I was with friends when the news of Caloy Yulo winning his first gold medal was announced. Immediately, the euphoria began. We could not help it; it felt like rain after a long, painful drought. I do not think it was just a drought of Olympic medals, even if gold. We know that we are up against the elite athletes of the whole world in their own unique arena – the Olympics. We want the gold like everyone else, but we know it is not a matter of entitlement, not something we can expect as a matter of right. That is why, when we get it, like Caloy got it for us, we celebrate like crazy – one of our own is the best among the best.
Our euphoria, however, was much more than that. Yes, Caloy’s first gold triggered it, but there was a dam about to burst and it did. Beyond sports, many Filipinos have long been in a painful drought. It is hard to put in words because then, they would sound partisan, as though the drought is only a matter of politics. No, it is not. It is more than politics, it is more than economics; it is everything that we call a better Philippines, the search for what is good and right, for peace and harmony, and freedom from poverty and the cesspool of exploitation that blankets the country.
The one thing about living long enough and being observant for most of it is that I see aspects of reality not as random events but as parts of continuing threads. This capacity is not mine alone but for every Filipino who remembers, looks, thinks, and can connect the dots, as they say. Vicious cycles remain both vicious and cycles only because the pain from experiencing them is not learned or quickly forgotten. Those who use the political slogan “Never Again” must be aware of how inutile it is for people who forget and cannot connect the dots.
It takes a deliberate decision to pursue what should be a common dream for all citizens after that dream is frustrated again and again. Septuagenarians like me, no matter how much of an activist we may have been earlier in life, also tire, also despair, also want to give up. We have witnessed the vicious cycles more times than we care to count, and it makes us wonder if reason and intelligence are truly natural features of humans. I have wondered for a long time, and I only know that I cannot count on the consistency of these great faculties.
One thing that I have always counted on is the idealism of the young. It is like a guaranteed gift, a divine safety mechanism against the weakness of man when tempted by greed or lust for power. And, by the way, I do not mean only public officials, whether elected or appointed. In a democracy, the majority of citizens have to enable the greedy and power-hungry. In our democracy, the majority of citizens have truly empowered them. There may be a variety of reasons, but ultimately, citizens have empowered the greedy and power-hungry.
Staying in a democracy that needs us badly to be the citizens that a democracy needs forces us to find our hopes and aspirations in the nobility of our young. From birth to teenage years, the fire of idealism is a natural force. However, it is not invincible. During this same period, idealism is exposed to the harsher realities of life. It may be material poverty and the squalor it festers in that inflates our animalistic nature rather than grows our humanity. More deadly, though, is the squalor of corrupt values and the behavior they engender.
Understanding this as one cycle I have observed in the decades I have lived, it now makes me doubt if all the activism for good governance and good citizenship is worth pursuing. The dramatic shift of societal values from our traditional ones to the dominant ascendancy of money and power cannot be restrained simply by a Constitution, no matter how idealistic it is. In fact, the more idealistic the Constitution is, the more impossible it becomes to adhere to.
There remains only the natural idealism of our young before they lose it to compromise and the need to survive in a materialistic world. Nurturing that idealism is becoming more urgent as the strongest prevention against perennial corruption and poverty. Strange as it may seem, the greedy and corrupt try to hide their dirty ways from their own young as long as they can. Advocacy to nourish the young’s idealism should have more open access to them with the least resistance from the evildoers of society.
This idealism is being unnaturally weakened by the very system we had hoped would strengthen it – mass education. That is why I am so focused on learning poverty, especially that part which measures our almost total failure in developing among our young students the capacity to grasp instructions. I am much less concerned with language, math, and even science as subjects. It is this incapacity to grasp instructions that stunts the development of the body, emotions, and mind. We risk losing the vaunted Filipino trait that has made us resilient against man and nature – diskarte or resourcefulness.
I acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Caloy Yulo and all other athletes who have elevated our national pride before the world. I congratulate them, and I am grateful to them. I have celebrated, enjoyed the moment of victory as though my own, too.
Now, I must remain focused on the 91% of public-school students who are victims of learning poverty. Even amidst the victories and celebrations brought to us by selected heroes of the moment, I cannot shake the thought of this 91% of the Filipino public-school students and the bleak future they face. It is to them and their liberation from ignorance or incapacity that we must dedicate more of our lives.