Election time and Filipino stupidity

With the Philippine mid-term election coming in two weeks, there’s a great need for the Filipino people to become intelligent voters. It’s another opportunity for them to grab to make up for all of the stupidity during last election time's choosing for the wrong candidates. I can still recall the words a dear friend of mine have said to me before he died of heart attack a little over three years ago that the majority of the Filipino people, when it comes to electing their public officials, are somewhat suffering from what he called “stupidity syndrome.”  In the Philippines, he said, popularity triumphs over substance. I can only agree with his observation on how we Filipinos elect our leaders and you can add to it, at some instances, the equation: compassion + sympathy = presidency. It catapulted the late Corazon Aquino to the presidential seat in a peaceful way of putting an end to the Marcos regime in 1986 which was further triggered by the assassination of her late husband Benigno Jr. in 1983 and, as if history repeats itself, it happened to be a similar case also with her son Benigno III who is now the president of this country. President Benigno III owes a lot of his presidency to the people who sympathized with the death of her mother, the former president of the Philippines which, during that time, just in the right timing for the presidential election and the filing of candidacy was still going on. It prompted presidential candidate Mar Roxas, upon knowing and analyzing the whole scenario, to withdraw his candidacy to give way to Aquino and settled a vice president position instead by which he lost.

“The solution is not election,” my friend said when I tried to press him out what he can suggest to make this country change for the better, “but revolution. You have to test it with fire to burn impurities out, more impurities.” His eyes burnt the same color as that of a flame when I peered into the glowing depths of his own, the window of his soul. “But that would be too costly and bloody. Is there no other means aside from that?” I asked. “The people must acquire education not limited to school,” he said. “There has to be this maturity of thinking by the Filipino people and that will lead them to reach that level of consciousness to only do or make things better for all,” he continued. “This country,” he paused for a moment as he tried to clear out his throat, “needs an intellectual leader who can unite the people. Real problems need real solutions, not a cover up to things to only make the present administration looking good. A good leader will not only find the best solution to the problem but he must be the solution himself.” I had to admit I’m learning a lot from this man I called the “Walking Encyclopedia” in a different way than my professors in college. Before I could manage to ask for my next question he turned to interrupt me, now it’s his turn to ask questions, by simply asking: “What do you think will be the best thing you can do for your country?” I was caught off guard, I had to think hard and organize my thoughts in as quickly as I can. “It has to begin in each one of us, in me,” I sounded somewhat confident telling him my answer. “Each one of us should be a leader that serves and, like what you said, the solution. Becoming a solution to the problem instead of a problem to a solution is the best thing I can do for my country.” “That’s a lot better,” he said as if to flatter me, “you will become a good leader!”

“So who would you vote for as president?” his eyes narrowed and a little smile curved at the corner of his mouth.  “I’ll keep it a secret,” I said and thinking about changing the subject. But before I could manage to think for a topic to talk about he was already speaking, “It all began as a wish from the late president Quezon. Be careful what you wish for because there’s a chance you might get it.” “So what’s the issue with president Quezon by the way?” I asked. “Stupidity,” he said. I’m thinking about president Quezon’s greatness and how he has sought Philippine independence from the hands of the Americans. “President Quezon,” he explained, “became stupid by saying ‘I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans’.” “Quezon is not at all stupid as what you think,” I tried to challenge him. “But he was trying to impart the essence of nationalism for a people called Filipinos and a nation called the Philippines so as to partake in such a chance of making good or bad decisions for its own.”  “Would you like to turn and make the Quezon’s curse into a promise?” he asked. Instead of trying to thicken out the discussion for that particular subject, I shot him a smile and said, “Should I blame Quezon for his answered prayers?” He shot me back a smile and said, "Well, good for him." Deep down, I know, come election time, I won’t be stupid enough to cast my vote for the wrong candidates.

5 things you should be doing at least once in your lifetime

Life is too short and the living is not always an easy ride. If you try to listen to the news, the negative things are always in a war with the good ones for dominance. The world has become, as it’s been from the very beginning, a battleground between the forces of good and evil. But no matter how the world has become good or bad in the process and changed we should remember that, as citizens of this world, we have (individual) duties and obligations that we must carry out to make this planet a much better place in which to live. The following are, in my own opinion, just 5 of the things each one of us should be doing at least once in our lifetime:

1. Take time to plant trees. Planting trees is one of the best of gifts you can give to Mother Earth and for the future generations. Trees help create shades, filter pollution from the air, prevent soil erosion, provide a dwelling place for animals, help recycle water, and many more.

2. Take time to give to the needy. To freely share what you have to others (be it help, time, or money) without expectation or reward in return is one of the most rewarding of acts you can do for yourself. We must remember what Jesus had said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

3. Take time to learn a new language. Learning a new language allows you to better understand other people’s culture and history. It is through this understanding that the gap between ignorance and cultural differences shall be bridged.

