Written on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 6:36pm.
CORONADO, Andrew Joseph Q.
10625224
CITIGOV
Sir Louie Montemar
Nine years back, I never really knew what was going on with my country, as far as I am concerned I could care less and not give a damn about all the fuzz with the Impeachment hearings but the thing is it interfered with my television viewing time. Back then I lived alone for the most part of the night until my parents arrive after work, as for my siblings they were away in apartments and condominiums near their respective colleges. I used to watch those monotonous anime shows and soap operas but then during that time I was forced to view the hearings because I was bored and our family did not have cable television back then. So there I was a young 11 year old kid coerced by the circumstances to watch the presidential hearings. Interesting enough, the characters of this seemingly one-sided odyssey remained vivid to me: Chavit Singson; the governor guy who owns a tiger and a gambling buddy of the president, Miriam Defensor-Santiago; an apparent hot-headed and sometimes incoherent lady, who speaks eloquent words that I do not fully comprehend, Joker Arroyo; this little guy who speaks with so much passion even though he has this weird sounding accent, Clarissa Ocampo; this lady who reminds me of my mother which is good with bank notes and signatures and testified to have seen face-to-face the president signing off accounts with a different alias, Manny Villar; who almost did a rap song just so that the case would be passed onto the Senate, Franklin Drilon; who could miss his ever so big double chin and his deep voice and Edgardo Espiritul; this pudgy guy who seems very inconsistent with his words, intentions and actions which may be brought forth by the fear that he is facing amongst all the attention that he is getting. To me they were just all characters, I don’t really know who is bad and or who is good during that time I never really intended on knowing. But then when I realized the gravity of what this event would have to my country in general and to me as a person, I was moved. I saw the people in Edsa and I never really knew what they were fighting for but it occurred to me that if all of them are gathered there for one cause then it must be really one big cause for the country and soon enough when all of the rumble jumble was over there was a new president, for which other people did not really want to be in position, while others just wanted Erap to step down. It was a moving moment for me and I was awakened by the fact that unity is possible, in that current time I was studying HEKASI and for all I know unity was one big problem of our heroes back then, but I saw it with my own eyes that it is indeed possible.
As I grew up I became politically aware of what was happening in my country and how messed up it is and I always see it as that Volkswagen car parked outside the street where I lived in –broken, rusted and not even safe to come near to. I lost hope for my country but I was young back then. When I got into college I was exposed to the bigger world, and I saw the difference of how people think in this place. It was so radical and it was so ambitious but still they keep on fighting for their rights, they stand up and people actually listen to them; they are heard. Now looking at what I am in the present, I am a citizen in the works – in the process and am continuously progressing. I now see my country at a different lens, lens of that of hope and positivity. I totally understand my past actions now of how I was a selfish citizen, before I do not totally care because I am in a position not to, I do not feel the repercussions of what was happening to my country as compared to the poorer people because I am not totally affected by it. This position is now changed I now believe that whatever position that I have right now is not just totally for my own good but rather it must be shared, I must continuously inspire other people to see the brighter side because there are still people like me that still believe that there is something that can be done. As Andrew Matthews’ would put it one could not force someone to change but rather he must help the other to realize that he wants to change because it is for the better. If all of us who are able to see this could move other people in the same direction then we are headed for a much bigger change for ourselves and for our country but this is not about doing quantum leaps wherein we opt for something to happen almost immediately, it is a process – we do not need another EDSA and or something of that proportion so that our country would be better. If only we start with ourselves then other people would see what we are doing and then soon enough we reach a common goal – we become nationalistic, we become more proud of what we have and we would be the first one to praise our country and not the other way around. We become people of solution and not of problems, so long as we are in the same track as everyone else. If we truly believe in ourselves and the infinite human potential that we all possess, we can all say that we could make a difference, I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Let us not lose hope for our country, let us believe of what we can do as a nation but we could only do it if we start with ourselves. Know what is happening, take action and do the right thing. Sacrifice ourselves for the greater glory of our country, like what those people from the impeachment hearings did, they stood up and sacrificed their own personal safety for all of us. As Randy David would put it: They are human, too; they are not unafraid, and they are torn by divided loyalties. But something great moves them. There are many more like them, Filipinos who decide at one point that life is nothing if it is not lived for an ideal.
They are not special people, they are just people like you and me but they decided to take the high path and serve their country beyond themselves – for an ideal.
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