Decency Is Not Hypocrisy

I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Some deliberately while others due to naivete. But no excuses. I did a lot of bad things. Period.

Wrong things are called "wrong" that you have to make them "right" and not to make another one. Realizing that one thing is wrong is the first step to correct it. Acknowledging your imperfection does not mean you are to do more intentional wrongs or you have to tolerate others' mistakes. 

A plane on auto pilot may deviate from the desired path but there's a locator mechanism which brings it back into the right direction just like how your morals and principles redirects you into doing the right things. And being wrong once does not diminish your ability to identify the sins of others. We have the responsibility to guard our actions towards other people and to guide, teach and call out those who are going astray. 

Para Kay Gloc at Sa Kanya'y Tumatalak

Sa bansang pinagtatalunan ang halos lahat ng bagay,
Pati mga kaliit-liitang isyung nakakaumay,
Sa social media ang mga tao ay ubod na ng ingay,
Pati patay na nananahimik ay pilit dinadamay.

Kung Showtime ba ang magaling o ang Eat Bulaga,
Pinapakita ba ng Aldub sa tao ang syang tama,
Isama pa ang relihiyon at mga paniniwala,
Kung may forever nga ba o may taong tinadhana,

Sino nga ba ang mas tama, walang makapagsasabi,
Kung ano ang gusto ko, wala ka dapat nang paki,
Ang utak mo at utak ko di pareho ng sinasabi,
Isip at puso ko nga mismo minsa'y di mag-intindi.

At sa pulitikang sobrang daming maririnig na tunog,
Kaliwa't kanang pagkalampag, pagkidlat at pagkulog,
Pag di ka mag-iingat, ikaw ay mahuhulog,
Sa mga kasinungalingang sa iyo'y magpapalubog.

Walang ni isa sa tin ang makapagsasabing may alam,
Tunay na mga nangyayari habang sikmura'y kumakalam,
Lahat nagtuturuan, si ganito at si ganyan,
Magnanakaw at kurakot, sinungaling at gahaman.

Kung sinong nakapuwesto, sya ang may kapangyarihan,
Kawawa ang mapupuntirya at maiipit na kalaban,
Gamit ang makinarya, putik sa yo ay hahagupit,
Paninirang matindi ay wala nang ilulupit.

Normal lamang sa tao ang agad mapaniwala,
Sa dami ng ebidensya, lahat ay tamang hinala,
Ngunit sa sistema natin ngayon, sino nga ba ang malinis,
Makikita ba sa itsura o sa sapatos kung makinis.

Si Gloc-9 na ngayo'y kinukwestyon nyo ang prinsipyo?
Dating kasama ko kay Bro. Eddie, habang kayo ay na kanino
Sa sabi nyo noo'y walang bahid, ngayo'y sinusukang si Aquino.
Sabay ngayon nagmamagaling na tama na ang pinipili nyo.

Noon kami'y nagpapapaalala ng posible na mangyari,
Sa pagsuporta sa kanila ngunit di nyo inintindi.
Pero gayunpaman, karapatan ninyo ang pumili ng gusto nyo.
At karapatan ko ring ipamukha sa inyong "I told you so".

Suportahan man nya ngayon ang kandidatong inyong kalaban,
Na tingin ng taong bayan ay pamilyang kawatan,
Sa korte tandaan ay hindi pa napapatunayan,
Kaya para husgahan siya'y wala tayong karapatan.

Katulad din ng lahat ng iba pang mga kandidato,
Lahat may mga baho at balitang panloloko,
May isa raw sa kanila ay hindi tunay na Pilipino,
At isa namang berdugo raw at mamamatay tao.

May isa naman daw walang silbi at inutil ang pagkilos,
Katulad ng sinundan ang bayan daw maghihikahos.
At isa naman daw na sinasabing may sakit na at mabagal,
Kung maupo man daw sya ay di na rin magtatagal.

Sa mga balitang yan pumipili tayo ng iboboto.
Subalit ang impormasyon ay galing lang sa ibang tao.
Bawat isa sa kanila'y di tayo nakakasiguro,
Dito na rin papasok ang salitang prinsipyo.

Bawat tao'y iba-iba ang pinapahalagahan,
Sa iyong karakter ito ang iyong pinagyayaman,
Tulad ng sinasabing pagpili ng "lesser evil",
At paggamit ng karapatan gamit ang ating "free will".

Maaaring sa yo ay ayaw mo ng magnanakaw,
Numero unong bagay na iyong pinaka-aayaw.
Kung kaya ang kandidatong dito pinaka-nakilala,
Ay siya ring sa iyo'y pinaka-nakakairita,

Pero di naman lahat ng tao ay pare-pareho,
Sa pagtulak sa iba dapat tayo ay pumreno.
Kadalasang gusto nila ay iyon ang ayaw mo,
Na siya namang dahilan ng kampanya ng pulitiko,

May ibang tao kasi na di basta naniniwala,
Hanggat di pa sila napapatunayan ng husgadong nagkasala,
O kaya naman ay meron na mas ok na daw ang magnakaw,
Dahil paniniwala nila, lahat nama'y may tagong takaw.

Ok na daw ang dumudukot, basta naman tumutulong,
Kesa naman daw sa iba na ang mga ulo'y gumugulong,
Kumbaga sa kriminal, holdapin mo na ko't dukutan,
Basta hayaan mo akong mabuhay pa ng matagalan.

