YOU WANT this. You hate this. You need this. You know this. You have an opinion about this. You. You. You. Why not start using the word “we”?
Oh, wait, we do use it. We have a lot of negative opinions about our country. We have a lot of bad comments about our government. We think that change can never be done. Then again, we barely care for what we need to focus more and think about. WE barely do anything.
People have developed a very self-centered space around them that they only care about what they think they want to hear and what they want to know. Why do we put priority only on the things we think are important instead of centering our minds on the real pressing issues of our country?
Filipinos are so dependent on the media. They believe mostly what the media feed their minds. In certain ways this is actually a good thing. But the thing is, why do people always choose only what they want to know?
For example, I have noticed, sometimes even in our household, that the newscasts tend to be ignored whenever these involve updates on the upcoming elections; and yet there is much attention when it comes to Maine Mendoza putting on a disguise to go to Alden Richards’ concert. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I merely ask: Why do people tend to prioritize something that doesn’t really matter instead of issues that do matter? Have we become so ignorant that even if we know our country is in dire need of attention and action, we stay still and let the government that apparently most of us hate do all the work in bringing about the change that we need? How can we expect the government to change the country if the public couldn’t care less?
The case of China’s presence in Scarborough Shoal is one good example of how our people are ignoring our motherland. Try asking your friends about this very alarming issue, and you will likely get inaccurate answers. The territorial dispute in the South China Sea is one of the many issues on which Filipinos need to focus. What we need to discuss are those issues that matter, issues that touch not only ourselves but the nation as well. We don’t need to focus on your makeup brand; we need to focus on what our nation is facing at the moment. Let us not just present the weaknesses of our country and express hate for it and the wish that we could migrate somewhere. Let us try to help it in our own simple ways.
The problem is that many people have developed a negative perception of our very beautiful country; they now prefer the literal way out: to leave it and its very obvious and pressing problems. People say it’s because most of us are not sufficiently educated to see the importance of such issues, but to be frank, even those who are educated couldn’t care less. You don’t need to be highly educated to love your country, to care for it, to protect it, to have a say on its pressing issues. As long as you know who you are—a Filipino—and you know what’s right and what’s wrong, and you appreciate and actually care for this country, you’d see its positive side, its many assets, and you’d be brave enough to stand up for it.
Why is it that we even pull down the nationalism of our fellow Filipinos?
If you stop for a while and think about the things on which we need to focus more, things apart from the world inside your phone, then maybe you’d get to see the things we need to work on in our country, outside the internet. We really need to learn how to focus on what needs to be done for everyone’s benefit, not just yours. In order to bring about the change we all need, we need to stop just complaining but try to do something in our own little ways.
We will have to change our mindset, our lifestyle, and at least start seeing a better future for our country. Let us be one behind one goal: to see our country become the best it can be. But first, let’s stop using “you” or “me” and start using “we” and “us”. Then maybe the nation that we believe exists only in dreams may become a reality.
Annjanette Canlas, 16, studies at Holy Angel University.