Thinking of something inspiring to post, instead, I was at a loss -- overwhelmed by negative thoughts about our country and people. The thought entered my mind that no matter what we say or do, things will only be going downhill for most of us. Unless our way of thinking and our way of acting will change radically, we will just end up again right where we started... which is nowhere.
If, for example, a really terrible earthquake leveled practically the whole of Metro Manila, what would happen to us? Would such an epic catastrophe finally galvanize us to really help each other -- instead of constantly quarreling over every contentious issue and problem in our overly-polluted political climate? Would a natural disaster of truly horrible proportions finally be able to knock enough sense into all of us -- and enable us to work together to survive -- rather than being constantly and pointlessly at odds with each other?
When shall we ever learn that the only way we can really go forward as a country is to think as one nation and act decisively as a people determined to break out of the trap of disunity -- which only results in endless anarchy and numbing apathy?
Where does our honor lie? Or do we have any honor at all? What for is our "tested resiliency" and reputation of good hospitality as a warm and openly friendly people? To what ends are the sacrifices of millions of Filipinos on a worldwide diaspora? Only for selfish economic reasons that are paid for with a very high price in tragedies and the disintegration of families, values and even the breakdown of nationalism -- because without an improvement in the status quo at home, much more would be going out of our country, effectively denying our poverty-stricken state the talents and industriousness of millions of hard-working Filipinos?
What for, really, is our freedom and our democracy -- won with the blood, sweat, and tears of countless heroes and ordinary people alike throughout our history? And how would history later regard us when we remain in the same state, or maybe even worse, as a country? Just how would our society shape up to be when its population continues to balloon to unsustainable numbers, while our general sensibilities continue to deteriorate down to the level of mere brats and fools?
If only we can learn to trust each other as having the same love for our country and people, and capable of mutual cooperation rather than annihilation; if only we can improve and learn from each other, instead of constantly pulling one another down the drain; if only we can unite under the vision of solidarity of progress and equitability unbesmirched with any kind of vested interests but only focused on the common good; if only we can seriously think of the future of our children and their children's children after them, and what our common legacy would be to our patrimony...
For most people, all these questions would revolve around and be highly dependent upon our President's capabilities, integrity, and will to succeed in attaining the best vision for our country and people. All the hopes and dreams and the very lives of our people, as well as the general welfare of our sovereign State, hang in the balance -- on the outcome of the fundamental question of whether or not the President truly can, through supererogation, bring us all to salvation.
~ 'pag may time
Caloy Bueno
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