SONApakinggan Mo Ba?

Hindi ko pinanood o pinakinggan ang SONA. Bakit? Dahil sa aking palagay ay tinututukan ko naman ang pangulo natin sa mga nangyayari sa kanya (o binabalita sa kanya) na para ko na rin siyang na ma-micro manage. Hindi ko na siguro kailangan pa ng summary. Pero syempre, depende pa rin sa balita yun. Di tayo sigurado kung tama o kumpleto. Pero ganon din naman ang SONA. Ok. Sige, tama na ang palusot. Pero babasahin ko ang transcripts nito bukas. 

Pero bago ko ito basahin, napupuna ko naman na kung ang tema man ng SONA ng pangulo ay nauulit, ganon din naman ang tema ng komento ng mga tao patungkol sa mga bumabatikos sa report at performance ng pangulo. Tila ba andali na lang nating iwaglit ang mga kritisismo. Dahil ba ito sa tingin nila ay napakahusay ng kanyang mga ginagawa? O kaya naman ay dahil napapagod na lang din sila sa pagbabatikos ng iba? 

Kung ano man ang rason, gumawa na lang ako ng sagot sa ilan sa paulit ulit ko na ring nababasang reklamo patungkol sa mga nagrereklamo. At hindi naman ako nagrereklamo, nagpapaliwanag lang.

1. Sino man ang nakaupong presidente, nasa yo pa rin yan kung aasenso ka. Kung tamad ka, wala ring mangyayari. 

- Tama naman.  Ikaw masuwerte ka at nakaahon ka sa sariling sikap na di masyadong umaasa sa gobyerno. Pero aminin na natin, maraming bagay ang kontrolado pa rin ng gobyerno at sila lang ang makakagawa ng paraan para kahit papano ay gawing patas ang laban lalo na para sa mga maliliit nating kababayan. Paano yung nangangailangan talaga ng direktang suporta ng gobyerno? Yung mga nasalanta ng Yolanda? Ng lindol sa Bicol?  Yung magpa-hanggang ngayon ay mga wala pa ring matitinong kalsada, eskwelahan, ospital, kuryente o malinis na tubig sa maraming lugar sa Pilipinas? Kaya mo rin bang sabihin sa kanila na nasa kanila naman yun? Masuwerte ka, at ako na rin, kasi kaya nating lumaban kahit di masyado suportahan ng gobyerno. E sila?

 

Kaya mo bang sabihin sa kanila yan ng harapan?

2. Kung iimpeach natin siya, sino ipapalit? Si ano? Si ganyan? Ano mangyayari sa Pilipinas pag sila na naupo?

- O siya, ako man ay hindi ko rin alam o masasabi kung tama ba talagang iimpeach ang pangulo o hindi. Hindi ako abogado para sabihing maiimpeach ang pangulo dahil sa nangyari sa DAP o PDAF o kung ano pa. Pero yung kaisipan na siya lang ang may kakayahang maging lider sa ngayong 100 Milyong populasyon nang Pilipino, minamaliit ba natin ang kakayahan ng lahat sa atin? Saka sino ba bumoto dun sa kung sakaling papalit sa kanya, di ba karamihan din naman ng nasa tin? Oo, puedeng hindi ikaw yun. Pero yan din kasi ang mindset na nagluklok sa karamihan sa kanila. Yung kesa si ganito ang manalo, iba na lang ang iboboto kahit di naman yun ang talagang gusto. Nagpadala lang sa agos ng “survey”.

3. Puro na lang tayo batikos. Di na lang tayo matuwa. 

- Pano mo nalaman?  Hindi mo lang siguro naririnig na nagpupuri din naman sa mabuting gawa ng gobyerno ang ibang tao. Pero kahit pa siguro puro batikos ang ginagawa ng ilan, dapat hindi sa nagbabatikos ilagay ang puna mo. Ganon din e, bumabatikos siya, binabatikos mo ang pagbatikos nya. Ang tingnan na lang natin ay ang bottom line. Bumaba ba ang mga presyo ng bilihin? Umayos ba ang kalakaran ng transportasyon? Gumanda ba ang kalakaran sa mga ahensya ng gobyerno? Naayos ba ang mga imprastraktura? Naging mas handa na ba tayo sa mga sakuna at kalamidad? Kung ang sagot ay hindi, ang tanong dapat ay bakit. Hindi “bakit puro na lang tayo reklamo?”.

