Just doing the opposite is not the change we want

I have yet to hear of a speech by President Noynoy Aquino wherein he does not make any snide or scathing remark against his predecessor, former president and now congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

There is nothing wrong in making comparisons, especially since Noynoy has branded himself as the exact opposite of Gloria. But don't you think we have had enough of that? If Noynoy won in the last elections, it is precisely because Filipinos knew the difference and made their choice.

It is time to move on. It is time to show Filipinos what an Aquino presidency is like, not what the Arroyo presidency had been. If Noynoy cannot shake off the ghost of Gloria and lead this country just as he is, then what the hell did he seek the presidency for.

Constantly making comparisons with Gloria can be dangerous to the Filipino people to whom Noynoy promised change. It will condition them to accept anything, even mediocrity, so long as it is the exact opposite of Gloria. But just doing the opposite is not the change Filipinos want.

I am beginning to suspect this continued reference to Gloria is part of some grand scheme to make Filipinos see the invisible, much like that fabled spin about the emperor's new clothes. Keep the Gloria nightmare alive, and everybody will welcome the Noynoy pipedream with open arms.

By constantly suggesting that the Arroyo administration was the worst the Filipinos have seen, I am afraid this will condition the minds of Filipinos to accept as something better anything that the new Aquino administration will dish out.

But that is not what the Filipinos bargained for. Sure they wanted change. But turning right because Arroyo turned left was not the change they had in mind. Or going up because Arroyo went down. If Arroyo hit rock bottom, Aquino just a rung higher is no cause for celebration.

Just because Gloria spent a huge sum on dinner in a swank New York restaurant does not mean Noynoy had to eat hotdog on a New York sidewalk. Or because Gloria as president can run any red light does not mean Noynoy as president has to get stalled in traffic.

This is a ridiculous way to show that someone is different. When Filipinos voted for Noynoy because he was different from Gloria, they did not mean he can just do the exact opposite of what she did.

By voting for change, Filipinos wanted something better, not just something different. They expect Noynoy to be resolute and imaginative. If he keeps just doing the opposite, he will only be taking Filipinos on a long circuitous ride. He cannot see ahead if he keeps looking back.

Noynoy has to strike out and be his own man. He must chart his own course and challenge his own destiny, something he cannot do if he allows himself to be forever tied to the legacy of Gloria.

For how can he chart his own course if the only course he takes is that which is opposite of Gloria's. How can he challenge his own destiny when the only challenge he takes is that which springs the other way from whatever destiny provided Gloria.

Noynoy must realize and understand that there is life after Gloria, and that in that life he is the new king with a whole new world of possibilities in his hand, possibilities that do not just proceed in the opposite direction from where Gloria took the country in her own time.

But how will the kingdom know there is a new king when all that the king ever talks about is the queen that has already gone. If his subjects hope to benefit from his leadership, how can that hope be realized when their king does not lead but simply reacts.

While it is true that we need to learn from the mistakes of the past, it is also equally true that learning for its own sake will make the entire exercise useless. The only way to gain from experience is to take the new knowledge gained forward and challenge the future with it.