, please also forgive me. However, I know some of you will continue to taunt me, and I am okay with that. You may see me as an enemy, and you can degrade my personality, but at least please continue spreading compassion to others if you can not spare me one.

At the end of the day, I am an artist and a musician. During the campaign period, I was a finalist at the artsPlace's Creative Combat. The Rocky Mountain Outlook also announced me as the Best Local Artist of 2021. People overlooked my achievements as an artist because the public's focus was mainly on my run as a Councilor. But so that you know, my paintings reflect the story of becoming a Canadian citizen as I travelled Canada from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. I hope to continue my advocacy of spreading kindness exhibited in my arts and music. I also want to honour all other artists because I believe that they are descendants of heaven here on earth in human form, gifted with a message from above. Artists are messengers and communicating spiritual things that humans can't explain in words. The non-verbal messages of artists are louder recently as the darkness creeps in our world.

Silver Lining - my very first painting to be sold. It was sold a few days just before the election.

When we talk about compassion, we have to think inclusiveness. One area we tend to neglect is palliative care. During my campaign, I had the opportunity to meet the palliative care representatives and learn their endeavours to provide kindness to those dying or who have life-threatening diseases. Many of us are afraid to discuss death which makes us forget that life is short and we have to take the opportunity to do good while we are alive. I do not doubt an afterlife, and we will be judged based on our works during our time on earth. But for the sake of argument for those who disbelieve, why not live a virtuous life?

Doing good works when there is a chance is not just enough. We also have a moral obligation to be proactive in searching for opportunities to spread kindness. Being a candidate, I had the fortune to meet with the Bow Valley Food Alliance and learn about food supply issues in the region. Most of us think we are doing okay, which makes us dismiss those troubled with food security. Many of us stuffed ourselves with food on the recent Thanksgiving day while I helped people with mental health problems during the holidays. Many people in the valley do not have families. I even brought someone to the emergency room on that day because of severe depression brought by the holiday. May we learn that being kind is not enough but actively seeking opportunities to do good matters more.

Just a note, I hope Canadian culture do not associate thanksgiving to food, but instead, to the true meaning of being grateful.

The indigenous community has always been in my heart on this journey. I am amazed by the humility installed in the culture and the history synonymous with my origins. Although they will not forget what happened, they still have a place in their hearts to forgive. In return, we would only have to do good works for one another. One faith they have is that peace will come back to earth one day, and I am one with that faith. I believe that this era is about to end a new one is not too far away. In this new era, a switch will happen. The current humble and oppressed people will be the world's new rulers; meanwhile, the rich and powerful of this earth will be the new lowly. I suggest starting practicing a virtuous life before that new era comes. After that new period, a time of judgement comes. For now, the darkness blinded many people from having hope, but I am faithful that we can open people's eyes by spreading more light through doing good works to one another.

I have always shared others the indigenous phrase "Wazin Ichinabi" which I learned during the Cultural Learning Circle sessions at artsPlace. It means "we are one" or I am one with you." We are one as human beings and we are also one with the environment. In additional notes, I do not like showing off my good deeds because the whole point is not to glorify myself. During the campaign, I shared this photo of me picking up garbage to raise awareness as per advise of my campaign consultants. I hope to encourage all of you to give back to the community without expecting reciprocation.

Amid the campaign period, I was honoured by Harvard University with a certification in Justice. Our class explored copious philosophical ideas to answer the question: "what's the right thing to do?" Diverse schools of thought emerged, such as categorical imperatives, utilitarianism, consequentialism, affirmative actions, et cetera. The more I learn of human justice, the more I understand we are incapable of the ultimate justice. We, humans, try to justify things, and we do not want to be treated unfairly. However, we are merely not fair ourselves. Therefore, I conclude that compassion, empathy, and mercy are more sophisticated forms of justice.

I brought up a touchy discussion about diversity. We can discuss this topic without leaving a demographic of people feeling left out if our core values revolve around kindness. Again, we can come up with so many resolutions and affirmative actions, but we will continue to fail as a community if we do not put humbleness into our values.

To the new set of the council, I would like to congratulate each one of you. The people chose you to lead our community. I advise you to rely on the supremacy of God as indicated in the first part of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedom. Our country remained prosperous not because of its people but because of God who kept this nation. Thank you for showing me kindness throughout the campaign. I hope you all remain as our public servants and may humility maintain in all of you. Unfortunately, I would also ask you to stay vigilant because I have experienced discrimination from at least one of you during the campaign period. I will reveal this in my upcoming blog posts.

To conclude this post, I would like to thank everyone for all your kindness and compassion. Being a candidate for the council will be a memorable and pivotal event in my life. For the meantime, I would like to focus on my arts and music. But top of all of these, thanks be to God almighty for sending me to this side of the world.