Simple Plan

The following is an excerpt from a previous post in a forum entitled "May Pag-asa pa ba and Pinas?

The continuing decline of the country’s standards in many aspects of life, I think, is not distinct from most of the rest of the world. Admittedly, there stares us right in the face, the cultural, moral, and intellectual decadence of today, as a people and as men (and women). It is indeed alarming that there seems a general notion of hopelessness among our people that perpetuates a feeling of passiveness inasmuch as any efforts may not do anything in the overall context of bettering the standard of living of the common man.

We very well know that the tradition of the "advantage of the other" concept of Colbert and Mazarin (in the Treaty of Westphalia), and the "community of nations" concept of FDR (in the Bretton Woods Agreement) was working well for us until it was overthrown by the ideas that were mostly generated during Nixon’s presidency (as evidenced by the act of pulling-out of the BWA) in the mid-60s to the early 70s. This is largely economics, but corollarily, political actions were implemented and effected elsewhere e.g. culture, morals, the general mode of thinking of people in the US and elsewhere in the world.

Thus, the result of diverting man’s potentials away from unit-productivity and the inherent pursuit for hapiness and beauty (in the context of the classical tradition). This situation is undoubtedly, even more degrading. Remember Woodstock? LSD? sex? consumerism? the "peace" sign?

The concept of the Filipino, not having the right mindset, culture, morals, enough to uplift the country, may be best situated when we review what international poet of freedom, Friedrich Schiller put as "a patriot of your country, a citizen of the world," and also Rizal, in saying that "a genius is universal." These two brilliant minds recognized, and at a certain level, taught some people, like me and my friends, that geographical boundaries should not limit man’s creative potentials. Because before we can say that we are Filipinos, we should be able to accept (and know what it means) that we are human beings-separate and distinct from animals, with the power of reason.

May Pag-asa pa ba ang Pinas? Meron!

Ang isang nakikita kong pinaka-produktibong paggamit ng ating kakaibang pag-iisip bilang mga tao, ay ang pagpapatuloy ng pagtuklas natin sa loob ng universe na ito. Now, our minds may be limited (as it cannot understand the infinite), but I certainly do not think that man is at the point of his minds limits today. We should continue to search for some universal physical principles in and out of this earth of ours and use these certain truths for the betterment of our race-the human race. This is science and technology, this is common logic. In economics, this may be exemplified by large-scale, long-term infra projects, application of breakthrough technologies within the premise of humanistic international policy standards and practices. Kung ang halaga ng fossil-fueled power generation ay 13 pesos/KwH, at ang hydro-generation ay .50 pesos/KwH, and nuclear power generation would cost us a lot less than that, ano ang dapat nating gawin? Kaya lang, saan kukunin ang pera? Wala na nga tayong pera diba?

Well, ano ba ang yaman, yun ba ay ang pera? Hindi ba’t ang pera ay representative lang of something else? Hindi ba it was only invented as a means of trading of commodities? Ano ba ang ginagamit natin sa paggawa ng railroads for example, pera ba o bakal? Kaya lang siyempre hindi ka makakakuha ng bakal, kung wala kang pambayad na pera! Okay. kaya lang, nandyan na nga yung resources na yun e, the ability/technology in creating steel for example. Pero hindi pa rin natin magamit? Dahil lang sa wala tayong pera? There must be something wrong with the way we see our economics. God certainly did not create these resources to be used selectively by a selected number of men, for their particular interests. If anything, I think it is all here for the consumption of the general welfare. But we are gradually using it all up (natural resources)? This is where man’s creativity comes to play, I think. We should ensure that instead of us living off at the expense of the next generation, we should be able to lay the best groundwork for them to improve on and develop even more to posterity. This way, we are not living off at their expense.

May Pag-asa pa ba ang Pinas? Meron!

Kaya lang, kailangan nating seryosohin and pagkakakilanlan natin sa ating sarili, alamin kung bakit sa possible 2 or 3 million years of human history, nandito tayo ngayon (for 70 or so years) at this particular time. Don’t you think that our purpose is to take part in a continuing process of creation? Isn’t this what charity/agape/love means? Isn’t this our purpose? May Pag-asa pa ba ang Pinas? Meron! Kaya lang, malaking porsyento ng ating budget ay ginagamit na pambayad sa utang na panlabas? Malaking porsyento nga nitong binabayaran na ito ay hindi man lang naten nagamit e (because of the fluctuations and the interest).

Sorry, just some random thoughts. Shotgun no?! Arrgh!!