Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear; Courage is not becoming a slave of fear.We often think or say that someone is courageous because they have the guts, they are strong and has no fear. Are you like that? Or do you wish to be like that? I remember when i was a child i have no fear. I do things that i want to do without having second thoughts on it. When i was asked to participate on a certain competition i don't say NO. Never did I when i was in elementary. Then i went to highschool, i must say that my ego just became higher and nowhere to be found in the ground. Also because i know in myself no one can oppose me for what i believe, what i know, and what i can do. There are no one who can beat me down and my morale is that invincible.

When i move up to college and i transferred house. I was still a air-headed person. But maybe because of the circumstances that made me doubt myself? During my early years of my college life i was emotionally down and fragile. I was not prepared from the succeeding events and i have this fear of failure and destruction. I was way beyond my comfort zone and many things happened that made me weak and fearful. It was a long and tiring journey that time. I think i have signs of depression that time and no one is capable of helping me.

God knows how long it is but i recovered. I faced my demons and overcame my fear. I learn to be independent and took full responsibility of my future. There goes my fear of becoming nothing, fear that i may not be able to sustain myself for everyday living and the list goes on. But here i am now, studying my course where my passion is and trying to rebuild myself again. Whatever you might be afraid of right now, whatever is hindering you from being the best and happy, whatever it is always keep in mind to take courage and go for it! For you shall not be a slave of fear!

Democracy Is In Our Hands

Before i sleep i want to write a couple more things here. It is so random that i want to tackle about democracy at this time. As Plato once said "The problem with democracy is that decisions are made by people without knowledge". Together with this I once read in my Facebook news feed that the Philippines' politician and government leaders these days are nothing but the tip of the iceberg. These leaders got elected because this is how the Filipinos think and rationalize. Though there are some exceptions because there is also a percentage of citizens that are educated and has a sensible opinions about political issues and economic need of the Philippines. You may also say right now to me that there is a widespread anomaly in every election and results are not that credible. But let's be realistic that no matter how big the influence of a certain politician or government personality, despite of their efforts you cannot outnumber the votes of majority of the people. Maybe it can help them a notch to gain a comfortable position but still this is subject to debate.

We always want democracy, freedom as others may say, we want to be autonomous and sovereign but are we really up for it? I'm fully aware that there is no perfect government but should not dismiss the notion of improvement. We should not settle for mediocrity and be passive about these things. As democracy in its sense has a big reliance on its people and we should not neglect that. Our goal is that we should aim to educate our people and eradicate ignorance. Before poverty, debts and territory disputes we should first educate our people and awareness to this things will follow much more a better understanding of these issues.

Today, September 21, 2012 we are remembering the Martial Law that once tasted by our country and because of this people became suddenly awakened from their slumber and revolted; I honestly believe this is because they cannot afford to ignore this anymore for they are directly affected by this that time. People across the globe recognized us because of the succeeding events following the Proclamation 1081. But this doesn't last that long and the all of a sudden the patriotism died. This should not be a temporal; the passion to learn and be held responsible for our own democracy should be reminded to every Filipino every day. The efforts of some private sectors and companies in igniting the Filipino Spirit in anyway they can shall not be put in vain. If we all want to be truly free and sovereign, we should take the responsibility in our shoulders and every single Filipino should also do the same.

Fight against Violence (KONY 2012)

There was this video that has been circulating for a while now but I didn’t pay attention till today. KONY 2012 is a video by Jason Russel that aims to raise support and awareness for the arrest of Joseph Kony. I was so moved by this video clip that I decided to make an action and support this campaign. I know that one of the actions that I can make is to blog about it. 1.4M likes on Facebook and thousand of readers every day, writing about this in Definitely Filipino will surely reached a number of readers who will hopefully advocate for the “Invisible Children”. Who is Joseph Kony? He is the leader of a cult group named Lord’s Resistance Army (originally called United Holy Salvation Army) in Uganda formed in 1987, claims that he is the spokesperson of God and wants Uganda to be in Theocracy. 

Over the years Kony has been abducting children (according to Jason Russel there are 30,000 up to date) to join his army; kidnapping them to be his soldiers, sometimes forcing them to kill their own parents and also using this children as their sex slaves. They make the children serves as a decoy sending them in frontlines, sometimes used as pack mules carrying LRA supplies until they cannot walk anymore they will either kill them or left to die. Kony also tortures them by cutting off the children’s nose, ear, lips and make them eat their own flesh. Children in Uganda and other parts of Africa are living in fear for their lives, sleeping every night thinking if they will be abducted or not and that is a sad truth.

This KONY 2012 campaign aims that by December 31, 2012 Joseph Kony will be arrested and we will win this fight against war. I’m aware that there are also a lot of people doubting the credibility of this campaign or the sincerity of the organization running this campaign but isn’t it good to know that there are still people fighting for the rights of other. It is better to support the fight for violence than to sit back and do nothing. It doesn’t change the fact that still Joseph Kony is the #1 most wanted and he make thousands of families in Africa miserable. US government is already supporting this campaign. Several US advisers were involved as well as military troops. We as Filipinos will also make a stand against violence. We can make an AWARENESS. We as human who don’t want our loved ones to be hurt or to be in danger will share the burdens of those people victimized by Kony. We will make history. Russel said in the same video that strikes me the most “Who are you to end the war? I’m here to tell you who are you not to?”.

HOW TO HELP:
Visit: http://kony2012.com
Donate to Invisible Children: https://stayclassy.org/checkout/set-donation?eid=14711
For info on Invisible Children: http://invisiblechildren.com

(Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kony , http://www.nndb.com/people/398/000022332/ )