Whew! That “Prince Harry” item

I HOPE that by now that “Prince Harry” media-hyped prank is now put to rest. For a while, I was agitated and at the same time amused when friends from Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Bohol texted me days ago to verify if the item was true.

They said that the papers, radio and TV were abuzz with speculations if the boyish Caucasian who just appeared in Dumanjug town with a group of youngsters to do some outreach work was really the third in line to the British throne.

I remember that a few weeks ago in Tagaytay, I was introduced to this 18-year-old. Those with him called him “Prince Harry,” and I immediately got the joke. The fellow has a striking resemblance with the real McCoy, though perhaps a bit more refined, regal and definitely better behaved.

In less than a minute, I got the impression that he was a nice and clean chap. And from his eyes, I could see an inner stirring indicating he was looking for something important in life. I remember wishing him luck and promising to pray for him.

That was my only meeting with him. I didn’t even know that he came to Cebu accompanied, among others, by an Opus Dei priest. That was how I was dragged in.

Since I’m an Opus Dei priest myself, my friends wanted to know if I was the priest referred to in the news and to find out the real score. They didn’t want to believe the item, but it seemed it was too precious to miss if it was really true.

I immediately realized the vast power of the media to bend the thinking of otherwise sober people like my priest-friends who could not resist the pull of the gossipy tale. Oh, what culture we have!

As I started to monitor the coverage of the media-generated “prince,” I could not help but see the clever journalistic maneuvers, assisted by the willing participation of people like the mayor, teachers, etc., thrown into the pseudo-event.

I almost choked to death with laughter when I noted that the more the item was denied or contradicted by some people, the more vehement would be the belief many people had in the item. It became a case of madness whose cure could only be to leave it alone and wait for it to die a natural death.

Talk about media work for the common good, we clearly have here a case of being taken for a ride. The only saving grace is that the whole practical joke was harmless and innocent. I suppose it’s a game the media play during a dry spell or dead season. They have to invent something.

While the rest of the world is gripped with the swine flu scare, global economic meltdown and global warming, here we are enjoying ourselves a charade of sorts. I still could not recover from the disbelief that the whole thing merited a page-one, even headline treatment in the papers!

I was just a bit concerned that there were people who to my mind over-reacted, and needlessly said something more than what they should have. Though I was not part of the group, I apologize for whatever inconvenience the whole thingamajig caused. These capers usually have “victims.”

I was also saddened that the whole affair disrupted a good initiative of the boys involved. They were there to do some social service, sacrificing a good part of their summer fun.

And I know that for some of them, they were there to think more deeply about a possible special vocation God is asking from them. They needed a particular place and time to consider this very delicate matter.

We all have our respective vocations. But not all vocations are the same. Some are more specific than others, requiring greater dedication. And these can come in different ways, like those of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Augustine, St. Francis, etc.

Some people see their vocation overnight. Others take time to be convinced they have it. Some find themselves immediately ready to receive it. Others need to go through several tests—psychological, mental, spiritual, moral, gender, etc.—to find out if they can hack it.

As one can see, this matter is a very delicate thing, and media intrusion is the last thing to have. My consolation is that the press did not bother to know about the others in the group who actually could have been more interesting items.