For the Sake of the Past and of the Future

After staring at the insertion point for quite a long while, blinking and annoyingly disrupts the flash of thoughts that ravels inside my head, at last, there is one descent idea that sprung out of my slightly beautifully damaged mind. It is about what is really our role as a citizen, and how are we able to become a responsible one. What does it entail us for doing so? What will be the perks of being a responsible member of the society? Or is there any?

 Let me share you this line from my favorite literary piece of a great Filipino writer, Carlos P. Romulo. Here it is, “I am a Filipino- inheritor of the glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As much as I must prove equal to a two-fold task- the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future.”  This is such an example of a maxim that I think, every citizen must ponder on. The splendor of this line tags along a pronounced duty that one should not forget nor even avoid to think about.

Given that we are living in the generation where everyone seems to be very vigilant and is criticizing on every move of the government through the social media; however, I guess we sometimes forget what the essence of being a responsible citizen is. By making Carlos P. Romulo’s lines as guiding principle, how can we say that we are what we are supposed to be?  I have one little suggestion, JUST FOLLOW THE RULES. It may seem very simple, but I know, we all know, that this is very hard to follow.  I bet that upon reading this, you may want to stop, and click on for the new tab on your internet and scan the pages of your wall, update your status on Facebook and see what’s trending on twitter, or look for much more entertaining video on YouTube. But hey man! If you still have that one little consideration, just a little one for the sickening society, or you just want to know what’s inside my sick mind, you can go on reading my blog.

Let us start from the very basics. First thing’s first. Before we complain on other people’s actions, let us not forget on exercising our rights in the first place. Right? Then, we must bear in mind that it is our obligation to know what are our rights for us to exercise it properly. Let us recognize the idea of engaging into active citizenship.  Rights are there for us to exercise and not just to be passive about it.  These are the most important rights to the citizens of the country.  With this, we might be able to know what we should do, and know our limitations. Thus we might also learn to respect our fellows and continue to make the flow of the government right in track.

Next thing is, we must participate. Let us not just be mere audience of this big show of the government. Take note, this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. So, in one way or the other, we are a part of the government. We are not just live spectators of the crimes that are rampantly happening n our society. 

Being a part of the of the government projects wont kill us right? Even just giving a little time to support these projects will bring a huge impact on the greater development of the country. Thinking of the welfare of one’s community as a whole is something that we should put in mind. Not that the disastrous idea of individualism is what we are put first. It is division we are displaying, not unity. Doing our part does not mean that we’ll just comment on social media about the government’s crap every time. It is not joining rallies though. It is not boycotting the election because we say that it is still of no use. It is getting involved. Getting involved in every way possible that we could do it.

Show concern. It is one thing that we can say and we can set as examples to the succeeding generations that hey, we care, so you must too.  Romulo said, “we are inheritors of the glorious past”, right? So how can we give credit to the people behind that glory we are reminiscing?  Patronizing our own products, preserving the rich culture and tradition, and loving the place that we are living in, are ways that we can value what our ancestors have left us. 

With these things, by being a true citizen, being committed and dedicated members of one society, will make us answer the call of meeting our responsibilities to the past and performing our obligations to the future. For the benefit of not only the children of our children but the bright tomorrow of our beloved country.