PROVOKED BY ARTISTAS

I tried to keep my distance with the brewing elections. The fever seems too hot and too chaotic for me. The circus is not just up to my taste. As a civil servant, I could very well say that it is just the private side of me that could speak up. Hence, the pregnant silence…

Still, this text message just provoked me:

FROM A TEXT MESSAGE: “Pls patronize pirated Filipino DVDs so the movie industry will die & we wil no longer have actors, actresses, or their spouses running 4 public office. PLS PASS”

I’m critical with the qualifications of our candidates. I’m well aware that sterling qualities in leadership and personal ethics are of prime importance to take this country out of the rot. I’m very cynical of people who maximized their popularity and exposure to gain more votes and mileage. But this do not only confine to actors and actresses. Conrado de Quiros aptly pointed out that traditional politicians gained the much-needed mileage just like anybody else.

I cannot fathom the contempt people have over that in show business. How can one ruthlessly eliminate the movie industry to make sure that non-actors and actresses would not run our country? It is not an assurance that our nation will be in the G-8 soon if these artistas will not win. I don’t need convincing otherwise. Just simply talk to my hand.

The classical problem of having traditional politicians winning the elections due to the feudal way we are run is a complicated situation. Personality-based vote is a passport to winning. FPJ almost made it due to the hero-like projection. Erap won utilizing the underdog image.

I am no fan of the two. However, I didn’t vote for them because they were just actors. I also didn’t vote for GMA because she was just a woman. I rooted for somebody else, more principled. I also didn’t vote for him because he was a lawyer…

We truly deserve the leaders we get if we are willing to kill the arts just to eliminate the ‘stupid’ ones or segregate the lesser beings from the enlightened ones. We can be so ruthless in dismissing these artistas. With the jokes and text messages going around, they qualify to be burnt at the stake.

We bash our heads and continue to tear our ashen clothes over safe issues. Yet, we whimper and keep our silence shout at important ones. Shit, the anti-terror bill just got signed as a law on a special session. We just whimper and pretend that letting these artistas run is the end of the world.

Come, gag me.

Stonewashed

People stare blankly at those who openly said that they were consentingly USED. They seem to look at them with disdain. They are losers in every sense of the word.

Admittedly, I have been such a loser to be 'used' in one way or the other. However, most of which were opportunities of simply allowing the moment to be one. Anyway, the 'using' didn't affect much of my convictions or directions in life. I did try to look at it as an opportunity of others to be awakened by their cunning ways and reflect on their kind and nature.

It is just that some are just to dense or oblivious to many facts. Somehow, I realized that I sided into their empowerment to the point of licensing them to become USERS. If before, they did so in a very crafty manner, allowing them to be so lessened their creativity and jarred their imagination. Somehow, I spoiled them.

I reclaim my fighting stake. I may give up some fights, even people on the road and I don't need to explain the meaning or meaninglessness of this blog. It is just that I laugh at human nature. It is in the unguarded moment of a person that I saw their color. True or not, I just had enough.

A sillhouetted picture of a massive structure reminded me much about what is going on. I have the option to cry foul and bad mouth people who were very much into the game. Yet I choose to look at the bright skies. Anyway, the effect is still very beautiful despite the darkness that blunders.

I still pray that the growing process would come out well. That our seeming coolness would contribute to respecting other people's view and nature.

Life is indeed a journey. If one's destination would differ greatly from others, then I choose to take a walk ALONE. I got stonewashed and learned much.

Birthday thoughts (on journeys)

I was a year older last Sunday. I woke up unable to even turn my head comfortably. I nursed a bad stiff neck that I couldn’t even arise from bed freely. In that situation I stared at the ceiling and pretended to think deeply.

Being zapped in a state of immobility, there were faces that came up and they made me smile. They were those people who put me through the jungle. In that reverie, I also happen to meet the faces of people whose chameleon-like character gels with their beings that somehow the shadow of their bodies resembles the colors of their skin (or was it truly the case?). On the other side, were my heroes whose mileage for acceptance can win me a trip thrice over the globe if converted to these programs. There were faces and memories.

I was reminded of events. There were deaths and births. There were parties and arguments (these are healthy for me!). There were partings and goings. There were moments of letting go and choices. Heartaches spiced it all up and the flag of independence put me through.