Yes, You Should Not Trust The Government, But You Have To Move On Somehow
June 9th, 2008 | by Ced Solidon |“You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We’d all want to see the plan…
You tell me it’s the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead.”
- excerpt from The Beatles’, ‘Revolution’
Hearing people talk about how sick and tired they are about the government and how corrupt its officials are, is probably not new to you. You hear and read about them everyday, from that neighbor you have who likes to talk about politics to forums on the internet.
Also, you probably heard people talk about their grand plans of changing the government. But have you seen any of them move even just a finger to actually do what they’re talking about? Probably not, or if there are any, they are as many as there are people in Siberia.
The truth of the matter is that we really can’t trust the government anymore. Well, it’s not a new concept and while all of us will probably agree to that, let’s go beyond that in this piece.
Since the government isn’t to be trusted or at least dealt with with a good amount of cynicism, let’s instead try to look into ourselves and see what we can do. For those saying that they can do nothing, actually there are tons of things that one can do to make the world – or our province in this case – a better place.
Take for example our kababayans who go back to the province to conduct medical missions and other cause-oriented programs. They are the primary example of people who believe they can promote change and actually do something about the current situation in the province. Yes, we all know that our government hospital in Borongan is cash-strapped and lacks in at least decent facilities, but we can do our part to help change that. Our kababayans who conduct these medical missions exemplify that.
Of course, there are other things that are beyond our control and only the government can do something about it like repairing our roads and making sure that the taxes that we pay are spent well. What we can do in these situations is be more vigilant and take action instead of merely muttering to ourselves and complaining to high heavens where nobody can hear us.
How many times have you heard people talk about the hideous graft and corruption committed by the last congressman in our province? But did anyone really come forward to substantiate those claims at the Sandiganbayan, for example? How about our roads, has anyone really confronted officials of the DPWH regarding that matter? If we just keep on complaining to ourselves and form grand plans only in our heads, we are reduced to becoming rumormongers and a bunch of whiners.
Sometimes we have to stop being the typical Filipinos that we are. Contrary to popular belief in this country, we can do something, we can promote change in our society and in our province. We don’t even have to become politicians to do that. We don’t have to sell our souls to the devil one piece a day just to do one single good deed.
No I am not suggesting nor asking that we go on a bloody revolution to create change in our society, in Eastern Samar. We can do as little as give back to our province and share our talents and even our money (for those who are well-off enough) to our brothers and sisters back home and take concrete steps in getting closer to the ideal province that we all dream about.
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Ced Solidon started the team blog. He currently works as a freelance writer. Aside from that, he also maintains a travel blog, Gala Pinoy. He loves to read books and play music.
