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EDITORIAL & OPINION
THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 5 Number 1 | October 2014
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE
Are we in the Dark Ages again?
H
umanity seems
to be going
through
some sort of Dark
Ages. Some people who speak in the name of
their religions have completely
gone berserk. In the name of God,
many men, women and innocent
children are being bombed, killed,
and yes, beheaded. For the life of
me, as much as I try to understand
the roots of conflict in different
parts of the world, I cannot wrap
my head around any justification
for such barbaric behavior.
We are in the 21st century. Humanity has seen many periods in
history, which I would imagine
should have taught us valuable lessons. Apparently, I am mistaken.
The events in the news are simply crazy, unjustifiable and inhuman. Sometimes I wonder if we
are we losing it as a species.
Throw in old issues that remain
unsolved and unaddressed. People of the world, climate change
WILL do us in at the rate we are
going. It is already beginning to do
so. It will not be just the low-lying
islands that will experience catastrophic consequences, ALL of us
will see within our lifetime an earth
less and less conducive to life, all
in just a matter of decades. And
yet, we continue to do business,
feed our unsustainable economic systems and consume as we do
oblivious to all the signs that tell us
we must stop doing it.
Hunger stalks many parts of
the world. There is still a lot of
poverty that needs to be wiped
out. Terrorism is on the rise. New
diseases are plaguing us. Wars
have broken out in many parts of
the globe.
It feels like the balance of
things has tilted somewhat to a
darker side. I find myself confused, demoralized, and very sad
about the state of affairs of the
world.
I try to imagine what it must
have been like to have lived
through the Inquisition, the Crusades, the many wars over religion and politics, the Black
Plague, the World Wars, the Holocaust, Pol Pot’s rule, etc. when
the world seemed cruel and insane. Imagine the horror of it especially for those who refused to
silence their consciences and fight
back. While many otherwise sane
people marched with the lemmings of darkness, the mobs of insanity, prejudice, false righteousness, there were those who did not
lose themselves.
These were the people who
stood against the tide of negativity. They must have mustered every strength they could to resist
the madness. Through the hardship of it all, they managed somehow to keep their humanity intact
sometimes by their own lonesome
selves. Thank God, world history
eventually moved on somehow
and saw itself go through periods
when mankind bloomed and the
world looked more promising.
But all is not well again.Sometimes I wish I could join a spontaneous gathering of people who
feel the same as I do and just have
a collective cry, and feel assured
that on this side of humanity, we
have not gone mad.
Sometimes, I ask myself if ordinary people can do anything. My
common sense tells me that it will
be incumbent upon everyone to
contribute to the solutions needed.
We all hold a piece of the peace,
and we must put them together.
So, what can we do? A lot. We
may not hold the levers of power,
money, military might but we are
not entirely helpless. In the spaces we occupy, in our own lives,
we can be responsible enough and
guarantee that we will hold the
peace as best we can. How? Let
me count some ways.
1. Let’s be kinder to everyone including strangers that we
meet. The simple act of smiling,
or giving way during traffic, the
kind words we utter etc., may be
enough to give anyone we meet a
lift for the day.
2. Let us be respectful and tolerant. Let us not lord our religious
beliefs on people who do not
share our values. Let us not fight
or name-call. When the heat of
discussion is too much, let us not
fall into our ego’s need to win. It is
ok to walk away. Let us know the
wisdom of knowing when NOT
discuss religion, politics at all.
3. Let us clean our surroundings. Pick up garbage in front
of our homes. Do not litter anywhere. And let’s be mindful about
what we do that contributes to
waste, pollution and degradation.
4. Let us always be mindful of the large gap between the
haves and have-nots in the world.
When we can (and we can most of
the time), let us share things, give
away stuff that may be useless
to us but useful to others. Or better yet, give away some valuable
stuff. Sometimes, it is not giving
until it hurts. Maybe we can contribute to scholarship programs
that get more people educated,
or a feeding program to get kids
healthy enough to study and concentrate the whole day in school.
5. Let us get out of the culture of blame and simply do what
needs to be done and fix what
needs to be fixed. If anything festers and no one is doing anything
about it, maybe we are being
called to do it.
6. Let us imagine the ordinary to be sacred. It may start with
imagination but sooner or later, it
becomes a realization that there is
nothing ordinary about anything.
