I want my daughter to know that Edsa provided such a golden opportunity for real change to occur and yet my generation of Edsa survivors became too complacent.
As a young person in that fateful revolution of 1986, Edsa taught my generation that in order for change and progress to take place one must envision a future beyond one that is focused on self, but a future that envisions self within a society, within a nation.
Post-Edsa, my generation became too drunk, too euphoric on the promise of change that few of us did our part to make sure that change become instilled and institutionalized. It is said that “in a democracy people get the leaders they deserve” and we Edsa survivors seemed to deserve the controversial leaders we elected.
Today in a globalizing nation (an oxymoron, yet a reality), my daughter and the generation of Millennials she is part of, I plead with you to please learn from our mistakes. Complacency is the enemy that blinded us Edsa survivors. Do not let the same enemy strip your generation of a better future. The 21st-century Filipino should battle complacency head-on through vigilance by maximizing the benefits of the information age.
Learn as much as you can, speak your opinion, be heard. Listen to your countrymen. Give each sector opportunity to be heard, we are one nation after all. For only in knowing each other’s pains and ideals can we move towards a solution for social ills, big and small. Choose your leaders wisely. Never be complacent. Never settle for what is easy or available. Then perhaps Edsa’s spirit can wrap around the entirety of the country. And with this the Philippines would be worthy of Edsa’s gift of peaceful revolution.
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