----- Forwarded Message ----
From: valentin bonite
To: feedback@inquirer.com.ph
Sent: Tue, September 29, 2009 2:33:45 AM
Subject:


It is a shame that every time a tragedy struck, almost always we resort to finger pointing and lay the blame on other people's doorstep. It is time that we take responsibility. In the front page of yesterday's issue of the Inquirer was the news about people seething with anger, I reckon maybe it will do us good if we start taking the blame ourselves. Every time we blame the government, is it not that we should be blaming ourselves instead? After all we are the ones who elected them to office. The character of the people we put into office is merely a reflection of our own. Of course you are going to tell me that you voted for Fernando Poe Jr. as I did for Raul Roco so that we are not to be blamed but is it not that we did nothing when news about the cheating in the 2004 election broke out? In Ukraine, when a presidential candidate tried to cheat his way into winning their own presidential election at about the same year we had ours, people took to the streets and did not leave until their Supreme Court overturned the results. Here, many were even disdainful of the few who risk their lives to voice their opposition to cheating. Of course, why should we care when everybody cheats anyway. So enough of this finger pointing and instead let us resolve that for the rest of our lives we collectively commit to stop throwing garbage everywhere while at the same time try to rehabilitate our denuded forests by planting at least one tree a week. Above all, let us be responsible in choosing our leaders because I am afraid that after the last speck of mud had been wiped off we will again go our usual merry ways and continue to elect the same leaders who we seethe with anger right now. And soon enough we will find out that no deluge will ever again cause us so much misery. There are actually only two things that we did which brought us into this miserable state and these are our blatant disregard of the basic lesson we learned from grade school about cleanliness, and most importantly, our apathy.