people powerless

our history books are proud of people power.
i am proud to be Pinoy.

many revolutions later, our people still got no power. maybe an ounce, but still not enough to light the very study lamp we use to read our error-infested social studies books; not enough to transport all the money needed to 15 or so regions from the imperial capital through this centralized system some shithead thought would be real cost-effective; not enough to distribute land, wealth and energy to where it is really needed.

Pinoys should be proud of people power.

it gives all of us more than enough bragging rights for dear old democracy. it stopped some deluded lady from gathering more than enough shoes and some fat guy from gathering more than enough mansions... and wives. it placed into office more than enough government workers that the government itself can't afford its self anymore and brought more than enough red tape to last until the nth generation. it stopped years of destruction so we could all start from scrap again.

the good news is we have started again. we started from crap again.

crap because the news anchor screams at you when you want to know what's going on, the very reason why my generation does not want to know what's going on. crap because we can't afford to make those who have to pay the mind-blowing price pay. crap because we were happier as a nation when some boxer of ours defeated some boxer of theirs than when we had new set of public servants. crap because it seems so hopeless and then some optimism in you tells you that we can start again but you end back in square one where you still think the whole thing is crap.

wether we agree or disagree on jueteng legalization or value added tax or who the real president is or the next public transport fare hike or that homer simpson is smarter than all of us because he's still living the life despite the yellow skin it doesn't matter. what matters most is that we think about anything with enough decency not to drag our feet onto the streets, hands holding some poster with a written-using-some-marker-you-wonder-how-you-were-able-to-afford-the-marker message, mouth dry for yelling what the up-front-with-the-megaphones guy is telling you to yell, head nauseating for skipping some meals and staying under the heat of the sun plus all the eardrum-beating noise.

i am proud to be Pinoy.
i am not proud of people power.

and if you see me on the streets, hands holding some poster with a written-using-some-marker-i-wonder-how-i-was-able-to-afford-the-marker message, mouth dry for yelling what the up-front-with-the-megaphones guy is telling me to yell, head nauseating for skipping some meals and staying under the heat of the sun plus all the eardrum-beating noise...

...then the Philippines is a first world country full of sung heroes, neighborly greetings on the street without a single security guard ready to frisk your waist or a single bullying foreign company as it has become the only superpower in the world.

power, less is not always more.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!