By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
I am but a small voice!
“I Am But A Small Voice” is a song composed by a little girl, Odina Batnag, from the Mountain Province. The original composition was in Tagalog, Ako’y Isang Munting Tinig. The entry was translated into English with the title: I Am But a Small Voice. This, too, was the winning entry in 1982 when UNESCO celebrated the year for children. The melody was by Roger Whittaker.
Why have I thought of this song? It is because it is an appropriate line describe the situation that I am in right now. At my age, I can’t compete with the young especially when we talk about technology including the gadgets and their fast pace of development.
Tigulang na gyud si Sabel, is a favorite expression for those whose ages belong to our category. Nabiyaan na gyud si Sabel. Sabel, like me, is already left behind in the world of social media for the following reasons:
- I don’t use the cell phone that is expensive. I use the very affordable kind especially that each year, there are additional changes to the applications/mode.
- It is not a good practice to fight someone with the use of the cell phone.
- I am not also comfortable, if through the cell phone, I will be used as a channel to air complaints and and other gripes.
Last Sunday, my column was entitled: Maninoy, Maninay. In this column I mentioned the name of Alvin Uy, he being one of my kinugos. So, I am his maninay. I believe that my Maninoy, Maninay article could have encouraged a reader to express his complaint against my kinugos, Mayor Alvin Uy.
I am open to criticisms but I am not comfortable with the style that the complainant used in expressing his dissatisfaction over Mayor Alvin’s work. And since I Am But a Small Voice in the world of technology, I am responding to him through this column a complaint forwarded to me against Mayor Alvin.
The complainant is a certain young man whom I know since his childhood. I find him a passionate young guy who has the desire for good governance and protection of the environment. Kinsa man gud ang dili muangay ug maayong pang gobyerno ug limpyo nga palibot? But I do not like his manner of bringing out the complaint and using me as his channel (and absorber?) of the gripes that he has against the public official. If there is a word more than being abrasive to describe his style in expressing his complaint, then, that is the word.
He is posting on FB “the C.R. of Mayor Alvin Uy”. The Posting went viral and yet nobody commented on it. Walay nag comment sa Facebook. I think nobody minded his postings anymore.
This young man keeps on communicating with me through Messenger. So, as a SABEL with a small voice, I think I owe him an explanation, not on FB, but in my column where I am comfortable with. And It is up for people to really dig deeper about the issue.
My response to his complaint this: I’m going on 79 this year and I think, I belong now to the, I Am But a Small Voice generation. As one, I feel I have to be understood by the young generation. I should not be trampled upon because “Gray hair should be respected.” That’s how we were brought up by our parents. The complainant against Mayor Alvin belongs to the younger generation who can afford to forward to me some expressions and declarations which are nasty and are not supposed to be under my umbrella. I feel the complainant is not considering the small voice that I and my generation have in the world today.
This generation now would just say: Yakkk for something they abhor. But my generation would say “Ijara“. Ijara jud nang tawhana.
