I really enjoyed your article “Extreme Learning” about this time being our planet's final exams. Foreboding as it sounds, you are correct in the analogy that this time is our "finals" and the question is whether we’re going to pass or flunk. Yes, our lives as well as the lives of our children depend on it.
Too many "I wish" and "if only": If only there were enough foresight and long term planning from ALL the governments on the planet. I wish the United Nations was a bit more focused on keeping the equilibrium of peace. If only we could have been self-sufficient enough to support our own people in our little part of the globe. Too many wasted opportunities, too much wasted land. I think our government fails to remember that time wasted is time gone for good. They can't recall that lost time, they can't say let's leave it for tomorrow.
What really got me going was a news item last night about an elderly gentleman, a grandfather perhaps, who died from heat stroke from standing in line for NFA rice for 4 hours under this heat. If we had enough empathy to put ourselves in his shoes or the shoes of those he was standing in line for, that tells us the real state of our nation. And those in government who spend their hours in air-conditioned rooms and air-conditioned cars wouldn't even know what the heck I'm talking about.
From my citizen’s point of view, they lack empathy, sympathy, a sincere desire to serve the public and really work with INTEGRITY and HONESTY, just doing what's expected of them as "mentors" or "caretakers" of this country. Both administration and opposition focus only on their political career and their need to stay in their positions, on party loyalty (as though their party were paying for their salaries), on mudslinging each other, on "pogi-points" through press conferences. My favorite line to describe everyone in government is "puro kwento, walang kwenta" – all talk and air between the ears.
Had they had any mass between the ears - our country wouldn't be in this situation right now. The Church butting into politics is also all noise. Maybe they should also open up their stockrooms and start feeding the poorest of the poor instead of depending on LGUs and private charities to pick up where they never took off.
We can't control global prices of commodities like oil, wheat, and flour, but rice? We taught Thailand and Vietnam how to plant fast-yielding rice and now we're importing from them? It’s a stupid scenario. We're an island nation surrounded by vast oceans and yet our seafood prices are so ridiculous that in my last visit to Vancouver, I was shocked to find out that king prawns are cheaper packaged (shelled and de-veined in plastic bags) there than in our own country! Prices of seafood in our country are so staggering that sometimes it seems cheaper to buy pork, beef or chicken than fish and other seafood items.
I'm happy, in a sordid way, that PGMA got a taste of what hundreds of Filipinos have to deal with - the incompetence of government agencies. I hope she has another encounter with her incompetent officials to really make her see what we all have to deal with daily. I also hope she realizes that she needs to put men of integrity in those positions because incompetent people cost money and lives.
I know what you meant when you said it’s hard to be President at this stage of the game - but she's always boasted about her being strong-willed and her no-nonsense governance. I'd like to see her do something about it instead of just saying it. She’s a woman and I'm sure her male advisers are advising her to be more motherly and feminine, to be softer in her statements and all that feminine crap. I totally disagree with them. She needs to put her foot down, get the cane from the closet and whip their lazy butts off their office chairs and make them move! How many more grandfathers or grandmothers have to die from heatstroke standing in line for rice for more than 4 hours?
I hope to read more interesting articles from you. I really got a laugh from this one. It made me smile and worry at the same time.
