If you do, then you must be as angry and appalled as the rest of us. Yesterday, I went out for the first time since the Christmas holidays and found myself watching everyone extra carefully. That middle-aged man in shorts perusing the fruit could have been Mr. dela Paz. The bunch of men converging around the steaks could have been the culprits. I found myself looking at everyone with a different eye, thinking how up close and personal everything really is. What happened to the dela Paz family could happen to any of us. I could rub someone the wrong way at the check-out counter and, just like that, become the topic of the next blog. And what then?
When terrible things happen, I always try to understand why by asking what the entire event really means in the largest possible picture. Clearly, it means something for the dela Paz family because their lives are forever changed. It ought to mean something to the Pangandaman family because their lives should and must be forever changed as well. But to the rest of us, all citizens who are currently acting and reacting in rage and sadness, it means something as well. And I feel the significance of this goes very deep into the relationship between individual and society. This is the question that plagues us all. This is the question of our country.
After we have written, texted and blogged about this horror, what? How do we move the sadness and anger into actions for change? It is a major wake-up call, but the end result--waking up and actually getting up--lies in our hands. Are we going to just blab about it, or are we going to make CHANGE move and animate us? How?
In our PAGASA workshops we do our darndest to establish first the very real connection between the individual and society. After all, society is nothing more than individuals together forming institutions, each one bigger than the other, each reflecting shared or dissonant values and worldviews. But most of us feel, in our day-to-day life, only the boundaries of what we see--our school, office or home--and thus become ever more disconnected to the larger reality of society and how our every thought and action actually contributes to that great whole, making us very much a part of it, whether we acknowledge the connection or not. Because we see only our separateness, we are able to live in apathy. We are able to say, "I will just do my own little thing in my own little corner and let everyone else take care of politics". We don't think about the big picture. We don't engage in it. We simply disassociate, severing any link or tie to that mud-and-gore drenched abyss. We continue to think small because we allow our sense of what we don't see to overwhelm us. And it is overwhelming. But it is not insurmountable if we all begin to move today in our lives, carrying the picture of how we must be bearers and agents of change.
Then we hear about the dela Paz family and everything comes home. Suddenly we feel the full weight of helplessness on our shoulders --and anger and fear and rage. All of it. Suddenly the tragedy connects us again. But it isn't just the rage and anger that connect us, but our shared destiny as a people. We must revel in that and have the power of that reality live in us. It is the thing that will move us into productive action again. It gives us the goal we so need--not one more thing to fight against. Our shared destiny as Filipinos is the thing to fight for.
Our destiny as a people is not to be bullied by people in office who shouldn't even be there to begin with. It is not just their country; it is ours. But until we take that possiblity right back into our hands, we are effectively giving it up again and allowing these monsters to take control. That Pangandaman Sr. motored (or maybe even flew) to Baguio to join the Arroyo party and was, by his telling, simply asked by Mrs. Arroyo about the incident, speaks volumes. This brand of bullying has not just become par for the course under her administration; it has become blatant. Because we have allowed every scandal to go unchecked, allowed her to stay in office, allowed our rage to peter out, every bully feels superhuman and supremely untouchable. They all feel completely immune to the law. They feel they are the law and they will do what they will with it.
When terrible things happen, I always try to understand why by asking what the entire event really means in the largest possible picture. Clearly, it means something for the dela Paz family because their lives are forever changed. It ought to mean something to the Pangandaman family because their lives should and must be forever changed as well. But to the rest of us, all citizens who are currently acting and reacting in rage and sadness, it means something as well. And I feel the significance of this goes very deep into the relationship between individual and society. This is the question that plagues us all. This is the question of our country.
After we have written, texted and blogged about this horror, what? How do we move the sadness and anger into actions for change? It is a major wake-up call, but the end result--waking up and actually getting up--lies in our hands. Are we going to just blab about it, or are we going to make CHANGE move and animate us? How?
In our PAGASA workshops we do our darndest to establish first the very real connection between the individual and society. After all, society is nothing more than individuals together forming institutions, each one bigger than the other, each reflecting shared or dissonant values and worldviews. But most of us feel, in our day-to-day life, only the boundaries of what we see--our school, office or home--and thus become ever more disconnected to the larger reality of society and how our every thought and action actually contributes to that great whole, making us very much a part of it, whether we acknowledge the connection or not. Because we see only our separateness, we are able to live in apathy. We are able to say, "I will just do my own little thing in my own little corner and let everyone else take care of politics". We don't think about the big picture. We don't engage in it. We simply disassociate, severing any link or tie to that mud-and-gore drenched abyss. We continue to think small because we allow our sense of what we don't see to overwhelm us. And it is overwhelming. But it is not insurmountable if we all begin to move today in our lives, carrying the picture of how we must be bearers and agents of change.
Then we hear about the dela Paz family and everything comes home. Suddenly we feel the full weight of helplessness on our shoulders --and anger and fear and rage. All of it. Suddenly the tragedy connects us again. But it isn't just the rage and anger that connect us, but our shared destiny as a people. We must revel in that and have the power of that reality live in us. It is the thing that will move us into productive action again. It gives us the goal we so need--not one more thing to fight against. Our shared destiny as Filipinos is the thing to fight for.
Our destiny as a people is not to be bullied by people in office who shouldn't even be there to begin with. It is not just their country; it is ours. But until we take that possiblity right back into our hands, we are effectively giving it up again and allowing these monsters to take control. That Pangandaman Sr. motored (or maybe even flew) to Baguio to join the Arroyo party and was, by his telling, simply asked by Mrs. Arroyo about the incident, speaks volumes. This brand of bullying has not just become par for the course under her administration; it has become blatant. Because we have allowed every scandal to go unchecked, allowed her to stay in office, allowed our rage to peter out, every bully feels superhuman and supremely untouchable. They all feel completely immune to the law. They feel they are the law and they will do what they will with it.
"When will it be enough?" This has been asked in so many of the threads on this latest trapo display of injustice. It will only be enough when we say it is. When we start connecting the daily things we say and do to the larger concerns of our country and stop saying "E, wala naman akong magagawa at wala namang magbabago." The truth is, so much can be done once we've all decided to be the change we want to see. If everyone stopped being morally lazy, our country would change. If we simply take a moment, right now, to see what in our lives we ought to change that mirrors the greater corruption in our society, so much would already move. What part of our lives need to be made straight? Which areas are a reflection of the Valley Golf incident? In what ways have we mimicked or contributed to the same energy? Is corruption, in any form, living in your home and what are you doing about it?
The world is at a turning point. Obama won. We are at the beginning of what could be the worst global recession yet. Everywhere, things are coming to a head. What is really being asked of us as human beings who inhabit and co-create this world? The Valley Golf incident is but one wake-up call and it is coming closer and closer to home. Unless we start living in full recognition of how each of us is a major player in the destiny of our people and our country, these stories will only get worse.
Each time we look to the world for answers, we need to look into ourselves with questions. This is one way of making sure we behave responsibly and actively wherever we are, never falling into the trap of finger-pointing, but situating ourselves first and determining how we can create and co-create a better future.
