Sunday, July 03, 2005

Still proud to be a Pilipino?

Interesting email from a friend. She posted this at our barkada's yahoogroup. I can relate with her on a lot of her sentiments. I'm not sure how we're going to pull ourselves out of the mess our country is in. Whatever sad state we are in is the consequence of thougtless actions and poor judgment on the part of every person from several generations ago up to present - from each person who did this nation ill to every person who didn't care enough to do anything.


I said/promised before that no matter how bad things
get, I'll always be proud to be a Pilipino.


I broke my word for a while during July 2004 when the
Philippines pulled out from Iraq for the wrong
reasons, and "always" became "most of the time". I
don't care if any of you think that the war in Iraq
was not worthwhile. I don't agree with you but that is
not the point. The Philippines did not pull out of
Iraq because there were no WMDs to be found or because
it felt that its principles were being violated. It
pulled out because its government wanted good press
and popularity points from the poor ignorant masses
who wanted to save their so-called overseas "hero"
workers.


For the first time in the 24 years that I have
existed, I was ASHAMED to be a Pilipino.


But I bounced back and, once again, I was proud to be
a Pilipino (At least we're not French, right? Insult
intended.) until Thursday evening on my way home while
listening to the news on the radio.


You know your country has hit rock bottom when your
own legislators publicly vote on whether they should
break the law or not.


The Constitution has been reduced to nothing but mere
toilet paper. For the sake of public interest, of
course. Apparently, the demands of the masses and
popularity points are more important than protecting
our Constitution. Even more apparent is that
Congressmen can break the laws they made themselves
whenever they want to pander to the greatest common,
and often ignorant, denominator.


How disheartening it is to have the fact that
lawbreakers and criminals are ruling this nation
rubbed against your face so very thoroughly.


I am once again ashamed. Ashamed of this country and
its people. I don't know how I'm going to "bounce
back" from this. I have always looked at the
Philippine flag with pride and thought the Americans
were stupid for wanting to have the right to burn
their own flag. But now, I can't even bear to look at
it.


At the end of the day though, everyone but members of
the Communist Party of the Philippines should be giddy
with joy. The Philippines has finally achieved true
democracy: the rule of the majority unhindered by law.

this coffee break @ 9:21 PM