OK to dream?

In this country, it is useless to dream, we are told. Our dreams have been snatched away from us by corrupt leaders. Millions have left this country to follow their dreams abroad. Best one stays awake to fend for one's self and one's family, rather than dream.

Yet, I refuse to let go of my dreams. I have this dream especially for our people and our country. It is a simple dream, it is a doable dream. It is not an impossible dream to me but in the midst of so much moral crisis, the dream looks impossible, although it is so possible.

I dream that our people, all our people, can eat. Yes, my dream is for all to be able to eat, eat healthy, eat enough, eat sustainably. Is it ok to dream that each and every Filipino is able to eat 3 regular, ample food per day?

My dream goes so far as imagining that after the genuine election winners are proclaimed, they will declare a day, or a week of feeding. Yes, you got me right. The very first act to be declared is for everyone to be fed!

" Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." ( John 6:6-7). That is what Philip told the Lord Jesus when He saw the hungry multitude. It will not be surprising if many cynics and critics will mock and ridicule this simple dream: That after election, our people will be amply, sustainably fed.

Where will we get all the food to feed our millions, not just once, not just for a day but for, from after elections, onwards? But if we were serious about this dream to feed our people, we can start as early as now. How?

Jesus showed us how. Try to review John 6: 1-15 again. To those like Philip who did not believe that the multitude could be fed at all, it was an impossible task to find enough food to feed the crowd. Philip's doubt prevented him from exploring options or for searching for solutions. He also forgot that feeding the crowd was not his task alone, but everyone's task, or for those who believed in Jesus.

Feeding the crowd was only possible among those, who like Jesus, believed and had the strong desire to feed them. For those who did not believe, for those who had no faith nor sincere desire in their hearts to feed the crowd, the task or even the suggestion appeared ridiculous, not to mention, impossible.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was also doubtful but he went a step beyond Philip and checked around and reported back to the Lord that a boy had 5 barley loaves and two fish. But Andrew, like Philip, also doubted and asked, " what good are these for so many?"

Jesus showed them, as He continues to show us, that what little any one could /can share, multiplied a thousand or million times, will be able to feed thousands or millions. If the boy who had the loaves and fish refused to share, there was nothing to start with. If Andrew, despite his doubt, did not find the loaves and bread, would the miracle- of the multiplication of the bread and loaves that made the impossible task possible- have happened at all? With God, and those whose hearts love their neighbors as much as God loves each one of us, the impossible is nothing and nothing is impossible.

How can we feed millions, where will we get the food to sustain them each and every day? The task is not meant for one person alone, nor for the election winners alone, but for all those who believe, to bring and do their share together so all can be fed.

Calamity after calamity, we have seen how the good and kind hearts voluntarily offer whatever they can, some, even their own lives, to help others. At Edsa in 1986, the millions who believed and were unafraid of change did not go hungry at all for the sharing from one Filipino to another was indescribably real and beautiful to witness.

Is it OK to dream that all Filipinos will be able to eat ample meals each and every day of their lives? We can start with faith, one that moves hearts and hands to come together and share and do the task together.

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