Cory Cojuangco-Aquino came to power after the martial law regime, the dictatorship of Marcos. Barack Obama now is in power after 8 years of Bush administration full of lying, and an unprecedented economic recession that could drive the US to a full-blown civil war if not stopped right away. Cory worked for the peaceful transition of the country into a democratic state. Obama is now working for a peaceful recovery of the state of comfort the Americans used to have.
Why do minorities achieve power after times of inhumanity? What is it in their character to be able to take on the challenge of accepting the need to help, to serve and to be truly effective in turning the tide of adversities?
It is not and never easy to steer a country to a peaceful state where people would still believe that democracy can work. Leaders have to contend with many sectors, forces of reaction not wanting to shake up their hold on power, or wealth. But it is the appeal of human reason, to the Christian spirit, that humane spirit of helping the other person, the need to share blessings -- both knowledge and material wealth -- which shapes the kind of leaders there are.
I received a uniformal message from US Pres. Barack re his speech yesterday and it was full of plans to recovery. We in the Philippines have not had such a grand speech for a long, long time and coming from a sincere person. So our duty now is to search for that person, the one true leader who will lead us from the morass of ignorance, of lack of willpower to change, and will generate hope in every Filipino, man, woman, child, elderly and the country in general. Come 2010,let us make sure that no more cheating would occur.
Lastly, allow me to reveal that everytime I see our map in a magazine, or an atlas, and surrounded by other countries, I feel a tugging in my heart, telling me everytime that this is the same land that our heroes and heroines fought for for us to have our own national identity and spirit. This was the same feeling I had the first time I looked at a map in 1981 to find out where the airplane I was going to ride from Manila to Amsterdam would pass. And I felt very low then because the plane from Europe was not going straight to Manila - it would still pass by Hong Kong, because the Philippines was not a direct landing place then. We were really a Third World country then, and until now, i suppose.
Henceforth, let it be a demand, an order for everyone: everytime you are hopeless about the country, about our people, look at our map and feel a surge of nationalistic feelings. Feel that love for the ordinary folks and act.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
On presidential palaces
I read the history of the White House in Wash.DC this afternoon and I felt my heart skip a beat. How could a half-black president sleep in a huge house full of memories of people who lived during the colonial era and some of whom had a hand in keeping the black people in bondage? How do he and his family feel now walking on all its floors knowing that some of those people had hobnobbed with the royalties of various countries and did not mention anything at all about the black people's participation in the national affairs?
I thought it was very eerie seeing how history is turning upside down now -- that the black people are represented and a person of that race, Barack Obama, is leading a nation of 52 states with histories of varying states of treatment of their ancestors. Maybe there is a reason for all of these happenings, an unfathomable rationale that the world is turning around more rightfully.
The book, the title of which was just plain The White House, gave a textual parade of all the residents of that House and how it underwent several overhauling as the materials could not withstand the tests of time and weather. One prominent aspect of that history is the highest regard that the occupants had for the building, which could be readily understood as it symbolizes the shelter of the person occupying the highest position of the land.
In the Philippines, we also have the Malacanang Palace as its counterpart, but when Cory Conjuangco-Aquino succeeded after Marcos, the dictator was booted out, she had chosen not to live in that Palace as it brought her gross memories of the assassination of her husband and the many incidents surrounding his incarceration during martial law. Maybe Cory would be seen as too sensitive as to skip that opportunity of living in that highly important building. Or she loved Ninoy more than her historical role of continuing the saga of the people's search for genuine democracy geographically. Nonetheless, we commend her courage in offering and risking her life to confront Marcos at a time when it was too dangerous to do so.
But if we are going to be true to our work as change agents of society, I believe that the greater demand for us is to be able to show that every corner of our nation is a palace in itself and its inhabitants are royalties who deserve all the respect of their human rights.Let the presidential residence remain as a symbol, but not the one and highest symbol of power, as the power of the people resides in every square mile of the country.
I thought it was very eerie seeing how history is turning upside down now -- that the black people are represented and a person of that race, Barack Obama, is leading a nation of 52 states with histories of varying states of treatment of their ancestors. Maybe there is a reason for all of these happenings, an unfathomable rationale that the world is turning around more rightfully.
The book, the title of which was just plain The White House, gave a textual parade of all the residents of that House and how it underwent several overhauling as the materials could not withstand the tests of time and weather. One prominent aspect of that history is the highest regard that the occupants had for the building, which could be readily understood as it symbolizes the shelter of the person occupying the highest position of the land.
In the Philippines, we also have the Malacanang Palace as its counterpart, but when Cory Conjuangco-Aquino succeeded after Marcos, the dictator was booted out, she had chosen not to live in that Palace as it brought her gross memories of the assassination of her husband and the many incidents surrounding his incarceration during martial law. Maybe Cory would be seen as too sensitive as to skip that opportunity of living in that highly important building. Or she loved Ninoy more than her historical role of continuing the saga of the people's search for genuine democracy geographically. Nonetheless, we commend her courage in offering and risking her life to confront Marcos at a time when it was too dangerous to do so.
But if we are going to be true to our work as change agents of society, I believe that the greater demand for us is to be able to show that every corner of our nation is a palace in itself and its inhabitants are royalties who deserve all the respect of their human rights.Let the presidential residence remain as a symbol, but not the one and highest symbol of power, as the power of the people resides in every square mile of the country.
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