The power of one

SAN FERNANDO, PAMPANGA — This writer is searching for inspiration on this Mother’s Day while observing the Luzon finals of the 2004 adidas Streetball Challenge, an annual rite of summer wherein our young boys and girls bake in the sun while testing themselves against kids of other parts of the country for bragging rights to three-on-three basketball.

Today marks another watershed event in Philippine history, are we going to elect public officials who will guide us out of our current economic malaise, or simply pick whoever appears to give us the intangible known as "hope," and throw the rest to the wind?

There are always reasons not to go out and vote. My favorite PBA or NBA team lost last night, and I’m upset. Manny Pacquiao’s fight was anticlimactic, and didn’t give me the emotional lift I wanted. It’s too hot, and I’m not used to sweating, since PE isn’t given importance at my school. Will my vote make a difference, anyway, really?

Remember that, three years ago, our country’s history was also turned around by just one vote. One vote separated the administration and opposition during the impeachment trial of Pres. Erap Estrada. Imagine if Sen. Robert Barbers, recovering from surgery at the time, had been in the country and participating in the hearings. His vote would have made a difference, causing an impasse that may have sent us down another road instead of EDSA II. Who knows what would have happened?

One vote always makes a difference, at least in sports. Every time we feel a Filipino boxer, gymnast or swimmer was cheated out of an Olympic or Asian Games or SEA Games medal, it’s always been that one vote from that one judge that could have made a difference (as in Pacquiao’s case yesterday). It is always that one person’s voice raised in protest that attracts attention, before it is either ignored or given weight. And it is that one person’s efforts, like a Paeng Nepomuceno or a Bata Reyes that brings us honor, relief, or pride.

Today will be made up of such instances. Will we just sit by and let other people decide our future for us, then rise up in protest when we don’t like it? All this, after abdicating our rights in the first place?

Does our government really care about sports and fitness, and how does that reflect on how much the government cares about me, the Filipino voter, in the first place? Would I vote someone who doesn’t even take care of himself physically, even though he or she obviously has the capacity? Who among them has the political will to make the development of physical activity among the youth a priority?

Will I send into City Hall a mayor, vice-mayor and councilors who are more interested in putting up billboards trumpeting their every project, or those who make an impact on me as a person, physically and thus, emotionally? What good are new jobs and roads if I don’t even have the strength to make the daily commute to them? Who will have the clout and strength of character to say that no, my constituents’ long-term productivity is of primary importance, instead of making high-profile, low-impact projects.

Will I vote into Congress lawmakers who have a history of overspending and not liquidating their expenses, or will I choose someone who puts his money where his mouth is by building sports facilities that also double as multi-purpose halls for our community, where we may engage in activities together? And what of peace and order and safety? Congressmen passed a record-low number of laws for the past couple of decades, and gave themselves a raise in the process. Why would I want that to continue?

Enough of the drama unfolding around me. It is time to get up and get involved. As we all know, political parties will try to discourage voter turnout in areas where they feel they are the underdog. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. But will we stand by and let it happen? Or will we let our one vote count, knowing that it may influence our lives for the next few years, and save us the inconvenience of having to join a protest action in the future.

Pres. Teddy Roosevelt said in 1899 "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered with failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat."

Pretty savvy for a politician, don’t you think?