March 28, 2024

Don’t be surprised if our already polluted air is even more polluted with promises. Whether these are empty or not is everybody’s lookout. We are in the midst of our beloved country’s favorite fiesta, the national and local elections, after all.
This near-sighted Ibaloy writer hopes and prays that this exercise of our right of suffrage does not become a bloody affair as have been the case of past elections even down to the barangay level. That’s how bloodthirsty some of our countrymen are for power.
Don’t know about you, but I believe that one should not be killed just because he or she runs for office or supports a particular candidate or belongs to a greedy, corrupt and self-enriching political dynasty like most of our so-called leaders since time immemorial. Let us be reminded that we supposedly live in a democracy and are a predominantly Christian nation that believes in peace and giving the other cheek and all that jazz.
So let’s go and exercise our right to vote when the time comes and please let’s vote wisely and intelligently and not be swayed by empty promises or sell our votes. Our beloved Philippines and its beautiful but at times stupid people have suffered long enough because of the stupid choices we have collectively made. Isn’t our beloved country still considered as the laggard and sick man of Asia after so many elections? So, whether we have learned our lesson or not, will be seen again in these coming elections.
Honestly, if you ask me, it will be the same names and faces who will be elected into office. Once again, our beloved country will continue to be left behind by its neighbors. That’s the very definition of insanity, according to Albert Einstein, isn’t it? Expecting change but doing the same thing over and over again. We long-suffering Pinoys expect a better and more progressive country but continue to elect the same corrupt persons or their relatives into office. Insanity, indeed.


Here’s “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley: “I met a traveller from an antique land/ Who said: ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,/ Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,/ Tell that its sculptor well those passions read/ Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,/ The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed./ And on the pedestal these words appear —/ “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:/ Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”/ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare/The lone and level sands stretch far away.’”


Let’s end with a prayer: “Heavenly Father, I pray that we find peace, I pray that we no longer are two but that we become one flesh. I pray we grown in faith together and get closer to go through one another that our love is always a representation of God’s love for us. Praying for peace in Jesus name. Amen.” (from the Internet)
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ continue to bless and keep us all safe.