THE WHEELS OF CHANGE
by Donald Sevilla
The New Year started with less of a bang than it usually does as, perhaps, people are scrimping and tightening belts to prioritize basic necessities above all else.
The steady increase in fuel pump prices and the ridiculously skyrocketing prices of onions at the onset of the Christmas holidays continue to cast a shadow of doubt in our optimistic forecast for the year ahead.
While we do not wish to wallow in the doldrums we cannot help but wonder what more bad news it could bring. Although we humans are imbued with an indomitable spirit for survival, the obstacles up ahead seem more challenging. Our resilience may have been tested time and again, yet, we could be in for much bigger surprises, a lot of which may have to do with our own greed.
Over the years our insatiable pursuit of wealth has caused us to pillage our environment for material gain. Disastrous flash floods in areas of the country that traditionally were not susceptible to Mother Nature’s onslaught are now frequent. Natural disasters continue to wreak havoc and plague us as well as many other things of our own doing.
The recent debacle at our main international gateway NAIA which left thousands of people stranded and flights cancelled despite having spent billions on equipment upgrades that had our aviation officials pointing fingers at one another is but a testament to our human folly.
We can go on and on and cite glaring examples of things we could have learned lessons about but we keep on repeating. The need to change our ways and our perspective in a yearly resolution we keep subjecting ourselves to is a constant in our lives.
Yet, by far, how have we fared? We continue to learn our lessons the hard way. Thanks to our stubborn nature we keep on harvesting what we have sown.
In our local setting, things are no different. No less bleak a picture we can see no matter how rosy we want to paint it. With our people suffering everyday, having to survive the high prices of basic commodities and services, the least we can hope is for our public officials to show some empathy.
Yet in what appears to be a blatant disregard to our sensibilities, they’ve gone ahead to acquire for themselves brand new service vehicles they deem essential to their jobs.
This is adding insult to injury as those who swore to serve the very least of our people cannot do away with a little comfort and luxury and sacrifice like the rest of us.
This year may have started with our banged-up sense of values and priority, but we heap praises to those public servants who stood their ground with our people.
While all of France was scrambling for food to put on their tables, the ruling aristocracy could only say with a smirk on their faces in response to an impending famine, “If they have no bread, let them eat cake.” This sarcastic remark altered the course of a nation’s history as it showed the height of insensitivity and callousness.
For us Boholanos, perhaps, we can also indulge ourselves by saying, “Go home and plant cassava.” If we have nothing to learn and earn we are better off planting camote!
Poor us!