4. So gusto nyong kampihan si ganito at si ganyan? Obvious naman na corrupt sila. Sumusuporta ka sa corrupt?

- Hindi porke pareho kayo ng punto sa isang bagay, ang ibig sabihin na nun e sang-ayon na rin kayo sa lahat ng bagay. Nanay mo nga o asawa o kapatid mo, nagtatalo pa kayo sa maraming mga bagay bagay kahit kapamilya mo na eh, yung sa mga tao sa pulitika pa kaya? Ang problema kasi nagsisimula pag nilagyan mo na ng “kulay” yung posisyon mo na tipong pag di ka namin kapareho e ibig sabihin agad nasa kabila ka. Imbes  magkaisa tayo sa pagtuligsa sa lahat ng mali sa lipunan, mas nangigibabaw pa ang panatisismo. Hindi mo rin naman kailangang sang-ayunan ang lahat sa isang tao para sabihin mong sa malinis ka sumusuporta. Ang katapatan, dapat nasa bansa, hindi nasa mga personalidad.  May sarili kang isip, gamitin mo ng maayos at tama. 

Pick one and be an 'instant' supporter/advocate

Mamaya, babasahin ko na ang nilalaman ng SONA. Siguro magcocomment din ako at magbibigay ng opinyon. Kung tingin ko ba eh maganda ang ginawa ng pangulo o hindi. Kung nakatulong ba talaga sa ekonomiya at estado ng bansa ang mga naging proyekto nya. Tingnan natin. O baka hindi rin ako magpost. Depende siguro kung hindi matatapatan ng rotating brownout.

Full SONA Transcript

Find Your End And Mean It

Try asking children about what they want to be someday. Then ask those in their teens the same question. Then inquire also from the older ones preferably those who are in the working age. You'll probably get different sets of results. You'll get bigger replies from the young ones while getting watered down responses as age increases.

We tend to become more practical and conservative as we age. It's because we are more able to gauge what we are capable of, what our environment gives us and what's more probable for us to achieve. Doing so gives us lesser pressure but it limits us from maximizing our potentials and from all possibilities of succeeding in larger things. 

It's not unusual for some to lose direction while moving on with their plans. Most dreams have something to do about health, wealth, relationships and self-fulfillment. You need to work hard to arrive at these things. As much as it is difficult to succeed, finding the means to get to these ends isn't child's play. Having a good education, landing a good job locally or abroad, working on a healthy diet and body workout, etc, etc. These are your possible means. But for many, these means become the end because of their improbability. The means become the "DREAM" rather than the tools to reach for it. 

Are your eyes fixed on the target?

 

And for some, they are lucky enough to be able to experience these means. But while they're at it, they tend to forget what they are doing it for in the first place. Then they just do it until they get tired and bored. Then one day, they will get satisfaction just by saying they did it one time and totally forgotten the ends to their means.

We all have targets to chase. Sometimes we hit, sometimes we miss. But many times, people miss targets not because they are not skilled to do so but ironically, it's merely by not shooting the arrow. They just thought that the arrow is enough of a prize for them. Then they get what they deserve for such thinking.

It Helps to Help

We all have needs which sometimes we can't get without the help of others. We all can help in two ways. First is by giving others what they need or second, by teaching them how to get it by themselves.

Helping is not difficult but understanding the real needs and the situations of other people is. And we can truly help only if we can comprehend where others are coming from. Unless we speak the language they understand and we understand the language that they speak, true helping will never be achieved. It will just end up in either spoilage or wastage. 

It's Not Social Media's Fault

Only a few people in our society are not yet exposed to social media or have not ever heard about it. The fact is we can define the last 10 years as the Social Media decade. 

Due to heavy usage of it, we hear people blame it for the dumbing down of most topics and issues. The attention of people are now shorter and most of us claim we are very busy that we don't have time to dig deeper into each of them. And in contrast, since voicing out thru social media is easier than researching, more opinions without enough basis are thrown heavily into the fray.

Arf! Arf!

A lot of times that it's not just about the knowledge of people that is lacking but also the consistency in the reactions and emotions. I will not be surprised to know that those who are fond of saying "don't be judgmental" on social media comments are also the same ones who are always on fire and on attack mode to bash and bully every person on news headlines who get caught on photos and videos in their bad day without being given the benefit of the doubt of what really happened.

Can we blame all of these on social media then? Or should we rather thank it for showing us the signs of what illness our society had been suffering for a long time? It's just that we're given this medium to magnify what we had been all this time. The challenge now is to find or make up the antidote. Can it also be found on social media? I hope so.

My Past, Present and My Kids' Future

I did not see myself where I am now 5 years ago. I knew that I'll be married. I was planning it. My wife, who was my girlfriend then, didn't know yet. I just told her when I proposed that same year later. Maybe she thought at first that I didn't have plans. I couldn't blame her. Going back to the present, I have my wife here with me and our two energetic kids. 

Going forward to the future, I don't know if my kids would plan to marry someday. They can choose not to. But if they do,  I only have one advise for each of them in choosing who they should marry someday.

For my son, pick someone who is like his mother. And for my daughter, choose someone who is far better than her father. If they can follow these advice, I'll be happy.