I’ve decided to start a series focusing on the many motherhood statements being churned out by politicians and even well-meaning citizens.
It is my hope that by doing this I would be able to help rid this world of senseless platitudes and faulty “feel good” statements. At the very least, I hope to be able to shed some light on these motherhood crap.
For starters let’s examine the idea that a better society can be realized if the citizenry wants it. Last time I checked, the Filipino people have been wanting a better Philippines since time immemorial. It’s 2009 already and still the country is nowhere near better.
Some would say “want” is the problem and that the people should “work” for change. Ok. While “working” for change is obviously better than merely “wanting” it, I am convinced this is also not enough. Again, last time I checked, the closest the Filipno people got to achieving anything significant by “working” for change was during the so called EDSA people power movements. Regime changes were achieved with two of the three EDSA movements. But what happened afterwards? Nothing.
Now, we could probably argue that the key word should not be “work” but “work constantly.” Yes that could be the best formula. Filipinos should work constantly for change. But, there’s still a problem here and it’s very basic. Who would want to work constantly for change? Any volunteers?
That’s the godawful truth. No one has the energy or resources to truly work constantly for change especially if that translates to keeping daily tabs on our government officials, ensuring that all citizens are living their lives in accordance with the laws of the land, etcetera etcetera etcetera. That’s just too much work to ask.
My contention is this: the citizenry can’t be expected to do all these watchmen sh_t. We’re too busy with running our own lives. I say the idea that real, lasting change is possible through citizen’s action is only partly true. Citizen’s action can only go so far. The best it can achieve is pave the way for some sort of dramatic transition between one set up to another. After that nothing more.
My other contention is this: real, lasting change in society is only possible if the people running the government will work consistently for it. I believe this is more realistic. Who holds real power? Please don’t tell me about power emanating from the people. That’s just another motherhood idea. Real power comes from above and I’m not talking about God. I’m talking about our elected and appointed leaders.
The power to initiate, implement and ensure change in our society rests more on our leaders.
Now going back to the idea of power emanating from the people. There is one and only one situation where this applies. Election day. We can help give our country a chance to become a better place on that one special day. Let’s vote wisely. Hopefully we’d elect someone who will truly give the country’s best interest priority over anything else. After that we can all go back to our own lives. Those who feel they have the energy to keep tabs on our newly elected officials can do so if they want to. Just don’t expect others to do the same.
(clearly this is an extemporaneous rant so pardon any writing errors)
I recently wrote this and I want to share it with you:
“It should matter less who gets elected as President in 2010, what should matter more is our commitment to be better citizens.”
You may not fully agree with the first part, but perhaps you may agree with the second part.
What is really within our power to change? It is ourselves.
My contention is that if we change ourselves first, we can spur change in others and if a critical mass is reached, perhaps it can lead to a change in the country.
If I, for instance, refuse to bribe my way out of a traffic ticket — that’s one less incident of corruption. If I participate in a daily Earth Hour (this is an idea you brought up and I am now implementing in my house), then I am contributing to energy conservation. More examples can be made of this principle at work.
Keeping the government in check? Now, agreeably, that is one tough mother to crack. Then again, there are those among us who are actually duty bound to do this (the Ombudsman, for instance, in the area of graft and corrupt practices) or who have volunteered their time to do this (cause oriented groups).
We can work for change, just merely by changing ourselves and committing to be better citizens. Or we can make it our life’s mission and actually find a way to make changing things for the better a job.
Anyway, just sharing this with you BP.
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but the question is can we really expect everyone or even a great majority to take it upon themselves to be good citizens? i seriously doubt it. just my pragmatic opinion.
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