Accents
The big 12 Little Things (Part II)
Jima, who is most accommodating in attending to our banking needs at Export Bank, asked for a copy of The Earth's Ten Commandments that was included in my column (A mess of economy and ecology, The News Today, June 9, 2006). I featured Mother Earth's dicta in connection with the Environment Month of June. Herself a mother of four in their most impressionable years, Jima wanted the commandments as some kind of guideposts to her kids. In exchange for the column I printed from my laptop, Jima lent me Alexander L. Lacson's book, 12 LITTLE THINGS EVERY FILIPINO CAN DO TO HELP OUR COUNRY, the subject of this dissertation.
Cory Aquino said of Lacson's book in her FOREWORD: "The book is very timely [c. 2005] because it is comparatively easy to do the suggested 12 little things to help our country." Eugenia Duran Apostol, chair of Worldwide People Power, wrote in jest: "Don't buy this book because you will be bothered by it." If the first six "little things" I mentioned last week got you bothered, get set for more bothering with numbers 7-12. Excerpted expositions of the author are followed by my own comments in italics:
7. Support your church.
What if all of us will donate even just 1% of our monthly net earnings to our respective churches -- whether Catholic, Baptist, INC, or Muslim? If we do this, we will empower our churches, so our churches will have more resources to help the poor and neglected members of our society.
Lacson should address this only to the well-moneyed like himself. In fact, they should give more because 1% to them is a pittance. There are sects that exact far more from their followers, rich or poor alike, which is really a pity in the case of the latter because many of them are the "neglected members of our society" who should be recipients rather than givers.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
Our Constitution gives each one of us the right to elect our leader. Our right to vote is also defined in the Constitution as a solemn duty of every citizen to our country. This is one of the very few instances in the Constitution where we, as citizens, are reminded of our solemn duty to our country. It is not there for nothing. It is there because it is there as it should be, a serious obligation.
Beautifully said. But please, no calls for Garci. No condemnable telephone calls. There is such a thing as a day of reckoning for those engaged in monkey business.
9. Pay your employees well.
Being fair to [employees] is paying them what is due them, or what they deserve. The way we pay our employees or the people who serve us or work for us is the way we love, respect and treasure them. That is the best way to quantify our love and respect for them.
Are you being fair, Mr./Ms.Businessman/woman? Remember that the workforce is a partner of industry. The workers have as much right to the profits of the corporation as the incorporators.
10. Pay your taxes.
Taxes are what we use to pay all our government employees nationwide -- our soldiers, our policemen, our public school teachers, among many others.
We have to pay our taxes properly. Because we all live in the same country. Because this government, whether we like it or not, is our government. Its cost is a burden we must all share. We all must contribute to build the kind of nation we dream for ourselves. Each one of us has a role in it. Each one of us has a responsibility to it.
Well said, but I can't help saying more: All you government officials, don't squander the people's money. Earlier, I mentioned about a day of reckoning.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
You can make a difference in the future of our country and our world by making a difference in the world of children.
Can you imagine if 2 million families in our country would adopt 2 million poor children, either as scholars or as members of our families? That's 2 million young Filipinos who will be given access to a better future. In return, that's 2 million Filipinos who, in the future, can give us a better nation. No doubt too, this is one of the fastest ways to close the gap between the rich and poor.
Again, well said! I only wish I belong to the 2 million who can afford to give another "access to a better future." Many of us have the means to be generous but only in small measures. Affordability aside, it is incumbent upon everyone to work towards building a society where there are no super rich nor super poor. If a demo or a rally rouses for a just and equitable society, let it be. Awaken people of their rights rather than lull them with condescending generosity.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.
The family is the core of every society, the foundation of every nation, and of the human world... The United Nations made a declaration on that.
If all of us, parents of these 10 million children Filipinos, would today start teaching our respective children love of God and country, respect for our law and neighbors, in just a period of 4 to 8 years when these kids become of legal age, our country will have an additional 10 million God-fearing, law-abiding and responsible citizens. These will be new blood, a new generation of 10 million Filipinos with the youth, energy, idealism and dynamism to help us build a better future for this nation.
Anything more from me would be redundant.
What are 'em things but simple lessons in good citizenship. Instilled in good parentage by their forebears, mine long departed parents would say, walk with them in your heart so you would be acting accordingly. And when we do, some people across the Great Divide will say, "There goes a good Filipino." What say you, folks?
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)