Faith in the Future, Out of the Now

The most optimistic act a person can do is to see in generations, believing that the best is yet to come. To believe that it is worth not living your promise in full now -- as painful as that might be -- if it means you can use what was denied at present to invest in and shape a better future and help in what's to come next. To believe that good trees, with deep roots, that bear fruits abundantly for a long time, take time to grow. And to know that the most natural thing for a native tree is to take root and grow in its homeland. 

A Sneaky Lesson Is No Lesson At All

I despise underhanded tactics, covert maneuverings, or hidden influences. There are those who will say these things are essential to keep peace and order, to keep security and safety, to guard against mal-intentions or to stop active threats. They are wrong. As proof, anyone who do engage is such covert, underhanded, or hidden tactics never do so fully at ease or at peace when doing it. Sometimes it hurts them more than who they are suppose to target. As another proof, no covert, underhanded, or manipulative influences have ever not surfaced to light. Often it has been necessary for those same people engaging in them to reveal them in time through debriefings, declassified documents, or confessions. But the ultimate proof that these tactics are essentially wrong is the fact that they never, never really work. Maybe they tide you over a little to some next agenda, but they never really hold. And it is known they cause more harm than good. It is bad practice. It is regressive. We all regress a little whenever they are deployed and they are a proof of weakness. Only the truth is lasting. Only the full, unadulterated, unvarnished, untampered truth can ever truly teach what needs to be taught, or keep safe what needs to be safeguarded.

Portrait of a Filipino as an Ugly Person (2)

"Masama ako pero mahal ko pamilya ko." "Nagnanakaw ako, oo, pero nagnanakaw rin naman mga mayayaman a." "Nagdrodroga ako, oo, ano ba pakialam mo?" "Makasalanan ako, oo, pero nagsisimba ako." "Wag mo na pahirapan sarili mo wala nang magbabago." "Pilipinas to wag ka na humingi ng pagbabago, wag kang umasa manloloko lahat yan." "Anong respeto, ang arte mo naman." "Anong mayabang, ako na nga agrabyado eh." "Oo may bago na akong kotse/motor, diskarte lang yan at waisan." "Bro ganito talaga kalakaran dito bro." "Sis wag ka na maarte sis." "Ngayon ka pa aayaw eh nagawa mo naman na dati." "Ganti ng api." "Bakit ikaw makikinabang eh ako nagpakahirap dito walang libre sa mundo." "Para ka namang bata walang inosente sa mundo." "Malaki kuhaan ng pera dun." "Madadaplisan ka ng libo-libo ganun ganun lang." "Pavictim." "Maghihiwalay rin yan." "May baho rin yan." "Demanding." "Padisente." "Ayoko tumanda bahala na mga bata kaya na nila yan basta ako magsasaya na." "Sino backer mo?" "Sino handler mo?" "Ano tinatago mo, lalabas rin yan, basta ako masama ako, oo, pero mahal ko pamilya ko."

Portrait of a Filipino as an Ugly Person

The tale of a stagnant Philippines with its long, twisted fascination with ghosts, karma, and generational trauma where the ruling class lives in haunted manors wearing caked make-up and sporting golden antique watches beckoning a hapless katiwala with one wave of their hand to quietly dispatch of a deformed infant born out of wedlock from the unholy union of one of the ruling family's sons and one of the servant girls only to be told by the local abortionist who works for the town parish priest that an insane woman wandering the plaza had recently lost a child and would probably be the secret fix everyone is looking for -- this story -- is getting old.

The more modern version of a sugarol, basement dwelling spoiled brat of the family who has power and influence in both showbiz and politics and who squandered their inherited pieces of land to buy whores, drugs, and celebrity status only to hit rock bottom when suffering from extreme drug abuse withdrawal symptoms and end up a "reformed sinner" at a local born-again Christian worship place singing gospel songs and delivering self-righteous sermons is really no better of a tale, just as tiresome, and really, really getting old.

They ask, "but what about of karma, what about of our hardships and the debasement we endured for so long that the gods favored us for by giving us the right to earn tons of money from illegal activities that nonetheless built this nation from nothing?" They ask, "how can you judge who is sinner and saint among men and why should we once again crawl back into the dark, impoverished hole we fought so hard to crawl out of sacrificing our dignity and trading our souls to fairly get out of?" 

I say to them, what is right is right and justice is on the side of the righteous only. To those who do not believe and question whether there is truly such as thing as a one true way or as righteousness, or if we are all just spinning this cycle of life together sinners and saints alike with no power to judge our fellow men, I say, the one true way exists, and we ought to know it, for if we do not, then we are simply lost. And a tale of lost travelers who never find their way home is a story no one really wants to hear.

Forgiveness Is Not One Click Of A Button Away

Repentance is not a voucher you just claim at any point. Redemption is not a given. Forgiveness is not a done deal. Salvation is a gift to be received only by those made worthy.

Heroes who have spilled their blood to reclaim the lost and martyrs who have given their lives to wash away our pain will not pop up like mushrooms nor endlessly be on this walk with us. What we have lost, is lost. And there is no guarantee that they will be redeemed.

Anything deemed important must be handled with care for they are not items instantly available to gratify our desires with one touch of a button. If we deem life to be important, then we must understand that some things take more effort than a press of a button.

So as long as we are prepared to give the required effort, then maybe we can be made worthy. Maybe we can be forgiven and redeemed. Maybe repentance can happen sooner. Maybe what is lost can be gained back because everything has been set right again, and the error in our ways have now been corrected instantaneously.

Why Paradise is Efficient

Democracy need not be an exercise in disappointing everybody. Democracy is the practice of freedom and self-governance aimed at reaching the best outcome for everybody. The best outcome for everybody is what right, just, moral, and true. Anybody on the side of what is right, just, moral, and true should get their way 100% percent of the time in a truly democratic way of life. Democracy does not need to be messy and unwieldy and slow. It should be efficient and effective as a tool to achieve noble goals. Achieving noble goals should please everyone. Democracy should be an exercise in truly satisfying everybody's higher ideals, and not of ineffective and disappointing compromises at every step that dispirits our most sincere and truest intentions.

"Filipinos are Kind"

Filipinos are kind. They are gracious. They are dignified. They do not yield. We will give ourselves the highest compliments if we talk about resilient hospitality and people-pleasing skills but one thing we do not say we are is "Excellent".

"Filipinos are excellent." We compete, we excel and we win. We are not ready for this. In terms of the greatest Filipinos who have contributed so much to the development of our country we have stopped recording at Rizal's generation, as if our soil never generated the likes of them again and the best we can ever aspire to be now if we ever still want to be excellent are to be media-trained, palatable athletes and actors.

Filipino scientists? They have to only come in public service ads and free-use images or clips where they always have to have just one look: wearing some variant of lab coats and lab goggles examining a test tube and/or a more rural preservationist attire examining mangroves at some anthropology site. Then, that's it.

The best and greatest Filipinos our minds can apparently handle now post-Rizal are sanitized, generic looking "do-gooders" who ascribed fully like trained seals to some prescribed way of being. That or be bohemian, free-living looking athlete or vlogger.

"Filipinos are kind." To whom exactly? Not to the best among us apparently.