Hi emeterio_barcelon Thanks for the article just to add more spices to the curry Washington Irving (1783-1859) - American essayist, Biographer and Historian
use to say "Great minds have purpose, others have wishes.”
Posted by Emeterio
"I have a dream. I have a dream." was made famous by Martin Luther King. Do we have a dream for our country? How do we want to see this country ten years from now; twenty years from now? Certainly no poverty or cut it to a minimum. Certainly no Kurakot or cut it down to a minimum. Certainly keep it happy, or happier than it is at present. Once we have the dream, we need targets and the plans to attain those targets then constant evaluation of attainment of those targets at periodic milestones then plan again. But first we must have a vision of what we want for this country.
Value systems that we want: Love God above all things; and love each other for love of God. But how do we break down those two great commandments into actionable targets? The break through must be in education, not necessarily schooling, for education starts in the home. As one author rightly claimed "All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. Do not fight. Share what you have. Help each other. Smile. Be fair. Keep the place clean. Take a nap. Listen to the teacher, etc." In catechism class we learn of the mystery of God's love for me and for fellow men. No reasons are given why God loves us; which makes it a mystery. But we know He loves each one of us. All He asks is to love Him back. And if we see God's image in our neighbor, we just have to love him too. There is no reason to fight. We may disagree, even agree to disagree. But no violence is allowed. Let truth prevail wherever possible.
Dialogue. Work together. Make allowance for the shortcomings of others. Promote happiness. Immediate problems to solve are poverty and corruption. The two are linked together and the two mutually reinforce each other; and the two cannot be erased completely; only minimized. Poverty can be addressed directly: Create jobs; educate our people; protect their health; give them proper housing. Two ways to create jobs are promoting small business and establishing organizations and industries that create jobs; capitalize on our natural resources, mines, water, geothermals. bright sun, favorable weather systems; rich soils, intelligent people.
What are the barriers and hindrances? We don't have unity. We lack the willingness to sacrifice for the common good. Someone remarked that the only time we were united and willing to sacrifice was during the Japanese invasion. We had a common enemy. Now we do not have that luxury. We have not learned to cooperate and have one of our own have an advantage over us. We do not work hard or consistently. Nature has been so good to us so that a little work here and a little work there allow us to survive. We have no inclement winter to force us to save. So we do not store or provide for a rainy day. But these barriers are trifles, not that difficult to hurdle. All we need is the determination to work together and overcome them. This should be a piece of cake.
We now have a new administration and we can tell them what to do. Or we can work independently since we know what we need to do and can align our efforts without having any influence or lakas in the government.
We can work on our own in alignment with the government's efforts since we know what we have to do: review our value systems, work against poverty, stop corruption, educate our people, protect their health, provide jobs, give them shelter, disseminate technology, work honestly, consistently, happily, and share. Do we have a dream for our country? What is the small step that we must do to make that dream come true?
Please direct your comment to emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com
