Talks on government etc.
My mom is from the government. So she knows a whole lot about how the government works — from experience and from coffee table talks among some government executives. She has a lot of insider stories that would last investigative journalism shows in TV months of programming. It’s a good thing I went with her to Bulacan, we talked about government and politics the whole time on the road. From the elections next year and the years before, discussing the issues behind the proclaimed candidates for president and how election culture works, to corruption among legislators and government officials, to her frustrations on all these things. Her pep talk on solutions, nationalism and political will swooned me. Our government needs more people like my mom. She wants to change a lot of things. But see, for many competent, nationalistic and idealistic government officials, implementing drastic changes is equal to being changed from your position in the beaurocracy. They have no choice else be unemployed.
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
-Edmond Burke
When I, together with the other applicants for the AFS Japan exchange student program, was tasked to write on-the-spot an essay answering the question, “What can you contribute to your country 10 years from now?” I knew exactly what I wanted to write down. Actually, I still don’t know what I’m going to be ten years from now. But hopefully I can do a good deal of contribution to my country by staying here till then. No offense intended for those who have fled the Philippines out of hopelessness. Nobody can blame the millions of Filipinos who have permanently left the country in search for a better life. But I think I can do a great deal of contribution by being the last one to jump out of this sinking ship.
Everything seems to be daunting, but the drastic solutions are not impossible.
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