When Life is Mostly Lies

I observe the deceits in our surroundings and I know for sure why humankind cannot find peace in the world. The angers, the absence of trust, the different perspectives of what is moral. The sound bite manipulations, the relentless advertisements "with no therapeutically verified proof". The cheating and bribing; a maladjusted scale for weighing fish, a construction job done poorly, the fixers at the LTO and most other government agencies. High government officials stealing citizens' tax money. NPA commie rebels who claim some kind of political high ground to justify blowing up buses while running a Mindanao-wide protection/extortion racket. Muslims who murder in the name of their faith, who shoot at children and blame heathens for all the wrongs in their world; they claim no faults themselves, for they are God's emissaries. Rather like Catholic priests I suppose. Jews and Palestinians who can't seem to grasp the simplest notion of concession for peace. They respectively build settlements and shoot rockets and blame the other party for the choices they make that undermine peace and build resentment so thick that even Jesus would weep.

Possibly Jesus has not paid his second visit because he has given up on this sloppy, dirty, cheating orb; let Satan work this messy place until we better understand the Bible and His teachings and act accordingly.

How does one negotiate in this wretched environment? Do you concede to the absence of moral constancy worldwide and become a conniver, too? Or do you adhere to principles that can only lead you to despair as you try to walk the high ground while the outer world continues to operate rich with deceits and users and scapegoats?

The problem in the Philippines is more troublesome than elsewhere because the educational system and authoritarian social model  have for so long suppressed and impoverished much of the population. Impoverished both financially and intellectually. Many of the great laboring masses have no depth of vision, no perspective, no comprehension of the part they play in the nation's weak development.

Excuses, blames, tearing down those who succeed to elevate oneself. No sense of responsibility.

They are innocent, of course. For they cannot know what they cannot know.

Left turn.

I believe I write against the wind.

I often muse that most Filipino readers do not get my perspectives and satire. I won't call these expressions literary, but I will say they have hidden messages, or twists, or pokes, or good humored fun and games. And most Filipinos can't find them. That is because many of my lines are based on literature or famous events and sayings that are hidden from non-literary Filipinos.

When I write a book review, no one has an opposing view or even a complimentary one. Few "reads" are recorded for those articles compared to juicy subjects  like dissing the Anti-Pinoy blog site.

So I suppose there is a reason why there is (in my personal opinion) so little understanding of the fundamentals that underpin corruption and lack of productivity in the Philippines.

I can see so plainly how favoritism in the job market cuts off careers and opportunity, leaving workers only graft as a way to improve their standing. But no one in government sees this, or if they do, they are pleased with the way things are now.

I can see so vividly the empty heads being shuffled obediently through the school system absent the ability to think creatively, organize and execute masterfully under the drive of initiative and ambition. Obedience. Rote. Inward.  Not hope. Not aspiration. Not achievement. Not outward.

These are our children. This is the best we can dream for them? Zombie schools?

This is a nation that finds its heroes on the stage of entertainment, not in  research labs or on battlefields or the halls of justice. It is a nation that finds honor in cheating, not in discipline and responsibility. It is a nation that turns a blind eye to theft, or abets it, and chuckles at the tricks played on victims.

It is a nation that laughs at those hurt. The women fucked, impregnated and abandoned. The kids out of sight, out of mind, suffering without a father or a positive role model. It is a nation that twists its jokes on the innocent into righteous justification of Egos detached from humility or compassion. That finds some kind of macho camaraderie in the assertion of sexual dominance. That looks at having a mistress as a medal of valor. That cites kids as evidence of virility, then abandons them.

Not everyone mind you. There are the good, for sure. Lots of them.  But there are way, way too many Ego-bound dickheads, and a social fabric that shouts loudly "I don't care".

For myself, I walk hidden in my mind, a mask in front to face the untrustworthy, ill-thinking Filipino who wants only to bring people down so that he can seem to rise higher in comparison. Who wants to chalk up victory points by being rude or crude or dominant over others.

When life is mostly lies, mostly people lying to themselves and hurting others, it is best to pretend they don't exist. It is best to walk a steadier, more forthright, more honorable path. To keep it simple. To help those deserving of help. To marginalize the cheaters, the boastful, the users. To make them irrelevant.

They are irrelevant to the finer hopes and unified spirit of those who comprehend that we are only as good as the best principles of the community we build.

As individuals, we are pieces of shit. As a community we can be a big pile of shit or something more worthwhile . Something courageous and intelligent and honorable.  It's a choice.

Too many Filipinos choose poorly.