Making a stand

I am making a stand, right here, right now in my own little space in the blogosphere. I am appalled with what is happening in my country. The rush and secret burial of a dictator in the resting place of heroes have caused many a sleepless night last night like I did. We have long suffered idiotic, shameful braggadocio with words, deeds from this government and this is the most hurtful and treacherous so far.

 

As a woman, I have only my words and as a mother, a voice of concern for the future. Hatred has seeped many parts of the globe and my island nation is not spared. Internet trolls lurk the web, some paid while others delusional having drank too much of their master’s Kool aid ready to strike with their own vile and contemptuous words on poor enlightened commenters. These keyboard warriors use their gift of words to blackmail, humiliate others, twisting facts and feeding lies. What a shame.

 

And this is why I am writing this piece because I don’t want to stand here and just do nothing. I cannot be on the streets protesting this sinister burial because I’m caring for my son. I wish I could be there screaming my lungs out with fists outstretched. But I can’t so let me shout my defiance here. My outrage. My sadness. One hundred forty words in Twitter is not enough.

I love this country. I have been offered a chance to migrate after I got married but I refused. This is where I belong, the land of my birth where my son will grow up and my husband and I will grow old in. So it is sad that there is so much uncertainty right now. Many people voted for a Trojan horse, a messenger with a Pandora’s box.

 

Our country is suffering right now, the peso has depreciated and our sense of what’s right and wrong have been twisted. We are watching our countrymen being killed on the streets with plastered mouths and cardboards on their corpses. How did we let this happen? Was fear a factor? Intimidation from asshole trolls perhaps? But if we cower then they will continue on this twisted, evil path. Our country will suffer. Rising above this fear and letting our voices be heard is a start.

 

Because I was there in the Quirino grandstand with my father after the EDSA People Power revolution after Marcos fled the country and I saw the outrage of the people. Pictures of the Marcoses with fangs and horns were distributed and raised fists were a common sight. Now, all that seems forgotten. His burial in a plot reserved for heroes with a 21 gun salute is utter humiliation on our part as a people and it is a sad day for our country. It is a slap and a spit to Martial Law’s human rights victims. It is a shame and a disgrace.

So I will not stand here and do nothing. I will say my piece. I also  want the youth to realize that we should not let our land be devoured by a darkness so evil that our country would have a hard time to recover from. We should respond to it with our enlightened minds and fight until we are out of this darkness again. Let us fight to get back our sense of decency, civility and patriotism because we owe our Motherland that. No darkness should be allowed to cover our lands. Never again.