A Crown for the Public

2020 appeared to be a difficult year due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus
Disease or CoVid-19. About 90 million individuals have been confirmed to have been
infected with the virus. Only few have received the vaccine and there is still a lot of
testing and trials to be undertaken before the virus can be successfully halted. That
being said, there is still a possibility that a lot of people might be infected in the future.
A lot of people lost their jobs and didn't do much at home. Face-to-face interactions
have been limited and this has led to a sudden increase in mental health problems,
especially with children.

Those are just some of the issues caused by this pandemic, however there are
quite a handful that are not given quite enough consideration by other people because
they might believe it's not that much of a concern for the public. But how can we be
able to determine the proper solution or assistance to these problems if there are not
enough people who are bold or positive enough to make a move in order for the
government and its agencies to recognize and take immediate action. We need
someone who can serve the public, who can be more outspoken on such issues and
who has the potential to advocate on certain causes. In this way, he or she is able to
seek guidance from individuals or professionals who have immense knowledge about
how to cope with these problems, and I believe that this person may be anyone from
the world of pageantry.

Pageantry has been the ideal platform to exhibit beauty, talent, and intelligence.
It has existed for too long that the characteristics that make up a winner have developed
to what society needs the most. Previously, pageants tend to rely on the superficial
attributes or personality of a candidate, but now they emphasize more on the potential
of a candidate to be more articulate in being the voice of the public.

People prefer to dismiss pageants because they genuinely think that is has
nothing to do with society, but what people do not know is that pageants can help
bring solutions to issues that are not given that much attention. Candidates develop
their own advocacy and present it in front of numerous people not only to win the title,
but also to campaign for what they stand for with their advocacy. They are there to
show people that they are passionate in what they believe in because it is time for
people to pay close attention to certain causes. Pageants offer individuals, in particular
candidates, an opportunity to use it as a platform to deliver their proposals, as it is
through pageants that people learn and gain knowledge about the relevant issues
discussed during the event.

Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015, is an example of a beauty queen who
sticks to her core and her advocacy of HIV and AIDS awareness, which started in 2011.
Even after her reign, she still made sure that she can still deliver what she had advocated
for and up to the present, she still involves herself with numerous HIV and AIDS-related
organizations to campaign for this matter, to help treat people who have been
diagnosed and break the stigma on HIV/AIDS and to think more about prioritizing their
health. Another is Catriona Gray, Miss Universe 2018, who has been advocating for
various causes over the years since her reign, and is currently working to support an
initiative called One Town, One Project by the Department of Trade and Industry in the
midst of the pandemic.

These women may be labeled as pageant queens and are associated with being
beautiful, but no one can disregard the fact that these queens have made tremendous
improvement in their campaigning and have proven, by visible actions, how these
causes are being handled. If you thought that pageantry has a small influence on the
society, then try to look at it from a different perspective. There you may see how the
world of pageantry is working hand in hand with government and non-government
organizations to perform their roles and progress through their advocacy. We, as
candidates of the Mr. and Ms. Ambassador of Goodwill, also provided our own advocacy
and wished that we would be able to deliver this and fight for what we stand for. My
partner and I are having our own advocacy named Battle in the Brain: A Social
Awareness Campaign for Mental Health Issues because we feel that mental illness is
one of the issues currently associated with the outbreak of this virus. Suicide reports and
mental health issues have escalated as time progresses. As of now, we might only be
candidates for this pageant but as this pageant advances we are increasingly getting the
opportunity to address the public and voice out for our advocacy, thus I am positive that
we will be successful enough in searching for concrete solutions to what we are
campaigning for.

Pageantry may just be a small voice in the world, a ripple in the vast ocean of life,
or a small dot in the grand painting of faith. But if all these voices, ripples, and dots
unite, they will create a reverberating orchestra of faith and harmony. They will create
gargantuan waves of change and excellence which can be very powerful when it comes
to campaigning for their respected advocacies. Now that we are facing a pandemic, the
issues have emerged and there are not enough solutions, because the government has
concentrated more on seeking the perfect solution to this pandemic, which is a bigger
context. It is now up to other non-governmental organizations, such as pageant
organizations, to deal with these other concerns, and even if they are just minor
specifics from the broader picture, they would still have a huge effect on everything as a
whole. We should remember that our life is like a web spider, particularly now that we're
all linked to this virus. One movement from any aspect of the spider web, whether
minute or massive, will create a great impact on its surroundings.