BY: DONALD SEVILLA
A WHIFF OF NOSTALGIA
Gone were the days where honor and character mattered most in public service.While people enter politics for a variety of reasons, rarely do we find those who do so out of a deep sense of passion and commitment to serve.
The bitter reality bites us in the face as we’ve regressed into a world where personal gain and interest reign supreme over the public good.
What has happened to us? Are we just plain unlucky or cursed by our heroes who shed their blood for nothing?
Years of history do not seem to teach us well and we keep falling for the same stereotypes in our electoral exercises. We elect the same crooks,thieves and what have we to lead us.
While we may be fully aware, this happens because most often we are left with no other choice. Righteous and well-meaning people shy away from government as only those with iron stomachs and thick faces keep eagerly presenting themselves.
Those that deserve ouř support often fade in the background as those ” volunteering” folks take the spotlight.
Hence we end up with airheads, moneyed individuals with no interests other than their own and others less desirable.Wè end up choosing people of mediocre qualìy to lead us.
Our politics have become commercialized and businesslike that COMELEC may be better off putting these elective pòsitions for sale for government to earn revenues rather than living in hypocrisy pretending to be a truly demòcratic society.
Many ills we can talk about and discuss endlessly but unless we change ourselves we can never leave the dark. Altering ouŕ mindsets drastically needs to be ďonè to set us on course.
This sounds lìke a tall oŕder as we grapple with our inner demons. But let us not lose hope.We must keèp fighting on no matter how hopeless it may seem.
Advocacies like “no vote buying: reverberate strongly every election season ànd have become a cliche, but we must not be deterred in our quest to improve the system.
Let us remember that a long journey begins with a single step . No matter how small, no matter how trivial it may seem we must begin with us.