In 1900, it was not possible for us to fly

Reflecting on how life has improved since the Manila Bulletin was established 125 years ago, pilot and Philippine Airlines president Stanley Ng pays tribute to impossible dreams

Life is better is a state of mind. Maybe it’s a choice, deciding, for example, to look at a glass as either half-empty or half-full.

In my book, either way is OK, as long as, if you see it as half-empty, it drives you to find ways to fill it up, as long as you see it as a challenge, not merely as a cause of paralyzing frustration or disappointment.

So the question “Is life better?” is a good question for the Manila Bulletin and for each of us to see—125 years since this venerable paper first took on the task of telling the story of our people and our nation—how the story has panned out. 

Let me start my answer with something close to my heart—aviation.

Around the time Manila Bulletin was established in 1900, nobody believed that a machine heavier than air could fly!

Around the time Manila Bulletin was established in 1900, nobody believed that a machine heavier than air could fly! 

But on Dec. 17, 1903, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, named Wilbur and Orville Wright, were successful in flying an airplane they built. Their powered aircraft flew for 12 seconds above the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

It was possible after all. Life is better, if we believe it can be better. Against all odds and despite all the people doubting and calling them crazy, the visionary Wright brothers who believed things were possible made today’s air travel a reality.

Now, as a pilot myself, who has flown over 10,000 hours since my dream of flying became a reality, and as president of Philippine Airlines, my dream is for our national carrier and this incredible country and its people to fly higher and further into heights we have yet to consider scalable.

Life as a journey is not always calm and smooth, but it is a journey of constant growth. Whether we succeed or fail, every experience teaches us something that makes us better. 

When the glass is half-empty, that’s a call for us fill it up.