New year and resolutions

In the grades and even in the high school we were taught to come up with a resolution every time a new year came around. “My New Year’s Resolution” was the repeated title of the essays we were made to write by our teachers in English. And how we struggled to articulate such resolution both in content and in mechanics, unfamiliar as we were with the nuances of our second language.

Our resolutions as always centered on behavioral changes culled from juvenile self-reflection which, like all thoughts of youth, were half serious and seldom meant to be. The task was forced on young minds and young minds produced something that seemed to please their academic taskmasters. But what appeared in black and white remained as they were and the promised changes seldom came.

In later years maturity taught us this: What we are, we are – unless something significant happens. That’s why old folks say a fruit tells of the tree from which it comes. It’s all in the home upbringing, and the school is helpless in its pretense at reform.

New year, new life? It’s easier said than done. Look at ourselves. Have we not been the same old fellows we used to be?

From personal to national the same trend prevails. Take the dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots – has a major change happened? Have the affluent become conscience driven to the point of helping their less fortunate countrymen improve their quality of life? No siree, the Filipino rich have become richer while the poor have become even poorer. Now statistics reveals that about 30 percent of Filipinos are living below the poverty line. Decades ago it was not so, that’s why there were few OFW’s then. Now the exodus is on. When will Filipinos find better life in the land of their forefathers?

Take corruption – has there been a perceptible decline of this national malady? Sadly, there hasn’t been. On the other hand, the trend has been worsening and its effects upon our economy has been debilitating. Decades ago tens of millions went down the drain of malpractices. These days the wastage has gone up to hundreds of billions.

With the PNoy administration the expectation is high that a turn-around would occur. But will that ever happen? One year has gone but the Filipino poor has found no relief. There’s a rush to go after high profile corrupt officials, but will this work? Will the bureaucracy be cleansed?

Everyone knows that corruption is rooted in the heart of the masa. Purify this heart and you purify the government. But how can this be done? The home, the school, and the church are the values transmitting agencies. But who will purify the purifiers? These days even the custodians of our faith are getting slammed for alleged moral indiscretion. Faith, our last bulwark of hope, is getting eroded by too much material fetish even by those who are supposed to be supernatural in outlook. Who shall be our guide? To whom shall we go?

To whom shall we go, indeed? This was from the disciple Peter when Jesus asked his close followers whether they too would choose to follow ways other than His. You are the messiah, the Son of the living God, declared Peter.

This new year, will there be many who will ask this question? We Filipinos should all be asking this question because our leaders in the past decades have proven to be unworthy of our trust. Generations of politicians have come and gone, all promising a better life for all of us. Yet we know such promises were written in the wind. And whose lives have become luxuriously better? The politicians’, of course.

This new year let there be no resolutions at all. But let us look deep into ourselves and try to discern our spiritual destiny. Above all, let’s say this with all our heart and soul: Lord, to whom shall we go but to you?