Pageantry in a time of COVID

The Miss Philippines pageant just happened this month and this posed a question which I realized was more important than it initially sounded. During the Q&A portion, the top 5 contestants were asked what the role of pageants were in this time of Covid. The question even stressed that this crisis has forced us to see what is essential and non-essential.

I initially found it very odd that we should hold a pageant at this point in time but upon reflection, I found that pageants like these serve a very good purpose in society. Now, I'll make a disclaimer now and say ahead that I haven't heard any of the answers of the top 5 contestants so if I echo any of their answers, it was purely coincidental. And while the beautiful ladies of the Philippines had only a few seconds to give their answer, I can explore the nuances in depth in mine.

Food, clothing, shelter. If we were to look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you'd find these are the basic needs that people need. These are important to us as a species to grow and develop. If humans are just animals, these, together with social needs like the presence of friends and family give us our basic needs to stay alive and to stay sane. Art and beauty, one may argue, is not a need at all for animals and may be seen as non-essential to human survival.

I disagree on that point. Humans have material and social needs - that is true. But we also have needs for things that are non-material and non-social. I'm no philosopher so I may be misnaming these things but we have the need for the transcendental - things that are beyond the material and the social. Things like beauty, truth and goodness. Beauty, of course, comes to mind when talking about pageants.

Humans have a need for beauty - a need which many Filipinos have been deprived of because of the pandemic. It doesn't make it any less important to us though. We still need the beautiful things, which explains the rise of plantitos and plantitas on social media the past few months. Pageants, I believe, are able to give Filipinos the well needed break from focusing on their basic and social needs to focus on their need to see beauty.

While pageants are not my cup of tea, many Filipinos really look forward to these pageants. Some hunger for the sight of beautiful women competing for the crown. Some thirst for the gowns and dresses they wear - a chance to see Filipino artistry at hand! Some enjoy the thrill of hearing a well thought out answer mere seconds after a question is posed - an exhibition of the beauty of the mind!

While most people might see pageants are being non-essential during times when we were flooded with other forms of distraction, I see the Miss Philippines pageant held recently as a well needed essential good for the Philippines. Let this remind us that we are not simply animals who need food, water, and shelter to live. We also need the true, the good and the beautiful.