4. Take time to write a poem. While not all of us are born poets, you can still make a poet out of your own self. Poetry writing is one of the purest forms of expression while, at the same time, it reconciles you to the world. Be the poet that you are capable of making by writing down what you feel and think.

5. Take time to make a pilgrimage. It is an oldest form of religiousness. But wherever your journey may take you and for whatever reason motivating you to do it, one thing is certain though: it is to seek inspiration, by which one wants to gain a new perspective, for a change of mind and heart.

The Korean crisis: Are we on the brink of war?

With the latest situation involving the two Koreas getting worse--the North and the South--together with the South's ally the United States and with such a slim chance of bringing such a case to the negotiating table at the moment, which fought a battle some five decades ago, would only suggest that war is imminent. War should be at all times avoided but if all means to peaceful settlement of any dispute done and failed, then war begins. It will be fought again with renewed fury--a rematch in the battle for supremacy these two countries are waging and one that could affect at least 70 percent of the world’s population. Yet I hope these two countries would finally settle their differences by talking it all out in the table. Threats from Nokor (North Korea) which are going to include launching of missiles with nuclear capability aimed at Seoul, Tokyo, US military bases in the Pacific, or even reaching as far as the mainland US, should not be taken lightly. North Korea has the world’s largest military with its million-strong standing army which could outnumber the South, but with the US backing the South the retaliation would be devastating should the North invades.

Will North Korea becomes just another Iraq should the war erupts? It’s hard to make comparison between the two countries but North Korea poses a real threat for any country than what was the Saddam Hussein-era Iraq appeared to be hyped. It’s only that North Korea would likely to become the advance party or as pawns pushed on purpose and when that happens new enemies would emerge later on. China will top the list. When the Korean crisis develops into a full-blown conflict and hit a domino effect with every nation, the world will be at war again. This generation will be witnessing a magnified version of World War II. World population will be cut by half as a result of that war. North Korea would be crushed out and China will be paying a heavy price. The United States will remain the world’s lone superpower country. Nations will be rebuilt. Life will be back to normal (although it will never be the same again after a war fought with nuclear warheads).

War should only be the last resort. But oftentimes it happened by accident and one by which our leaders should be held most accountable with out of such a great responsibility imposed upon them. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, as inexperienced a leader as he is and can be, should make no mistake. He must give his people freedom instead, not war.

This country needs a good, strong leader, not weak, pretentious leadership

 This country needs a good, strong leader, not weak, pretentious leadership. A leader who could defend Philippine pride and freedom. A leader who do not only know the history of his own people and nation very well but, also, one who can make the beating of every citizen's heart as his own; a leader who treats his people like his own children. A leader who understands, provide services, protection and, most importantly, one who will never abandon his children in the face of danger no matter how much his children have failed to listen to him in the process. Yes, to some degree, he must be a disciplinarian. But his reconciliatory gift will make the disciplining felt like just a tap on the shoulder and brings his lost children back into the fold.

With the country’s midterm election coming in May, the Filipino people are once again given the chance to choose individuals who will run the government for them.  Politicians will be most busy courting the people. The quest for a strong leader is a rarity that’s why we have to grab the opportunity and waste no time electing him or her into office when it comes. Except when the options are limited, we have to choose the best, more deserving ones.

A good leader knows how to handle a crisis even to the point of something that will have caught him off guard. His strong leadership unites a nation and one that settled out differences from all sectors, heals. He is not only intelligent but, most importantly, as patriotic as he is God-fearing. His decision making ability for any situation could save lives instead of losing them. He is, above all, a man of positive actions. The present administration’s handling of the Sabah crisis somehow frustrates me. The indifference, arrogance, and lack of initiative in dealing with the Sabah standoff are only indicative of a poor leadership this administration has to show. The president of the Republic of the Philippines, being the commander in chief, should have done something so bloodshed could have been prevented in the first place.

Again, this country of ours needs a good, strong leader, not weak, pretentious leadership. If your actions inspire others to dream more, to quote from John Quincy Adams, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. But could we see these qualities in our politicians running for different positions in our government?

Malaysia must abide with historical truth and give Sabah back to its true owner

Filipino Muslim gunmen of about 400 with about 200 of them heavily armed infiltrating the Sabah state in Malaysia a little over a week ago and identifying themselves as the Royal Sulu Sultanate Army lead by one of the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu Sultan Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram might be a case, for the now Islamic country and former British colony, of taking a dose of its own medicine. Malaysia has been a major supporter of a Muslim rebellion in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao as its way of weakening the Philippine republic as well as a diversionary tactics to keep the Philippine government’s focus away from claiming Sabah back. It must be known, for those who still don’t know the real score why that Northern portion of Borneo (called Sabah) once owned by the Sultanate of Sulu has now become a part of Malaysia, that the Sultanate of Sulu which is a part of Philippine territory is the true owner of Sabah. Allow me to give you just a brief review on history.

