MEN OF VALUE : JOJO SAYSON
By James Riordan

Our man of the year is Jojo Sayson. This interview really exemplifies what we are all about here at Men of Value.

Springboard to Heaven by Joyo Sayson

Jojo Sayson is an internationally renowned educator and motivational speaker. He is a Physical Therapist and Doctor of Manual Therapy who owns his own clinic, a research scientist with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), a Lieutenant Commander with the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, an author (Springboard to Heaven: The Jojo Sayson Adventure), and the founder of Project Michelangelo and the Alliance of Superheroes for children with cancer. And he is a very committed Christian. He believes that his values have had much to do with determining the path of his life. “The values I have placed upon faith, family, & freedom,” Sayson said, “have allowed me to take a step back with introspection to examine each consequence of my decisions, ask forgiveness and/or make amends to my mistakes, but in times of positive outcomes, move forward and teach to lead others by example than proclamations. These values then became my logical & moral compass in making decisions in life with a sense of foresight tempered by accountability.”

Sayson describes his values as follows: “The crux of wanting to live life is to have a sense of worthiness & purpose, variables that even the sciences of neurophysiology & psychiatry confirm as essential to well-being of the brain producing a healthy balance of neurochemicals. Value is hence, the ascribed descriptor of these human elements. For me, faith is my decision to be subservient to the profound, an inexplicable surrender made joyful by a child-like sense of awe & gut certainty to the existence of pure intellect (I believe as God) from which all minds come from. Family is the core structural foundation of the individual & must be preserved as without which ‘quenching of loneliness’ drives the family-less individual in many essential decisions in life. It is an inherent human need to have a morally intact family hence, without it the psyche seeks a replacement unfortunately sometimes via gangs, morally inept, or socially deviant associations. Freedom for me is the ability to individually pursue the development of the mind & its expressions intellectually, artistically, & spiritually within the moral constraints of society but with a moral obligation to cause no harm to the well-being of others.”

When asked how his values might have limited his life choices, Sayson replied that “the limiting factor to my values with regard to choices always revolve in considering the delicate balance between the easiest thing to do which is to gratify the self or do nothing, and the hardest thing to do which is to place others before oneself. This limitation to act or not act on an intention is set forth by a firm belief of my values & the actions I ultimately decide is guided by ‘to cause no harm’ to others. I do believe in sometimes acting to be a ‘force’ of God to defend & protect others when an action by another is causing intentional harm to them.” Sayson said that his primary inspiration would have to be Jesus Christ, but that he is also influenced by “philosophers, astronauts, clergy, children with life-threatening illnesses, the elderly especially WWII, Korean, & Vietnam veterans of the United States & Philippine Armed Forces.” Sayson has called the United States the greatest country in the world.

“I think the United States is the greatest country in the world, where greatness can easily be defined by counting how many people from around the world want in than want out. There is however, a modern trend to taking God away from the basic foundations of the US Constitution & the educational system, the moral template from which laws were enacted in favor of appeasing the loud portion of the population who continue to fight for moral convenience, & re-interpreting laws by twists of words than common sense. A Godless country will implode to chaos. However, I believe that right will prevail in the end.”

Like many, Sayson has been concerned about the direction of the country and stated that, “The primary problems of this nation have to do with leadership, the media, motivation and something I call ‘collective amnesia’. Concerning national leadership, almost half of the population does not pay taxes and their votes seem to be swayed by politicians’ emotional play of promises of conveniences in life with less effort on the people’s side. Then you have the lack of accountability in the media. Everyone in the nation (or the world) without exception has individual viewpoints that are molded by what they read, see, and hear in the media. There is a lack of accountability and a progressive loss of objectivity. Whoever the media favors would easily be given more thumbs up and subconscious public approval than other political opponents. This has created the loss of the critical thinking voter in favor of ignorance to become the emotional voter. Motivation is also a huge problem. There is a defeated paradigm of thinking in the great portion of the population especially those in the low income sector, a “blame someone” than the self for the deficiencies of life. Then finally, I feel we, as a nation, are forgetting the sacrifices of our forefathers and the reasons why the United States was formed. To forget is to lose gratitude, is to lose patriotism, is to lose cohesion as true Americans. A famous political figure recently stated that we are no longer a Christian Nation. I disagree with that statement. America is a Christian Nation from its very roots, a nation that is kind, benevolent, and loving enough to accept all other faiths even those with no faith. But there seems to be a sort of ‘Collective Amnesia’ where we have forgotten our roots. For sure, if in God we indeed put our trust, the United States would truly become the shining city on the hill of humanity.”

Sayson believes that the best way to make things better is to better educate the children. “We must start with the children, the future leaders of the nation and jump-start the educational system if at all possible. We need a return to God with the teaching of basic principles of morality, respect for authority, and accountability. We need to teach the impor-tance of the value with commemoration of the sacrifices rendered by our forefathers and veterans of war, and establish a clear vision of what the future America should be like.” With men as talented, dedicated and inspiring as Jojo Sayson leading the way, the greatness of a God seeking America could be a reality once again.