Change is Coming

By: Justine May Gappi

Woke people in social media, especially youths that are becoming of age hit it right when they attributed the fact that the Philippines Government is such a huge mess. Yet, there’s a certain post saying that most of them are still young haters who doesn’t do anything but to point politicians’ mess in ruling the country.

They saw something that most of our leaders turn a blind eye on. They saw that there’s an existing problem- the status quo is flawed and actions of changing this country must start.

While this outlook is a welcome development, the fact that the change we all want to see in the society at large remains disappointing- very disappointing. You can tell right away just by the how unprepared the government is in terms of battling the infamous Coronavirus Disease Pandemic in our country.

I guess we’re still haunted by inconsiderate senators who’d rather violate quarantine rules than actually implementing it, and worst of all, a leader who’d rather choose to theathen his people by killing them than to propose a concrete budget plan to ensure public safety.

Collectively, we shout for change, one big change. Yet, it never occurred to us that we need to answer one question first: what kind of change do we need?

As we heard from the experts, constitutional change is the answer! As if it’s a sort of magic wand that would provide us magic carpet towards pedestal. Do you think it’s effective if we would still have the same bunch people in the background? So again, what kind of change do we need?

People shouts, Change Duterte! What will happen next? How sure are we that after we change the face of presidency, we would achieve changes? With the same breed of politicians right now, regime change would be like swapping durian-smelling perfume for ketchup-flavored ice cream. Clearly, changing present tyrant wouldn’t be enough.

Everyone wants to change the status quo. But only few realize that in order to change it, they must first change themselves. Think about it, whenever we curse someone, don’t we realize that we’re equally to be blamed for joining the bandwagon of negative values and lack of discipline?

We blame the DPWH whenever we experience floods, but did we ever blame ourselves for littering? We blame the MMDA whenever we experience traffic jams, but did we ever blame ourselves for crossing non-pedestrian lanes? We’re constantly asking ourselves how we could improve the county when we can’t even improve ourselves.

Problem is, we always let the concept of right and wrong to be put to waste just because everybody else is wasting it. We do things that aren’t good just because everybody else does. If we see these flaws in elders, then it’s about time to be brave enough to take the lead and show them the wisdom of changing it.

We are part of the flawed status quo. We ourselves are, flawed too. Before we ever think of changing a flick of matter around us, seek first to change ourselves.

The answer is not only Constitutional change. It’s more than ousting Duterte. The answer is a process that starts from within yourself followed by the country. Thus, that’s the time we can proud to say that change is definitely coming.