Sabah has been given by the Sultanate of Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu as a gift for the latter’s military assistance to the former in the year 1703. Several years later it was leased back to the British company based in Brunei by which, as what was agreed upon between them, the company will provide arms to the Sultan to repulse the Spaniards in the Philippines and an annual rental of 5,000 Malaysian ringgits based on the Mexican peso value at that time or its equivalent in gold. Malaysia has continued the rental payment up to the present time. It was the British who, upon granting Malaysia its independence in 1963 opted Sabah to form the new Malayan state by which to also include Singapore, Malayan peninsula, and Sarawak. 

It was not until the presidency of Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal in the year 1962 that the Sabah claim by the Philippines has been formalized based on the Sultanate of Sulu heirs’ claim on the said territory. The late and only Philippine president who later on became a dictator Ferdinand Marcos almost made it to take Sabah back from the Malaysians by force. He trained young Muslim recruits from Mindanao secretly in the island of Corregidor as part of the force that will invade Sabah. But when the said operation has been leaked out to the media, all the young trainees were eliminated except for one that survived by swimming across the sea towards the mainland Luzon. Upon learning about the aborted mission by the Philippine government, Malaysia somehow retaliated by giving support to the rising number of Muslim rebels from Mindanao who were so much angered by the massacre of their brothers in Corregidor island.

These heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu have earlier announced that they will not leave the area and will fight to the death whenever necessary and to stay in the land they have called their own. Malaysian troops as well will only be following orders from their boss and is every now and then waiting for the go signal. The Philippine government lead by the commander in chief himself, Philippine president Benigno Aquino III must act and carefully address for the peaceful resolution of the said stand-off as soon as possible to avoid bloodshed. He must have the initiative to draw ignorance out of the picture while, at the same time, bringing the issue into the light of historical truth and stand by it.

It’s not how much money we have but how much we enjoy by giving what we have

Money can do many things for you, but not everything. It can't even buy you happiness (Pleasure? Perhaps, there are lots of them for you to choose from depending on your taste). I'm not going to be one of those pretentious people who should sound as if money is not at all that needed, but what I'm trying to convey here is that money should not be treated as though it was the only important thing or as something by which you can tread on other people. I heard about people who change for the worse and because of money and they're not even that wealthy as they should suppose after all. Below is a short essay I have produced by combining the quotes of Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, Mahatma Gandhi, Epictitus, Aristotle Onasis, Sophocles, Lucretius, and Alan Watts (with their own views on wealth, money, and happiness).

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business --(Henry Ford). Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants --(Benjamin Franklin). It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver --(Mahatma Gandhi).

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money --(Benjamin Franklin). After a certain point, money is meaningless. It ceases to be the goal. The game is what counts. --(Aristotle Onassis). Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant. --(Epictetus). Wisdom outweighs any wealth --(Sophocles).

The reason we have poverty is that we have no imagination. There are a great many people accumulating what they think is vast wealth, but it's only money... they don't know how to enjoy it, because they have no imagination. --(Alan Watts). Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. --(Epictetus). The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied --(Lucretius).

Why video games can do more harm than good for your kids?

The people who will say that video games could not do harm to their children is to indeed admit, in a surreal way, that they are because video games can actually be bad for your kids. Addictive computer or video games can harm your children’s mental development. Of course, there are a few positive effects of playing video games but the damage they may have caused, to some degree, could be most alarming. Video game playing, I mean excessive video game playing to be exact, socially isolate your kids. Not only that, once your kid gets addicted to it, the impact out of such an obsession could affect their thought span, academic skills, and perception of the real world. In other words, it will confuse reality and fantasy.

In an article of The Telegraph dated 14 October 2011, Science Correspondent Nick Collins quoted about what Baroness Greenfield, the former director of the Royal Institution, have explained about how computer or video games can literally “blow the mind” by temporarily or permanently deactivating certain nerve connections in the brain.

Video games can only make your kids do what the game lets them do which is to limit the brain’s ability to learn something new by getting stuck in that same sphere of activity compared when they are in the outside real world playing, interacting, and enjoying where they can do what they want to do and because, unlike in video games, their actions and thoughts are not limited there’s a great potential for learning new and different things all at once. In a study conducted by the Minneapolis-based National Institute for Media and Family, have found out that, aside from the fact that video games could be addictive for kids, the kids’ addiction to these video games could increase their depression and anxiety levels.  Health problems such as obesity, video-induced seizures, and postural, muscular, and skeletal disorders could result from too much playing of video games over a long period of time.

I’m not totally against video games. What I’m trying to suggest is, for the parents who have kids that play video games, for them to monitor what video games their children are playing and to set time limits. Discipline your kids whenever necessary and make sure to make them understand why you are doing that so but in the right manner; kids who are aggressive or spoiled are simply just a product of poor or dysfunctional parenting. Encourage or convince your kids to try doing other things like interacting with other kids, playing sports, and many more. The natural world is, still and always, the best way to learn something from for the best.