Maridol Bismarck of Yahoo Philippines recently interviewed me on Pnoy and Grace Lee. Below is my two cents' worth:
· People have observed that Grace Lee is talkative
while PNoy is quiet. Do you think this will play a role in the
longevity of their relatonship? Why or why not?
PNoy is probably quiet only out of proper decorum
required of a president. It certainly
would be inappropriate and distasteful for the president to disclose details of
his romantic affair when he should be attending to issues of national
concern. If he carried a position of
lesser stature, then he would probably be as verbose as Grace Lee is in talking
about their relationship.
Grace Lee projects an image of being “head over
heels” for PNoy. PNoy will naturally be
“on cloud nine,” feeling flattered that the woman of his desire is deeply
smitten and gushing over him.
· Will Grace's Korean background play a
role in the relationship? Why or why not?
Having stayed here in the Philippines for almost 20
years, Grace Lee has probably acquired Filipino attitudes towards relationships
and thus, her Korean background may not play a big factor in the
relationship.
A more significant factor would probably be whether
Grace Lee’s family is comfortable with having PNoy as a potential son-in-law,
especially if they are a conservative and private family.
· What are the requirements from Grace if she gets
into a relationship with PNoy?
Since Grace and PNoy have a Korean-Filipino May-December
romance, Grace will also require PNoy to be more understanding of the
differences brought about by their cultural backgrounds and age gap.
Grace Lee and PNoy need a lot more time to get to
know each other and build a solid foundation of friendship, intimacy, and
commitment.
· Why do you think have PNoy's relationships gone
kaput?
The easy answer to this is that there has been no
“romantic chemistry” experienced between PNoy and all the other women he’s
dated in the past.
Romantic chemistry is based on the following
ingredients: a strong mutual liking for
each other, a deepening sense of friendship, common interests, shared values
and goals in life, similar ways of thinking, being different from each other in
a way that complements each other’s weaknesses, and tolerance for each other’s shortcomings.
Apparently, PNoy had previously been attracted to
women who are not compatible with him.
· Why do you think that he's still a bachelor at 52?
Straight
men who prolong their bachelorhood do so for a number of reasons. The most common reason is the fear of being
tied down. Many bachelors don’t want to
give up the fun and freedom of single life in exchange for the serious responsibilities
and obligations of marriage. For some of
these bachelors, marriage signifies an end to drunken night outs with the
barkada or to a pastime of frolicking with women.
Another
reason for prolonging bachelorhood is the perpetual search for “someone
better.” They date women and get into
relationships but are never content with the ones they have.
Other
common reasons for prolonged or eternal bachelorhood include being a loner type
of person, being socially-inept when it comes to relationships with women, being
celibate for spiritual purposes, carrying the burden of financially supporting
one’s relatives, being a highly-independent person, and being a workaholic with
no time for fun, leisure, and relationships.
· Grace said and denied that she is looking at marrying
PNoy. How do you think this statement
will affect her and the president?
Grace Lee’s denial that she
hinted at marriage can have a demoralizing effect on PNoy. Imagine the elation that PNoy must have felt
upon learning that Grace wanted to marry him, only to find out that the news
report was false. Any guy who
experiences this would be disheartened.
To keep his spirits up, PNoy should keep in mind that what Grace denied
are the statements alluded to her by the journalist. Grace merely denies giving hints at marriage,
but this does not mean that she doesn’t like PNoy or want to marry him.
If ever Grace and PNoy
become an official couple, this incident should motivate them to strengthen
their relationship so that they can withstand and ward off the gossip and false
reports that are sure to hound them.
