TO LIVE EVERYTHING WITH NO FEAR
The mere thought of the two-hour time frame was enough to send jitters down my spine, but I accepted the challenge regardless and rounded a trusted team to share in the struggle. The task of securing a few moments with Maria Ressa was, in itself, gargantuan already. Rappler’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer has quite the hectic schedule. Having made headlines here and abroad, talks and interviews, on top of work, had keeping her busy—not to mention the grueling legal battles she is currently facing. And constant flux of changes in her demanding itinerary, we were lucky enough to have been in to have her photos taken and for me to conduct the interview. idea of conversing with one of the country’s foremost stalwarts in the fight for truth defending the free press was a week’s worth of anxiety. And I took it upon myself to write , seemingly profound questions—with a fraction of the effort devoted to impressing a I admire superlatively. I found the one-hour conversation unexpectedly carefree and flowing, even if grappling with my intense nerves. Maria could talk for hours—just as by purpose and driven by mission as many perceive her to be. It was infectious. my notes after the first question for the flow of my inquisition. Amidst caffeinated and the struggle to hold back tears, plunging into her verbal rhythm and stream of , was incredibly enlightening and immensely uplifting.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke
THE SCHOOL OF TRUE GRIT
Maria laughs when I ask her about the laudable spirit of fearlessness ingrained in her and Rappler’s identities. “I don't think we're doing anything other than our jobs,” she says, looking back. “It's more challenging. It's certainly more dangerous in the sense that—my gosh, in order to do what I did—to be a journalist, you can go to jail now.” Next year, Maria
