Which way is the right direction?

Had my father, Teodoro, lived up to this day, he would have turned 99 yesterday. But he died in 1992 at the age of 68. I never thought I would see the day when I can actually be older than my father. But I am now and it gives me a very strange feeling. Anyway, I truly miss him and regret I never got to express my love for him in a way he would understand.

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There is a song called "Crossroads" by the American singer-composer Don McLean and part of the lyrics goes: "They walk one road to set them free/And find they've gone the wrong direction/But there's no need for turning back/'Cause all roads lead to where I stand..." I feel compelled to take solace in this song on account of a confusing survey I just read.

The OCTA Research Group has just released the results of a March 24-28 survey that showed a considerably large majority of Filipinos still believe the country is headed in the right direction. I say "still believe" because a slight drop had been registered since a similar survey was undertaken by the same outfit in October last year.

In the March 2023 survey, 76% or nearly eight out of every 10 Filipinos believe the Philippines is going where it should be headed. That is still a big number even if there were more people at 85% who were fired by the same optimism in the October 2022 survey. The drop can be assuaged by the fact that the numbers are still way into positive territory.

What gives me great discomfort, however, are not the clearly positive numbers but the fact that the survey technically makes no sense to me. All that I am being told by the survey is that most of my countrymen believe we are all going in the right direction. What I am not being told is what direction is that.

What direction is the right direction? I want to know because as an ordinary citizen I have absolutely no say in the charting or navigation of the nation's course. I am, so to speak, just here for the ride. But at least I would not want to ride blind. The waves are comfortingly smaller than they feel when you close your eyes in a storm.

But the survey says nothing about what direction it is that we are talking about. It is no different from coming across a person while taking a hike in the wilderness who, in response to your question about where and how far it is to the highway, pouts his mouth down the path you are on and says 10 minutes after the 36th banana tree to your right.

I am a great truster of my own instincts. If you tell me I am in the right direction without telling me where I am in the first place, then I think you are more lost than I am. When I first met my wife I asked where her hometown Carigara was on a map. Her finger started moving south. But my gut said she was a finer woman than her geography was. So there.

So to me, it does not matter if 100% of the people say we are headed in the right direction. If that direction is not defined, then where we are headed is meaningless. And if it is meaningless, it can be dangerous. That is why I remembered "Crossroads" and how that song can truly be reassuring. I wanted to be reassured we will eventually find our way.