...on disappointment and optimism...

I've been blogging ever since the incident started... Well-wishers and concerned people express their support and prayers for everything that has happened... People have re-posted, people have commented, not only here, but also for the other blogs... I do my best to scour the net to look for blogs concerning the events happening in the controversy and try to speak on what I know about it...

With all the positive remarks and responses, I felt that the call for the Makati demonstration would gather people... As it turned out, it was a gathering of militant groups... It looked many if you watched it on TV, but I don't know, I felt that it wasn't enough to threaten the "stubborn mule" that is the president... I was honestly disappointed... I seriously thought of just migrating somewhere, a thing that never in my wildest dreams I have considered... I was thinking, "man, a man stood up for these people, and all they can do is watch on TV what's happening? A man said that 'this nation really is worth dying for' and poured his heart out amid the administration lapdogs, and these people can't even come here to make their own voices heard?" I know of people's reservations, but man, that was it?

My dad was telling that today is different from before... Back in the martial law period, people were so sick for so long, that if somthing happened, it will spark the whole nation... But today, people are tired, and things now aren't as bad as before... As it seems, at least today, we have our freedom... So that's why I didn't blog first... But I was disappointed...

And then I went straight to UST for the canvassing of the local college's votes, of which I am a member of a local political party, the Students' Democratic Party... As the results were being announced, I was again disappointed, but now, also disgusted... I didn't even have the heart to look at the proclamation of the president, because I thought it was a joke... Discussing the whole thing is going to be another matter, but the point is, I was thinking "first, the Makati snub, now, we lose to a joke of a party? What has this country become? Even these kids get manipulated and can't even make a stand for themselves... Professors threatening students to run for a position, I'm not surprised if they threatened to flunk a whole class if they didn't vote for their bets.."

I was so sure that I'm going to write a disappointing blog today, but as it turned out, Sunday wasn't half bad... I read an article by Jim Paredes in the Philippine Star, an article he thought that went against his stand of not writing about political stuff, but still he did, because he felt he needed to... An enlightening article by another person was also good education for me... She said that "the moral compass of the Filipino people seem to be affected by our norms. Corruption has been such a norm that we already bend our moral compasses to accomodate it." Well, she might not have said it that exact way, but that was the whole thought of it... All I could say was, "O nga no.."

And then came the mass... People went up the La Salle Gymnasium, and flocked the whole place... I thought I'd just stay downstairs, outside, just to see if people would actually come... And they did... And I don't know what to say... I was happy... The place was crowded, they needed to stay in the cafeteria, and the park, and still it overflowed... Some had to stay on the field, and halfway through the mass, people were still coming... It was touching to see... There were no flags, no militant groups, just people, wanting to show that we are together in prayer... And outside, people were blowing their horns to show support... And it was great to hear... Cory had a message to the people, my uncle thanked the people, but it was really too bad that we downstairs weren't able to hear it because of the crappy sound system...

Overall though, it shone a glimmer of optimism in me... And I sincerely believe that people still do care... And migrating isn't an option just yet...

 

**to those there, I was giving out t-shirts and one of the few who were in yellow in the mass... hopefully, Thomasians will be more visible next time...