Filipinos need to actively participate in the running of the Philippines
While most Filipinos preoccupy themselves with minding the belief systems of other people, their public servants are getting away with not doing their jobs.There is a misguided notion among Filipinos that their public servants will eventually do what they are being paid to do. This is wrong and this is part of the reasons things never go according to plan in the Philippines.
To be sure, one of the reasons why Filipinos are not used to pointing out their public servants' shortfalls is because of this belief that they are not supposed to be questioning authority. Where they got that belief is another story.
In any organization, there is a system of checks and balances in place that ensures that things are working according to how they were meant to. If any part of that system fails, it would take a while before the goal of the organization can be met or in the worst case, the goal will not be met at all. Included in those checks and balances are the low-ranking members who need to see to it that the people who make the decisions are doing their jobs.
A community or a society is no different from any organization. We all have a role to play in running the organization. Being a member is not just about enjoying the privileges of being a part of it. It is important that we perform our roles as community members by calling the attention of those concerned and make sure they are doing their part in fixing what is broken.
When was the last time you called the attention of the people who run your local municipality and told them to fix something in your community?
Don't hold your breath waiting for your public servants to see everything. They need your help too. Start calling and writing them now!
agree with this 100% - do away with 'its not my job' or 'its not my department' mentality. and... be conscious about the approach as well... nobody will listen to nosy obnoxious 'outsiders' telling them what to do.
ReplyDeleteThanks Butch.
ReplyDeletePeople need to accept constructive criticisms too for this concept to work.
So spot on, Ilda. We have been a voice in the wilderness trying to awaken the willing out of their delusion, this is the last call to own up and shape up, otherwise we will all be a witness to a ship that is set to sink to the abyss.
ReplyDeleteSabi ng masa: "Don't worry leave everything to God...... lets pray." Asus!
ReplyDeleteIn order to prove his/her worth in society, one must feel some degree of accountability for the things happening around him/her, am I wrong on this?
ReplyDeletei agree. it's not my job mentality is killing us all. sabi nga ng isang kanta, IISANG BANGKA TAYO.
ReplyDeleteThis is kindergarten stuff. I have read articles in high school newsletters that are way, way more incisive instead of the wishy-washy platitudes that the writer contents herself with.
ReplyDeletePrecisely tell me, for instance, how one could help lick the problem of the missing 2,000 containers at the South Harbor?
"Cutting-edge insight"? Come on, get real.
ReplyDeleteYou have the gall to describe your kindergarten stuff thus?
Should not THAT come from readers?
Nah, it's called being self-assured. Kung baga, I am assured of the self-evidence of my brilliance. If you disagree, perhaps come up with something that disproves the reality of my brilliance. Then we'll talk. :-D
ReplyDeleteFrom where I am [and am not physically in the country], I'm convinced that among other pressing things, we need to learn how to think of ourselves - as individuals and as a people - and not how other people and nations wants us to think, no matter their intentions and ulterior motives. True, we have many faults to overcome, but to habitually think as if we Filipinos are the worst sinners on earth - and sometimes as if we are the only sinners - is in itself a self-destructing attitude. I suppose even former drug addicts, for them to get out of it have to envision themselves as persons who can live without drugs.
ReplyDeleteThen there is the habitual criticizing of the Catholic Church, over and over. Well, whether you're aware of it or not, or whether you'll admit it or not, all the Western nations you admire [and sometimes even worship] - the so called 'first world' nations are not where they are now, had it not been because of the Christian culture - the authentic one, not the one you see nowadays - fostered by the Roman Catholic Church. And they weren't built by 'great political leaders' as you've been made to think [and you think you haven't been brainwashed?]. They were built by saints and holy people who had the willingness to live sacrificial lives. That's how authentic civilizations have come about.
And because all you focus on is material prosperity, without moral responsibility and the indispensible religious heritage, you keep admiring them, even as they are crumbling because they have abandoned their Catholic heritage:
Catholic Europe / Catholic America
http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV#p/u/5/9MmaHbGOrWk
Solzhenitsyn, A Soul in Exile by Joseph Pearce
Chapter Twenty-One - Troublous Times
[page 351]
"...One should know patriots from extreme nationalists, which are belligerently in favor of an empire, of an offensive against others. I have never been in favor of an imperial mentality, that the state should prevail in the world and almost rule other countries like America does today. America now acquires the traits of an empire. I disapprove of this...It will bring no good to the USA.."
It Is Time for the Church to Set Aside Her Worldliness - by Pope Benedict XVI
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9735
Fall of the American Empire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMOQ-MwtVlo
Ugly Americanism
http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV#p/u/55/OuJ7tM9w780
Americanism
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/americanism/index.htm
No nation and people has ever become great by just being mesmerized by what they see other nations and peoples do. While it's true that there are lessons to learn by observing them, the Philippines and the Filipinos were created and allowed to develop as a nation with a purpose all their own and no other. They must free themselves from foreign ideologies - both East and West - even as they have to survive AND eventually prosper, in the midst of hostile environment, certainly not always local in origin.
Political systems come and go. But strong civilizations are determined by how people define their relationship with God in order for them to understand the real world - not the world defined for them by foreigners - and not to fabricate superstition out of that religion that suits their lusts for sensualities and craving for gluttonous appetite.
True, God is Mercy. But His Justice doesn't sleep. There are no true progress without holiness. And holiness will never come from the Statue of Liberty nor from Wall Street.
~candid heart 100611
What a load of bullcrap to write. As a European I am deeply offended by your notion that western civilization was built on christian values.
DeleteNo European country is built on Christianity, this is a lie that has been spewed by the church for so long that people begin to believe it. Europe didn't drag it's ass out of the middle ages until the church was firmly parked on the sideline, first with the reformation and then with the French revolution and the enlightenment.
And what is this inane bullshit about strong civilizations are define by God. Name one, just one great civilization prosper because of religion (any religion) and not despite of it. No can't name one and the greatest current civilization is USA and that is built on the notion of clear separation of church and state.
I do agree with you that the Philippines shouldn't mindlessly copy other countries and that they should find themselves. They can start by throwing that ancient left over from the Spanish colonization called the Catholic Church.
And last but not least, God is not mercy. Mercy is in the heart of humans and God is not.