"Get on with the business at hand"

This was surprisingly painful to watch (you can watch the rest on youtube). The name "Marcos" hits me straight in the solar plexus. My brother's father was a crony, so our family experienced what it was like to be in the periphery of that brand of power. My children carry the Lopez name and I know what the Marcos family did to their family. As with all families injured by that regime, their lives were forever altered.

I tried to watch this with a certain amount of openness and objectivity. I see Irene Marcos from time to time, walking around, and I ask myself what it must be like to be in her shoes. I try not to lay the sins of the father on the children, and yet I carry so many questions: Do they really believe their parents innocent? Have they participated, through their silence, in the crimes? Do they not question the source of their wealth? Do they burn to make restitution for charges against them, for the sake of their children and those yet unborn, but already fated to carry their name? Are they angry, defiant, in denial? What?

What about the torture, murders, lives torn apart, billions stolen and never recovered, plunging the country into misery, from which we have yet to recover? How can anyone living here today talk about healing this nation when all we do is gloss over the past? That's not healing.

President Noynoy Aquino said it himself, "There can be no reconciliation without justice." There can only be justice and healing if there is truth. This applies to every pain and trauma in life. We can only heal when we can see the truth and find our place in it. When we see the whole picture, we can make sense of it and define how to move within it. Only then can we "move on" and "heal" and "unite". Until then, there is no real resolution. How can anyone find peace in the face of darkness? We need to be able to see to make sense of things. You cannot keep travelling on a road strewn with debris. You have to create a path, the more well-lit it is, the better able you are to move. That's the way of humanity. Anything less diminishes it.

Let's stop this nonsense about "moving on" and "uniting" and "healing", as if we could just step into it with glee. Everyone wants that, but there is a process that must be followed. We have to take the steps that will bring us there authentically. There must be a plan that supports truth and justice. Once that road is paved and lit, everyone would gladly walk it.

Until then, the first and only step is the truth. All of it.

So It Is

I've said it before: President Noynoy was not my guy, but now that he's there, I want nothing more than for him to succeed.

I watched the inauguration on television, hoping to see something new--something infinitely more somber and dignified. I didn't expect it to look like a television special with all the singing and dancing. So, on that score, I was very disappointed.

It has become norm to infuse every occasion with "entertainment", as if we couldn't bear to sit through anything that didn't involve a celebrity or two. From weddings, to birthdays and anniversaries, and now to the Presidential Inauguration, everything looks like a TV special (and I use the word very loosely). That says so much about our culture today. We have lost the ability to keep things simple, yet full of dignity and meaning.

I woke up to a youtube video of the street party, which presumably was planned to make President Aquino start his term as a true leader of the people, but again there were the hysterical hosts who were whining and screaming like teenagers, asking the President to sing. And then once more. That was a bit much. I want a leader who can say no to all the shallow nonsense. I won't even talk about the quality of singing.

You can be a leader of the people by raising us up to the standard we know can be ours. It doesn't serve us to see you take on the variety show mantle. That isn't the best we can be. We can be so much more. If you believe that, help take us there by putting your foot down. Show us something new. Help us to transform the showbiz consciousness of the people. We are so creative and we can solve all our problems, if only we could stop the showbiz nonsense and channel all that creative energy towards transforming our country. Show us the way.

I write this with all hope that President Noynoy Aquino will be the leader we deserve. I wish him the very best.

Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images

String Bags at the Whitespace Market

I love these ecobags. I own a few and always get asked about them, so on my last trip abroad, I decided to bring some home to sell. They can carry up to 40lbs (YES!), are very light and pretty, but expand to an unimaginable girth, too. So, if you are as committed as I am to quit using plastic and keep reusing, come visit our table at the Whitespace market today, June 27, at 2314 Chino Roces Ave., formerly Pasong Tamo Extension (look for the green gate). The market opens at noon and closes at 7pm. There's great food by Margarita Fores plus a lot of earth-friendly buys. We're also selling special books at 30% off, plus other Steiner Education materials.

See you there! (If you miss it, see you there every last Sunday of the month.)