Never Forget! Or Learning To Remember?

Posted By: Lance 

Watching the protests about where President Marcos was buried I actually saw an ironic outcome that I doubt those who opposed will grasp as most of them seem to be unthinking beyond the immediate moment. Having him buried in the National cemetery has a huge positive they totally missed, and here it is. Everyone serves as an example, even despotic tyrants and dictators serve to show us what we should not be like and by burying him in the high profile location he will be on display forever to act as a reminder about the dark days when he was the Commander in Chief.

The whole anti burial thing is so unthinkingly stupid. It really reveals how lacking in intelligence they are as they are not thinking how his burial is actually beneficial to their alleged policies. They could turn the site into a memorial to a dictator to serve as a reminder to all why that kind of leadership should never be allowed again. Instead they are displaying the precise behavior displayed by Marcos, now showing them up as being as bad if not worse than he was.

If they get their wish and have him taken away to some dark back water they will do the exact opposite of what they seek and turn him into a kind of martyr where those who believed in his thinking will continue to glorify his deeds. By putting him in the National Cemetery they will defeat such an outcome and he will be in a place to be a constant reminder of what happens when a man is allowed so much power that it corrupts him and all around him.

One of the arguments I am always hearing is if we forget our history we will forget its lessons, well if he is out in the open and in our faces by being buried in the national cemetery, this will prevent both happening. One could actually take things even a step further, and turn the entire cemetery into a massive tourist destination, similar to Arlington Nation Cemetery in Washington D.C. Those assigned to guard the respective Presidents, and other VIP’s located on the grounds, could answer questions regarding these key figures in Philippine history.

Just an unbiased view of the whole situation, and another way of viewing the way this event could be used to prevent another idiotic waste of time and money.