More to life than this!

By Emmanuelle

Things are definitely not what they used to be. And this common-as-the-light-of-day observation originates not only from   Lolo or Lola shaking their graying heads and clacking their disapproving tongues. It is all there, plain and blatant for all to see.  And hear. And document.

Some people can’t help but follow suit after Lolo and Lola. Parents seriously bent on parenting, priests and pastors truly earnest on preaching, living saints shepherding human flocks, teachers sincerely doing their jobs of banishing ignorance. They shake heads graying overnight. They sigh. It is dreadful. It is doleful.

How about the young ones with rose-colored lens still shading their eyes? These neighborhood kids in rugged shorts and tattered shirts disguised as knights in shining armors slaying evil dukes and dragons?

They have clearer eyesight, sharper hearing, more impressionable minds. More than the adults, they watch, listen, and learn. And if they intend to survive ahead of the rest of the pack, they must do it quickly and soon.

 And what must they watch, listen to and learn from? Let’s have it from the very beginning, a very good place to start:

Education for the rich or for the poor, there is only the OR and never the EQUAL. Either you have it or you don’t. Favoritism to protect the privileged, to cudgel the less. The big bullies crowding out the perpetually victimized. And elementary pupil’s vote-for-me-ha?-tap-on-the-shoulder to prepare the way to cruder high school and college politics. Fraternities and sororities, the power and influence of the many against the solitary few. The more one is hurt, the more one loves. Loyalty has its price. And privilege in later life. So paddle away. Take it out on next year’s weaker willing neophytes.

Chase the green light, orange is not yet red. When caught, answer the question, who is your attorney – Ninoy Aquino, Diosdado Macapagal, Manuel Roxas? Pocket the bills, foolish police, maraming  mabibilis  rin iyan. Democracy is demo-crazy. It drains one of energy, nothing is left for the check-and-balance. So, the fat cheques filter down to the oppositionists-turn-administration and tsk-tsk to the administration-turned opposition. The delicate balancing acts begin. The wheel must not, must never ever turn round. When on top, stay on top. The righteous and the hideous reigns within the same bones.

Election is no election. It is stamping a price to what is previously priceless. So expensive, yet so cheap. The world watched open-mouthed to the wholesale prostitution of a nation. A pity. It was the same nation that spawned   EDSA I that inspired other nations to stop the march of hungry millions in China, to tumble the walls off Germany, to disunify the sturdy Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

And the children watched, and listened and learned. One child grabs for one slice more of his share of food. Mother slaps his hand. Don’t be greedy. You have eaten your share. Let others have theirs, in bliss and in peace.

The child stands chastised, but he is not chased away. He watches and waits. He had seen, and heard and learned. The share of others can be his. The shame on his face does not matter. It is irrelevant. Others have done it. Others older and wiser. They have gotten away with it. With millions and billions. Using  another name,  perhaps. Mr. He-deals and Mr. He-hides in same flesh.

This child is our tomorrow. Ugh.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/feelings/)

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