Everything is laden with poetry,
enchantment, and the Spirit that
animates the universe. When we
awaken to this, the quality of all
our experiences is elevated.
7. Make it a practice to look at
our enemies, people we despise as
whole human beings. It is easy to
demonize. We may disagree with
them, or even find them repulsive
but let us not forget that they are
humans like us. This view does
not preclude justice. It still must
be served but with less vengeance
and revenge, and more of hope that
they reform and feel atonement.
8. Lastly, we serve the world
when we are happy. Happiness,
passion are our mission in life.
Find the inner space where your
wellspring of happiness resides.
Drink generously from it and
spread the happiness around.
By doing these, maybe we can
drive away some of the darkness
that seems to envelop the world,
or at least light up the dark spaces
in our own lives.
JIM PAREDES
is a multifaceted creative. He sings,
composes, writes articles and books, teaches
at the Ateneo De Manila University, designs
and facilitates various types of workshops.
He is also a writer of books, a widely read
columnist for the Sunday Life section of Philippine Star, and a
well-known photographer.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
The risks of democracy
JESS DIAZ
DANNY
DINGLE
ALLAN
ESPINOSA
JIM PAREDES
GIL MARVEL
TABUCANON
I
t is still 2 years away
from the 2016 Philippine Presidential election and yet Filipinos are
already in full force endorsing candidates left and right. The inclusion and combination of some of these candidates, no doubt, will surprise,
irritate and excite you.
There is the MiriamDuterte, Poe-Robredo, BinayRoxas, Marcos-Gordon and
Escudero-Gibo tandems. You
can make your own tandem to
suit your liking. Being a free
speech loving secularist myself,
if I would be given the chance
to vote again, I would choose
Miriam-Robredo tandem mostly because I am attracted to Miriam’s intellectual prowess and
her liberal position on many social issues. I like Robredo’s integrity and her family’s dedication to honest governance in
Naga. But that’s me.
Many Filipinos howev-
er, I noticed, are also drawn to
Miriam, but in a different way.
They claim they would vote
for Miriam because of her nononsense approach to governance, her iron-will, her combative stance against corruption and incompetence, and
because they say she can get
the job done.
Surprisingly they say the
same thing about the firebrand
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who
likes to utter shooting threats
to anyone who he disagrees
with. The latest one was when
he said he would shoot the guy
behind the Duterte-for-President Movement. He is shaping up as this election’s dark
horse, a title previously enjoyed by Binay, who fell on
the side because of numerous
allegations of corruption.
So why are many Filipinos drawn to strong, authority
figures? Many observed that it
is because of rampant and un-
controllable crimes, corruption
and lawlessness in the country.
Irrespective of data and
statistics, I would have to
agree that this is true. Just listening to news and relatives at
home, crimes are so worse in
the Philippines even the police
cannot help and protect you.
Some, if not, most of the police are involved themselves.
Remember the photo of the
EDSA gun-poking incident
last Sept 1? These and other
criminals like the “riding in
tandem” gangs that roam the
streets of Metro Manila are
enough to scare anyone to not
visit the country.
When
situations
get
worse, as they already are in
the Philippines, many Filipinos are forced to accept any
candidate that comes along,
no matter how corrupt and incompetent. Instead of looking for candidates that respect
human rights and the demo-
cratic process, we are at times
left with no choice but to endorse the worst kind of people
in our society. An election after all is not just for display, it
must be taken seriously. Elections must be the gauge of our
maturing democracy. When a
candidate accused of corruption promises he will do to the
rest of the Philippines what
he did for Makati, that alone
should ring a lot of bells!
Democratising countries
like the Philippines, according to Gary J. Bass in the New
York Times, often “lack the
rule of law, organised political parties and professional
news media.” Although those
three items don’t necessarily
guarantee a successful democracy, neither a sure-fire formula towards building a true
democracy, I seem to agree
with this assessment. Looking at the Philippines, there is
hardly a semblance of rule of
law as rich, powerful, corrupt
people often get away with a
crime; candidates who wantonly jump from one political
party to another or even creating one for themselves; and a
media that gleefully prioritises TV personalities, ratings
and showbiz instead of engaging viewers with critical
thinking and frequent discussion on current issues.
It’s enough to make you
lose hope and weep.
ALLAN ESPINOSA
lives in Canley Vale NSW. He finished
philosophy in Notre Dame University in
Cotabato.
Follow Allan on Twitter @atheistpapa.