My Response

This is a response that I have written to those who commented on my article, "Yet Another Controversy of a Crying Nation"


Greetings to mschumey07 and A Simple Life!

I am very thankful for a wiser being like you to comment on my article, "Yet Another Controversy of a Crying Nation". It is indeed helpful for me and for the youth to understand why things are they way they are, especially in the midst of this chaotic government we are supposed to look up to. Nobody really knows what is right when wrong is committed and otherwise. Everything seems the same, and as far as I know, "History IS Repeating Itself" and forever will be. Unless, we all accept "Change" and conceive "Change" as a "Good Thing", rather than a "Root of New Problems".

I, myself have experienced the 1986 People Power Revolution, at a tender age of 5. Yet, I remember everything that happened, and it still strikes me until today. Early morning of February 24, 1986, we were taken from my house to a safe place up north, when the clashes between the loyal government troops and the reformists began heating up right in front of my eyes. I remembered the "Huge" Tank that ran over the road we just played on and the roaring sounds of the "Tora Tora" planes flying above our house. My brothers, our little neighbors and I were playing at the garden when everything started to happen. I always have that "Deja Vu" whenever I watch those War Movies, when they pan on a neighborhood, alarmed by the coming of the war, where the children look up to see the fighter planes flying across the skies, and the mothers would take them inside the house for safety. In our case, we were all taken, the children and the women, inside the powder room in the ground floor of the house. Little did my dad know that my youngest brother, who has 11months then, was still outside in the garden. He came back with my brother and shut the door. We waited for some time, I think that must have been an hour, all stuck in the powder room, praying...praying...praying...

That was then...I remembered watching the news on TV instead of playing, being a 5 year old then, it should have been another fun day. Not that day, I watched as the people here and there, violently and peacefully together, praying and ranting at the same time, armed men marching helplessly and preparing for battle, the sounds of the bells of the churches and the roaring fighter beasts flying above the skies...those were crystal clear in my mind as I was annoyingly insisting for answers to my questions back then, and until today, I feel it...as strong as it did back then, when 3 years before that, before my other brother was born in 1983, I saw in the newspaper, Senator Benigno Aquino was shot dead. I didn't know who that was, but I heard his name over and over again. I just saw the photo and I knew that was the same man I kept hearing and hearing...

Then I heard..."People Power"

What is People Power, I thought...what did it mean? If this definition gives the meaning of it, then why, have we not felt it and why has the government let the voices fade away? Has it been 22 years since then?

People Power is true democratic power, providing the basis for all citizens to participate in governing ourselves.

I have yet to know what will happen, but I am aware of what might happen. What people don't know is that we all have power, it is only up to us how and why we use the power we have over the things around us. I Advocate Change, only if it means to live in a brighter, dignified and peaceful world. Let's start with our country. Let's show the world that we are not a developing country anymore, but a country seeking its place where the good people are.

Thank you for shining your lights upon me. I have been blessed to see the world as it is and was given the chance to make it a better place where UNITY and TRUTH crosses paths.


Sincerely,
Dewi Magenta