BY:DONALD SEVILLA
A LONG HARD LOOK AT OURSELVES
Don’t get me wrong, I love this country more than anyone does, but the way things are happening leave much to be frustrated about.
For once we were the crowning glory of this part of the world. What transpired, started decades ago has impeded our growth.
We Filipinos are a proud people. We love our independence, the freedom from our colonial masters which we fought hardly to keep.
Yet for all the years of struggling to be free, how did we end up enslaving ourselves? Not subjects of a foreign power but to our own selfishness and complacency.
Over time we took for granted our rich natural resources, bounties of nature that God has blessed us with more, compared to others.
For once we were leading the pack but now we are trailing far behind.
Governance has been tainted with our ineptitude and corruption. Scandal after scandal has bled our treasury dry.
Too much politics has spoiled our chances at moving fast forward and stunted our economic growth leaving our people wanting.
The political drama unfolding is a strong indication of what is wrong with ourselves. We forgot our priorities and allowed partisanship to take center stage.
While we managed to make do over time, the benefits of our economic boom of yesteryears did not trickle down to the masses.
Majority of our people still live a difficult life. Economic hardship has chewed into our fragile middle class while erring politicians live off the fat of the land.
And yet no matter how lofty our rhetoric has become, nobody has been held accountable. Corruption has kept our country hostage for years and perpetrators remain untouchable.
While we remain hopeful, our optimism is overshadowed by dark clouds over the horizon. Our leaders seem impervious to our plight, numb to our people’ s suffering.
Do we still have hope? I don’t want to give up although I’m tempted to. Running away may seem convenient and easy but as much as our leaders do, we have every right to live happily in this land of our birth and our ancestors.
Perhaps we need to reorient ourselves and change our way of thinking. A ” revolution” is called for, not by way of armed struggle and disobedience but a silent revolution to change our points of view.
Only by looking at ourselves long and hard can this be done, if indeed we are truly serious about our country’s future.
We must learn from our mistakes and from those of others!