Levity aside, the feedback was as reassuring as it was informative about the mental state of many of us in the middle-class who, despite the seeming futility of our cause, continue to look for the positive aspect of our circumstances. The previous column’s litany of bad news was not a shopping list of the pessimist; they were, after all, a mere reportage of real events and development. I quote two of the writers who e-mailed me about their own sentiments:
"I read your article in yesterday’s issue of Philippine STAR [5/9/05] and I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts. In fact, I feel so strongly about the doldrums we are in and the seeming utter hopelessness of our local situation that I too was beginning to wonder if am suffering from some deep-seated neurosis. After reading your piece, it felt good somewhat to know I was not alone," wrote one whose name I am constrained from mentioning lest I be accused of violating confidentiality. An ominous blurb in the e-mail warned: "This e-mail contains confidential information for the sole use of the intended recipient/s. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender, delete this e-mail and maintain the confidentiality of what you may have read." A standard statement, I believe, that accompanies most e-mails, but no names please.
(But then again, someone who writes to a columnist to share his own insights into a published subject matter does not really suggest a private communion of minds, does it? In fact, it initiates public discussion, which, to be fair about it, deserves equal space in the publication. But I shall not risk defiling the privacy of those who write to me, unless they give me explicit permission to share their thoughts with the readers.)
The sender continues with a philosophical view of what ails our society, including the unraveling of society’s moral fiber and the apathy with which this descent into anarchy is viewed by many. He is correct on both counts, of course. In earlier columns, I had, likewise, identified personal and societal morality as fundamental to a moral government. Our obsession with material rewards and our narcissistic "me-first" attitude is quickly overtaking our family values; our present society is now at the mercy of crass commercialism, political opportunists and feel-good liberalists.
Another writes: "Thank you for speaking the truth!" Being a Filipino born in the US, I am often chastised for saying some of the same things you mentioned in your article. The most common reaction I get is, ‘If you think that’s true, then why don’t you leave?’ I guess I shouldn’t be too upset about that... I sometimes wonder if Filipinos are blind to what’s going on, if they’re delusional, or even if they’re right and I’m delusional."
He continues by citing a reader who sent a letter to the opinion section of The Philippine STAR who implied a global conspiracy to advance the interests of other countries at the expense of the Philippines being labeled as corrupt. In the writer’s words, "It is as if he (the letter sender) were a Jedi master waving his pen chanting, ‘There is no corruption. Everything is okay.’ There is a worldwide conspiracy to make you think your government is corrupt." But, the writer points out no magic or self-delusion will change the fact that, indeed, there is.
There is a common thread through all the feedback mail and comments I have received. Surely, the sheer number of problems we face as a nation can be overwhelming. Credit must be given to the present administration that manages to put up a brave front (and a smiling face) despite what must be a ton of brickbats hurled at it at every instance. While we are quick to point out the failures of our lawmakers and the inadequacies of our leaders, we may be too harsh in passing judgment over these well-meaning individuals who are simply too liliputian to battle these gargantuan problems by themselves.
Granted that we can’t help but gnash our teeth when we hear of high-flying and rapacious government executives spending public fortunes playing golf while their unfortunate countrymen share a meal of noodles, just because they feel entitled to their corporate perks and fringe benefits. Yet, neither are we blameless for many of society’s ills. Like my first letter writer was saying, our apathy and our degraded morality is at the root of all these evils. Who are our government officials, anyway, if not former earth-bound fellow members of the communities we live in? The corrupt generals and customs officials and government corporate executives we now threaten to burn at the stake used to be one of us, most likely God-fearing, decent and family-oriented human beings who have succumbed to the social diseases that we now vilify.
Ah, but that will never happen to me, you might say. Perhaps. But, in an oft-repeated theme of this column, large-scale corruption begins with very small ones. Bringing home office supplies, buying pirated DVDs, throwing garbage out the car window when no one is looking, looking the other way when witnessing someone doing something obviously wrong, cutting in front of a line – both on the road and in a queue, getting special treatment from a friend or relative when transacting in an office or doing business, misdeclaring income taxes, and so on and so forth, all the while, railing against the abuses of prominent members of government.
We whine about poor services, inadequate resources and incompetent leaders. We expect public servants to read our minds and know what our needs are; we expect business leaders to have a heart of gold, demonstrating their limitless acts of philanthropy on society’s destitute. We demand that our needs be provided for and our future and our children’s futures be made secure. We throw everything at that all-capable concept of government, expecting, no, commanding fulfillment of all that we desire. But what have we, personally, done to make things better for our nation, other than grudgingly pay our income and real estate taxes? In the words of the US President John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
We are not entirely helpless against this plague of abuses. The Chinese proverb, "From little raindrops come great floods," hints at what could be. Perhaps not in our lifetime, but the only solution to this social malaise that has turned cynics of us all begins with each one of us. And it starts now. Our children will learn from our examples and, stand up for what you, the parent, stood for and taught him. In the meantime, everyone of us who can stick to our conviction of staying in the narrow path of goodness, will bring our country a step closer to a moral and compassionate plane.
No amount of fire-and-brimstone sermons nor street rallies will placate the national conscience that has been devastated by a citizenry totally oblivious to its welfare, not realizing that the life and health of one is inescapably tied to that of the other. We have a land and a nation that has been raped, pillaged and given up for dead, not by some foreign invader, but by ourselves. It is time politicians, businessmen, the religious and the ordinary citizen work together as one, not to commemorate some time-worn tradition of bayanihan, but, simply, to stay alive.