The Philippine Sin

I believe in a global sin, a general fault that makes a county what it is and what makes its citizen passionate about all the wrong things in life.

These global disease, when removed, can make a country rise to new heights of excellence; but sadly, these sins are so part of the national consciousness that people will actually rally up and fight to protect these same sins that are bringing them down. These sins can only be removed by great force.

I will not tell you what I think the American sin is because that would be presumptuous, but I will tell you what disease has be gripping the Philippine nation:

Comfort.

Yes, comfort is the crime of the Filipino nation. We, in complete comfort, can ignore everything wrong around us, claim the success of others, lost our will to fight, protect our image even if it is an illusion, value and devalue life at the same time.

Look around and see wrongs being done left and right to people and society, yet we do nothing because comfort demands nothing be done unless that same wrong is done to you. It is easy to criticize and voice your opinion from the comfort of your couch.

National Pride has become, from the pursuit of innovation, progress, and the effort to exceed, to claiming someone who made a name for themselves as having Filipino blood. Having Filipino Blood is not a source of pride, we should stop taking credit for other people's achievement and start making the achievement ourselves. Stop saying you are proud to be Filipino just because some relatively unknown person became famous half the planet away. On this one, the Japanese have it right, international recognition means little to Japan. There's no more will to excel in a national level, we have been dwindled down to waiting for the next best international sensation to be proud of.

We have become international sheep, we bleat for mass hype. Obsessed with the good thing in life because some famous people halfway around the planet says it's the best thing to have. The comfort of being in the know. We have become a country of babies, thrust any breast and we suck at it hungrily. We are so engrossed by hype that values become obsolete, common sense became uncommon. Many times I want to slap people wanting a new car, or nice gadgets but can't even give their children a good education. I fear what the coming decades hold for us, when the shades that blinds us are forcibly removed and we see ourselves for what we really are, empty with nothing real to fill it.

You see protesters and individuals raising issues and problems of the country every time, people making a point, and you think that these people know what they want, and they are fighting for their beliefs, surely they are the examples we must follow since they are going out of their comfort zones for our benefits, but do you really believe they do that for the benefit of our country, or for their own self-serving interest? In a way it makes sense, one attacking another's way of life, but is it really the way of life worth fighting for? You fight to get more money, at the cost of of national instability. You want to big corrupt officials to pay, yet you are willing to break the laws to do it. You say you need the job yet you slack off when no one is looking. People want to be comfortable, but it is wrong to go about getting it the wrong way.

It is a dark blotch on our nation when life means so much but valued so little. That we go to extreme length, for that piece of twisted happiness. At the cost of national stability and other people's happiness, we throw away our morality and ignore common decency so that we feel safe, wanted, and normal. 

Comfort is vital, we endure hardship for a sliver of comfort, but I believe that we have deliberately ignored decency, morality, equality, common sense, and the search for truth for the illusion of comfort. That illusion is fragile, and I'm afraid it will be our undoing when we are thrust to an unforgiving truth.

Let it be noted that I hate politics, and as an introvert, I hate the general public.