Hindi ko alam ang dahilan ng aking idolong si Gloc
O ng kahit ng ibang supporter na putak ng putak,
Kung alin sa mga nabanggit ang kanilang naging batayan,
Sa pagpili ng iboboto at susuportahan.

Subalit kahit ano pa man ang kanilang rason,
Kahit nakakabobo man, karapatan nila yon.
Ano man ang dahilan o kanilang intensyon,
Bunga ng karanasan, kaalaman at leksyon.

Ang bawat pamantayan natin ay iba-iba,
Yan nga ang dahilan kung bakit may kampanya,
Kung tingin mo man na mali ang aking napipisil,
Ilatag mo ang mga puntos na sa pagboto'y makakapigil.

Pero ang husgahan mo ang bawat pagkatao,
Dahil lamang sa iba ang kanilang iboboto,
Tawagin siya at pagbintangan ng kung ano-ano,
Nakakabuisit ka na pare, suntukan na lang tayo.

Biro lang naman yan, pero nakakainis na talaga,
Madalas nga na ako ngayon ay nagtataka,
Mga kakilala kong matino at noo'y hinahangaan,
Tila ba tamang pagrarason ay kanila nang nalimutan.

Ng dahil lang sa matinding pagsuporta sa kandidato,
Minsan din akong naging ganyan, ang suporta'y todo todo.
Pero hanggat maaari'y iniwasan, personalang pagbira,
Dahil sa huli naman, tayo tayo rin ang matitira.

Pagkatapos ng eleksyon, asan ba ang mga pulitiko,
Ni hindi mo malapitan ang marami sa mga ito,
Kung sisirain ang pagsasamahan, dahil lamang dito,
Panalo man ang sinuportahan, tayo pa rin naman ang talo.

Photo from Gloc-9's Facebook Page

Create Your Purpose

Paralysis while being alive is one of the worst experiences. I'm not speaking of the medical kind but more of the growth and development as a person. 

Thinking inward and meditation are necessary. But doing it too much to the extent of spending most of your time looking for your purpose is not healthy. If you keep on doing that, you might not get to the answer. And without noticing it, it's already the end of you. 

If you haven't found your purpose, you can always create one. You'll never go wrong in building your life for a purpose of helping another life. You'll never lose anything but you'll gain more in reaching out to people around you. Most of the time, you don't really have to seek for the purpose as you just need to act on it as it is has been beside you all this time.

Writing For Yourself

The most effective type of writing is when you write for yourself. There's no point in writing about things you don't like or in a way you don't desire. The first person that should appreciate what and how you wrote is you. You will learn a thing or two about good practices in writing from others. But you don't put the practice into your writing but rather your writing into the practice. 

You write what you like. Other like minded people might like it also. And people who understood what you say might be swayed by it. Some might not like what you say but will read you anyway. Some won't like how you wrote and your topic all in all but there will always be people like that no matter how and what you write. Just write. For yourself first. 

We All Lack Something Anyway

Judgement and intolerance aren't bad, nor they aren't good by themselves. Both are just mere actions and reactions. The targeted subject is what makes it either right or wrong. Since it's the Easter week, I am sharing my thoughts about tolerance and judgement towards our own Christian brethren.

We all had different journeys towards where we are now. Speaking about faith, many of us went through our weakest and coldest days.  And those strong in faith are the ones expected to guide those who are weak. But the problem is identifying the weak. Most of us won't know or even deny it when we are weak in faith. We might even think that what we're doing are just fine. And maybe, they are indeed "just fine". Not wrong, but there are a lot of things that could be done to improve.

Fraternal correction must be done as it should be, fraternal. Though in reality, if we try to call out all that we see as not proper with everyone's practice towards the faith, we'll end up doing only just that. And there are also things that does not really need correction but a follow up and appreciation about what is good in what they do.

"Alay Lakad" and "Visita Iglesia" are two of the most popular activities during the holy week especially among the young ones. We hear a lot of reminders about not to make this just a "barkada gimik"  to the point of being too hard on those who do it.  Rather than being preachy, maybe we can choose to befriend some of them and when the opportunity to teach arise, we can provide a piece of our mind talking about the sacredness and real meaning of these activities. Young people love this kind of information as they are the curious ones. You might be surprised with their reactions when you do that.

Easter egg hunt is for the kids. This is new as it was recently adapted from the western culture by this generation. We can hear a lot of traditionalist whining about this and I could understand them fully. It was also my first reaction when it was initially proposed at our village. But upon learning the complete program which included a Holy Mass, a bible story reading about the resurrection then the Easter egg hunt as the last part, I thought that it's actually a great idea . This will get the whole family involved and will definitely bring the message to everyone especially the kids.

There are families that take their chances on these dates to have a vacation. It is definitely not a good practice to start with as sometimes, people forget the true meaning of the Holy Days. I myself would try to avoid doing it. It is avoidable. But for those who do it, they can still make their holiday silent, sacred and holy and the best thing about it is that their family is together.

We may be a catholic country for many centuries but to say that we are a model nation in practice, we still got a long way to go. Remember that all of these practices and traditions in one way or another lead us to being better followers of Christ. Individually, let's keep in mind that we all have a blank space to fill towards faith. And let's use this thought upon seeing all these "incomplete" acts of our brothers and sisters to try looking at things more positively. Rather than feeling disdained and calling them all out, appreciate them for a moment. Be thankful that no matter how secular this world and how busy most people become, the season still has an integral part of their schedule and while at that,  let's try to make it more meaningful for someone.