Thursday, March 9, 2006

Men For Others

More on my dialogue with myself. I attended a Jesuit school for my elementary and high school years, twelve years in all. They repeatedly reminded us to become men for others. Every student was encouraged to build their lives around this mantra.

Now twenty-five years after graduating from High School, I find the majority of my class defaulting on what was once the central objective of our education. I am of course as guilty as anybody whenever the question of default crops up. I guess we all had to make a living first and provide for our families and keep the children secure and happy, and see the world and taste premium single malt Scotch.

But now I guess I have to make my move and get off this comfortable perch and offer my best efforts to my country. I want to help bad enough that I am willing to forsake everything material that I own and without engaging in anything unethical, illegal or immoral to achieve whatever political ends I will need to help change a nation. The road ahead is long and strewn with rocks but all the problems are of our own making and it is not impossible to solve these problems no matter how hopeless everything seems.

To the point when it becomes repetitious: I will go home and give this worthy cause my very best shot. I want the Filipino people to hear what this nobody, unknown, unheard-of, politically unconnected fellow Filipino has to say.

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