I am not Michel de Nostradame. I am not Jojo Acuin. I am not familiar with reading neither the stars nor the movements of the planets. I am not one of them who could easily predict the signs of times. I am not.
The answer to the question stated above is just like choosing what you think is the implication of how you see in a half-empty glass, or a half-full glass, of water. It questions which side are you- an optimist or a pessimist.
Like what I have stated on the opening paragraph, it does not take me to read the stars just to predict what will happen to the Philippine society in the next 20 years. It is evident, especially when you open up the radio and listen to the latest news and events; or the dailies would banner the corruption, a maligned disease which eats up our rich resources, into the hands of the few, and the powerful; and television, the most common medium of communication in this technology-crazy world. It is not only corruption though that the Philippine society experiences each day, there are more than meets the eye.
I have to become a pessimist. A negative thinker. Why should I not be? When the rest of the Filipinos are not eating three times a day, when most of the people are not educated because they are poor enough to even step inside the school’s premises, when small children are forced to work while they had been literally just nursed up by their mothers, when there is always a grief when someone is lost and dying without even justice, the list becomes endless.
But the optimistic side of me persists- that there is still hope for this dying country to rise up again from its deep hibernation and slumber. In twenty years time, it is inevitable that we are going to have changes- in the society itself, because there will be a change in governance, and changes in the values of the Filipino people. Ningas cogon, bahala na attitude, crab mentality and all those negative traits that the people have mastered for the rest of history will be eradicated, and it will just a part of the books, so to speak. Economic, financial and moral recovery would be dependent on how Filipinos change their outlook in life, and on how they value those values for change. Ningas cogon would not be taken in a negative way, but on the positive side, a fire to change would be enkindled in everyone’s hearts and minds. Crab mentality would be on a new fashion, that instead of pulling down a compatriot, it will be pushing that individual to the limits of his/her capacity, to prove that he/she is worth every trust and confidence vested on him/her. Would it be nicer to push than to pull? And in the next twenty years, there will be no Filipino with head stooped down who would say I can’t do it, but with head held high and proud, I can!
The change that we like our government to give us depends on our personal outlook and value in life. What we think is what we are, like what psychologists would look into it. How are we going to discipline ourselves? Corruption is a culture like what Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said. Corruption is rampant, rooting from the barangay up to the big-time officials in the government. It is perhaps a trend even with teachers, which is not giving your best, when your best is being called for. How can one say no to corruption when he/she is the one who perpetuates them? it suffices to say then that the wrong set of values that we once had should be changed, if not completely eradicate them, into a more positive one, to achieve the goals that we had set for quite a long time now. It is not a change in the government that we need, not ChaCha, not a new presidency, not leadership. Change our values in life, which will start from the self, then the home, before going outside to a bigger milieu, the society in itself. It will be a hard thing to do.
Diverting oneself from the usual is hard. Leaving behind what you have used to do is hard, like leaving a loved one, and never looking back. The first step to a change, to move on, is usually the hardest thing to do. But for the betterment of the Filipino people, it is worth a try. Twenty years is not that long enough for a nation to peril. It is so short for a change too but nevertheless, once started, it will have a domino effect, it keeps on moving on and on, until perfection, the totality for a change is achieved. The road to perfection is not like walking on flower-strewn pathways nor on a red-carpet. It is a road that challenges, sometime, a road that leads to nowhere.
It might be a dream, but it is the sweetest of all dreams when it will be made into reality. And knowing the Filipinos, dreamers and achievers are we.
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