Three cheers for the motivated women

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

THIS corner joins the Dagupan City government in toasting the four barangays who went beyond expectations and not only cleared their barangays of illegal drugs but set reform standards in their respective barangays!

But I am exhilarated even more knowing that three of the chosen barangays were headed by women. In fact, I feel personally vindicated by the choice because truth is, I’ve always believed that motivated women today do better than motivated men in most fields. Be it in governance, journalism, legal practice, education, etc.

In fact, even many motivated gays, like the motivated women, are more effective than motivated men in many fields, i.e., technology, hotel and food business, education, journalism, etc.

What’s happening to motivated men?

Oh you can bet we (?) are just as effective, it’s just that society has told us from birth that we don’t really have to prove our worth because we are men. Right guys? Hehe. Wrong.

Many motivated men bank on their experiences having been given more latitude and opportunities by their families, friends and peers to excel in what they do. In fact, it is the motivated men that fuel the rat race, to see who can get to the top faster.

But the motivated men easily tire and have difficulty sustaining their momentum, and are quick to be on the lookout for newer challenges. And this is where most motivated women and gays outrace the motivated men in their fields.

In fact, I also dare say that many motivated men are more and easily intimidated by motivated women and gays than by other motivated men.

That’s my take of today’s societal roles handled by a motivated generation.  What’s yours?

How’s that for an overnight armchair social scientist writing this piece?

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GENERATIONAL DISCONNECT. Our editorial today is about our WWII veterans who will sooner or later vanish in our midst.

I realize that millennials and members of the Gen X would have no thoughts about how our veterans are surviving these days. They were born three-five decades after WWII ended here.

The fact that most cannot relate with the abuses of martial law, how else can we make them appreciate the sacrifices of our WWII veterans? There is a big disconnect between them and our history.

Soon, even the celebration and observance of the Lingayen Gulf landing will lose its significance to this and future generations.

But before all thoughts of sacrifices and patriotism in the past are finally gone, I earnestly urge towns/cities that still host veterans to document their experiences and submit these to our Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission for safekeeping.

History, after all, is what we choose to remember.

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PAYING FOR PAST SINS. In the weeks ahead, expect a barrage of protests, groans and wailings about the impact of the TRAIN, tax reform program of the DU30 administration.

I have not doubt, many households will feel the impact of the new schedule of taxes imposed on many services and goods. But before we all go to town to join the chorus, I suggest we take two steps back in order to have a deeper understanding of why we are being made to suffer these today.

I will not dwell on the positive impact of the reform package, i.e., exemption from income tax, free college education, better health, etc. because we all feel we deserve these.

I refer to the decades of unabated corruption that we as a people tolerated.

Had we stopped our elected and appointed officials from pocketing 80% of our national budget year-in, year-out, we would already have the infrastructure and social services that today’s reform packages are targeting.

I dare equate the billions of pesos we are being made to shoulder for the Build Build Build program of the DU30 administration, to the billions that were lost to corruption over the decades because we tolerated these by voting for candidates who dared buy our votes.

I equate the trillions of pesos the year’s budget to thousands of lost opportunities to provide for better education of our people, from better salaries and training for better teachers in the past decades.

I equate the higher costs of fuel to the billions of pesos intended for a mass transport system nationwide lost to corrupt bureaucrats.

A close look at how the 2018 budget has been tailored, you can appreciate where we lost thousands of opportunities to work on these in the past, i.e., education, public works, health, defense, social welfare, transportation, agriculture and environment.

This sentiment is underscored by PDU30 when he rightly or wrongly, fires highly placed government officials on the mere suspicion of involvement in corruption, living a lifestyle on government. Note that he is wont to fire even his closest advisers and friends, something that we’ve never seen in other past presidents who were protective of their relatives and friends who made the government their milking cows.

So may I say, board the TRAIN and let’s look forward to a better life for the future generations because we are stopping corruption today.

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