Time for ‘re-think’

JB BAYLON

‘What is there for me to do with whatever is left of my life? I catch myself asking that question more regularly these days, following the death of an idol in Steve Jobs.’

I AM nearing the end of four decades of birthdays and will soon move into the fifth decade of counting. And as I ponder this potential – every forthcoming birthday, we all will have to admit, is only a potential and not an inevitability because God works in mysterious ways – I am filled with so many thoughts about people and places and moments and things that I believe are summed up in one very 21st Century word: RETHINK.

As my 49th year on this planet unfolds, and as one calendar year comes closer to its end, I am moved to conclude that we – you, I, our fellow Filipinos, in fact all of mankind – must somehow spend more time rethinking things because what obviously worked in the last 49 years may no longer work in the next 49.

Or the next nine, for that matter.

You and I can begin by focusing on our individual selves and wondering: what is there for me to do with whatever is left of my life? I catch myself asking that question more regularly these days, following the death of an idol in Steve Jobs. He lived to the ripe young age of 56, not too far from the age my own mother died, and yet in more than half of those 56 years he helped reshape not only a community or an industry but the whole world. Now I wouldn’t mind kicking the bucket at 56 if it can be said of me what has been said of Steve Jobs; I’d rather go early and be mourned for it than go late and end up with no one to mourn me. More importantly, I’d rather that when it is time to go I can look back and feel a little contented that the world has changed for the better – even a little bit – because I was part of it for an infinitesimal moment in time.

That’s why I look at the life Steve Jobs lived with some envy.

Then we can look at a slightly bigger picture – at our families. And here is where I sense we begin to see the problems in our society emerge.

You see, I remain convinced that over the last 100 years of the Philippine Republic we have not been able to forge something more than an association of families. And there are families and there are families, the 20 million families that make up our population of 100 Million, and the so-called "Manila 400’ families that have "ruled" this country from the time the Spaniards co-opted Rajah Sulayman and imposed their European-Catholic ways. Since then members of the ‘Manila 400’ have always been in or close to power, worming their way into places of influence through intelligence or guile, through the boardroom or the bedroom, and doing what it takes to stay there.

With politics and business so closely intertwined, our political and business elite have always found a way to survive, from the time of Governor General Despujol to the arrival of Admiral Dewey, from the time of Manuel Roxas to Manuel Roxas from the current Secretary of Transportation from the moment of the Balangiga massacre to the Mendiola massacre and the various Carlo J. Caparas massacre movies.

It’s been the same Manila 400 on top of the totem pole all through these years – and still we wonder why things never change in this country?

And then from our families we can take a look at an even bigger picture – our country, the relationship between the Manila 400 and the rest of us, and even the relationship between our country and its neighbors.

And at any level – from the individual perspective to the family perspective to the national perspective and the international/geopolitical perspective – I am left with that sense that now (or never!) is the time to rethink things, with the risk of not doing so being to drift (unnoticeably) aimlessly into irrelevance.

Yup – I feel that my life faces a risk of irrelevance if I don’t take stock of where I am now and what I want to do next with what time I have left on this planet. Yes, I feel that my family faces a risk of irrelevance if we don’t start pondering what the future lies after we leave this world. And yes, I feel that the Philippines risks becoming more and more irrelevant if it is unable to get its act together in the face of various challenges, both internal and external, in a world whose borders have been made less and less relevant thanks to people like Steve Jobs.

But lest you feel all these sound so…profound, let me give you examples that aren’t.

On my way to Himlayang Pilipino this weekend I noticed how the narrow streets leading to the cemetery are being dug up for the pipe laying (I think) of some utility company. That would normally be something I’d shrug my shoulders for, except that it’s about a week and a half before All Saint’s Day and it looks like the diggers won’t be finished by then.

Now – why in heaven’s name would someone dig up these little streets at this time of the year when a horde is soon about to deploy themselves for their annual pilgrimage? Was the choice of timing done in a vacuum? If so, maybe it’s time our utility companies rethink the way they do their schedules – unless this is part of the Catholic religious tradition of additional sacrifice as a way of cleansing your soul.

If so, I’d like to change religions.

Here’s another one. When a Filipino applies for a new passport because his old one has less than six months’ validity left in it, why can’t the DFA extend the validity of the expiring one while the applicant waits for the new one so that he can still travel if necessary? I don’t understand why waiting for new travel documents becomes some sort of "penalty" – you can’t travel, and the penalty becomes longer if the printing system somehow bogs down and the new passport cannot be issued on time.

And here’s a final one.

A few days ago one of my radio listeners lamented the fact that politicians only enrich themselves in office. So I said "Well, if that’s the case, why do you then insist on electing the same families into office, over and over again? If you know for a fact that a politician’s family enriches itself in office, then why don’t you elect a new family into office every elections so that we get to spread the wealth?"

I rest my case about the need for everyone to engage in some form of rethink. It’s time.