Halfway Home

Actually, three-fourths way home would be more appropriate.

Currently in Changi Airport, waiting for 5:10 pm connecting flight to Manila. Also currently loving the said airport's facilities and consequently feeling sorry about old NAIA's.

I've been exposed to the gap between developed and developing for more than a week... and it really is quite sad. How come a country as beautiful and as rich in natural resources such as ours remains so backward? Well, I've known the answer to that for a long time and it sucks that it hasn't been remedied. But what sucks even more is that other countries with much less made the most of what they had and have so much more. Very good for them, of course. But what that does say of us, as a nation? Are we not talented enough to dig gold out of a gold mine? Again, it is not the lack of skill that hinders us to grow for I believe that we are indeed a very talented people. It is the lack of a THE RIGHT MINDSET.

Case in point: Singapore. In the 1950's, then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew tasked his staff to travel to the neighboring ASEAN countries to see what these countries didn't have. When they got back, the ministers reported: "They have a lot of natural resources and beautiful places there but they lacked DISCIPLINE." And so Lee Kuan Yew decided to capitalize on his neighbors' weakness and made it his country's competitive advantage. What Singapore lacked in resource it compensated for in discipline. It took years but their discipline paid off. They made the best out of the little that was given them. They made lemonade out of lemons... and even all the other stuff that could be made out of lemons!

I could just imagine how far we'd go if only there'd be enough Filipinos responsible enough to care about the welfare of the country in general... And if there were leaders committed enough to bring this country of ours towards its full potential. It surely will not be easy, with traditional politics at its dirtiest and the majority of the nation, sadly, trapped in a cramp societal outlook, a big stumbling block, an anvil that weighs us down and keeps us down. Add the typical Dela Cruz's lack of understanding of what is actually happening (though they are not at fault for this and I do not intend to judge) and the resulting inadequacy or inability of supplying the right solutions to different problems and we are just at the tip of a swelling iceberg.

I have fortunately been acquainted to and am good friends with a number of young people who, despite all the disappointments and the let-downs and the crap that they have been exposed to, still believe in making an indelible difference to this country and are on their way to doing so. I would like to do that as well, in my own way. As for you guys, you know who you are. Good luck! I hope that your, our idealism doesn't wane in the long run, that it stands all the tests that it will go through along the way... It has to be kept alive if we want to see a prosperous Philippines in our iifetime.