Wednesday, September 28, 2011

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.

10 comments:

  1. "Too many Filipinos choose poorly."

    ---> If you'll ask me, this is not so much a result of poor taste as it is of the lack of choices.

    During the elections, for instance, voters are made to choose between the "trapo," (the corrupt traditional politician), the "communist" (the activist shouting obsolete Marxist slogans) and the "gwapo" (the popular but incompetent celebrity).

    So can you still blame them for voting unwisely? For the average Filipino, it's almost always boils down to which puddle of puke to lick.

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  2. Hey, Joe.


    Arr, them last set of words from you got me septic tank of a brain started.

    Given the right motivation, that big pile of poop will become productive. Using vermiculture, the poop becomes organic fertilizer. Putting that poop in a digester, you get methane and then you can generate electricity.

    I guess my point is -- shit is gold. The bad thing is that the shit pile doesn't know it.

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  3. Joe,

    There is only ONE GOD and he loves us so much that he sacrificed his only son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins so that we do not burn in hell forever. If the world only realizes this simple truth, all our problems will go away for the path of Jesus is the only way (anything else leads to hell).

    God bless.

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  4. Anon, yes, poor choices certainly limit the upside. Like, take the American Republican party in 2012 . . . .

    brianitus, glad to stir up your mire. And your last words are gold, too. The gap between backward and fast-forward is the lack of a little introspection.

    Good Pastor, for once we agree. Although I prefer to walk in the path of the lessons Jesus taught than follow the Man as an Idol, without question, based on what other men say . . .

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  5. Amen brother! Praise the Lord!

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  6. I am increasing my ecclesiastical bribe called simply "tithe" for my prayers to get ahead of the line. But I cannot beat the corrupts who give 5% of their loot to the church which their god graciously and divinely intervene on Philippine investigators to look the other way. That is why the corrupts go scotfree.

    Anyways, I still thank the corrupts for keeping the Filipinos perpetually poor because heaven is theirs. As God said, "It is easier for a poor Filipino to pass thru the eye of the needle than a rich Filipino".

    ... and the corrupts could be the instrument of God to punish the Filipinos for the sins their great great grandparents did ... therefore, the corrupts are just doing their God told them to do to punish the Filipinos ... and the Filipinos are attacking the corrupts, the instruments of God to punish them ...

    Looks like an everlasting loopy-loop of faith's consequence ...

    So far, the beliefs have changed. From "Ask and you shall receive" which Filipinos never received to "God helps those who help themselves" which the corrupts are doing so to "seek and you shall find" that Filipino investigators never find instead they lie to the people that Gloria stole without evidences and forensics just mere pay-to-play witnesses accounts.

    God is great. Sure God has plenty of excuses AND FILIPINO APTLY CONVENIENTLY LEARNED EXCUSES FROM GOD. Now it is going round and round in circles ring-a-ring a round a roses.

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  7. Mariano, bingo. You have painted the picture brilliantly. I would footnote that there are many for whom faith is good, and they are goodly in their faith.

    But the quote of the month award goes to:

    "Looks like an everlasting loopy-loop of faith's consequence . . ."

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  8. Mariano,

    Are you mocking God? God may be all loving and ever merciful, but don't push your luck buddy. Mag-ingat ka pare.

    God bless.

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  9. Keeping the poor financially and intellectually is beneficial for these politicians. With a high voter turn out during elections, it makes them enthusiastic. After all, Filipinos don't look into merits, they look into who can dance and who will give "dole outs"(bribe?)

    There have always been capable candidates. The problem is, since they do not do their campaign the "traditional way"(singing, dancing, giving dole outs), they don't get the votes

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  10. Joe,

    You've REALLY poured your emotions on this one. I could sense the hopelessness in your words. And what would best bring this out of anyone than to choose to face the rotten truth head-on.

    Making things 'irrelevant' is a coping mechanism, a damn good one at that. Diverting one's attention to dumb the senses. Or worst, and the easiest yet, CONNIVE!

    Of course, for the faithful, there is always the road less traveled... Lead the way, Pastor

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