By Ed Panlilio
Technology has collapsed our world more intimately than what Marshall MacLuhan has envisioned the global village to be. We now live in a global neighborhood. In fact, even walls and fences have been brought down by the explosion of information in real time. Today, age, gender, race and creed are no barrier in the exchange of ideas, giving new meaning to the term, “freedom of expression.”
Governance, good governance in fact, can only grow within such an environment where there is a healthy exchange of ideas between the governing and the governed. The so-called public pulse must always be taken, in order to gauge the health and general welfare of the people, as well as to discover their needs and involve them further in decision-making. This openness can then lead to a better mutual understanding that proscribes name-calling, labeling and discrimination.
One sector that has its voice muffled for so long has been that of the youth. Their exuberance, idealism and even their angst are wasted on the wayside, as adults struggle to shape the future with what they perceive to be the wisdom of the ages. They forget that they, too, were once a little less older, with far more capacity to imagine.
The amonged.org blogsite allows for that imagination to come through and be expressed in a new form. It also allows for a healthy dialogue with the elders, with which I confess to belong. In a movie that was filmed long before you were born, a protagonist remarked, “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” Indeed, when everyone talks at the same time, there is no moment left to listen. Putting our thoughts, opinions, perceptions and perspectives in a written form allows for more time to reflect on what each of us really wants to say, and allows further for a more sober and contemplated response.
I am excited to hear your voice, most specifically your take on how governance and politics should proceed in this country. I am equally excited to hear the reactions of other people on your positions. We are thankful that the internet has allowed this to happen, enabling us to listen, as it were, to what other people have to say, notably those from other countries who have their own templates of experience, and from whom we can also learn so much.
Imagine, for example, if we can get inputs from Chile, a country that rose up from the ravages of dictatorship to join the ranks of the least corrupt countries on earth.
There is a crisis of hope in our country today. Many of our people have lost sight of a better future, consoling themselves on the fact that they are still surviving in the here and now. The irony is that this future is owned by you, young people, and we the so-called adults are just leasing it. Don’t get short-changed, cheated or otherwise robbed. Speak now, or forever hold your peace, as they say in the old marriage rituals. But by your rants and raves, be voices of hope, upholding the good and condemning the evil with equal force.
If there is one thing that this blogsite will hopefully prove, it is that freedom of self-expression can be tempered with responsibility, respect, civility and objectiveness. I trust that you are capable of upholding the best of our humanity, even as you can be most creative with your writing skills. Go, therefore, and let your fingers fly across your keyboards. Be the conscience of this nation. Tell the world of a young generation of Filipinos that has not lost hope. And may you become a force of such magnitude, that you will never, never be ignored.
Read also, "Ed Panlilio Now Blogs", by blogger Nick of FilipinoVoices.com
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A very much bigger candle is finally lighting itself up from its corner! What a delight it is to know that Among Ed is now "among us" in the blogosphere.
We hope and pray that his bigger, stronger, and more brilliant light which emanates from the light of the Holy Spirit will be a beacon that we little candles can look up to for guidance, hope, and strength during times when strong winds come and tend to blow out our individual little lights.
Among Ed, we are praying for your success in your governorship so that you may gain and increase more in the knowledge and skills of a good and honest public servant so that you will be ready in whatever bigger and harder tasks that the Lord maybe preparing you for in the near future or in the not-so-near future for the country and the people (your bigger flock).
The Lord always works in simple but unexpected ways. For who would have expected that a lowly and lonesome work of "shepherding" would turn out to be a preparation and intitial training for the rulership of a nation? That happened in David's case as recorded in the history of the Bible.
Meanwhile, Among Ed's case could not be far from it. A lowly "shepherd" from somewhere in the rural lahar-devastated province of our country is being prepared and trained by the Lord to pull our nation out from being buried in the lahars of corruption and lead us into the "foot of Mt. Sinai"? The idea defies traditional politics.
(Readers, you may be interested on this old entry in my other blog. And maybe on this one also.)
Governance, good governance in fact, can only grow within such an environment where there is a healthy exchange of ideas between the governing and the governed. The so-called public pulse must always be taken, in order to gauge the health and general welfare of the people, as well as to discover their needs and involve them further in decision-making. This openness can then lead to a better mutual understanding that proscribes name-calling, labeling and discrimination.
One sector that has its voice muffled for so long has been that of the youth. Their exuberance, idealism and even their angst are wasted on the wayside, as adults struggle to shape the future with what they perceive to be the wisdom of the ages. They forget that they, too, were once a little less older, with far more capacity to imagine.
The amonged.org blogsite allows for that imagination to come through and be expressed in a new form. It also allows for a healthy dialogue with the elders, with which I confess to belong. In a movie that was filmed long before you were born, a protagonist remarked, “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” Indeed, when everyone talks at the same time, there is no moment left to listen. Putting our thoughts, opinions, perceptions and perspectives in a written form allows for more time to reflect on what each of us really wants to say, and allows further for a more sober and contemplated response.
I am excited to hear your voice, most specifically your take on how governance and politics should proceed in this country. I am equally excited to hear the reactions of other people on your positions. We are thankful that the internet has allowed this to happen, enabling us to listen, as it were, to what other people have to say, notably those from other countries who have their own templates of experience, and from whom we can also learn so much.
Imagine, for example, if we can get inputs from Chile, a country that rose up from the ravages of dictatorship to join the ranks of the least corrupt countries on earth.
There is a crisis of hope in our country today. Many of our people have lost sight of a better future, consoling themselves on the fact that they are still surviving in the here and now. The irony is that this future is owned by you, young people, and we the so-called adults are just leasing it. Don’t get short-changed, cheated or otherwise robbed. Speak now, or forever hold your peace, as they say in the old marriage rituals. But by your rants and raves, be voices of hope, upholding the good and condemning the evil with equal force.
If there is one thing that this blogsite will hopefully prove, it is that freedom of self-expression can be tempered with responsibility, respect, civility and objectiveness. I trust that you are capable of upholding the best of our humanity, even as you can be most creative with your writing skills. Go, therefore, and let your fingers fly across your keyboards. Be the conscience of this nation. Tell the world of a young generation of Filipinos that has not lost hope. And may you become a force of such magnitude, that you will never, never be ignored.
Read also, "Ed Panlilio Now Blogs", by blogger Nick of FilipinoVoices.com
----------
A very much bigger candle is finally lighting itself up from its corner! What a delight it is to know that Among Ed is now "among us" in the blogosphere.
We hope and pray that his bigger, stronger, and more brilliant light which emanates from the light of the Holy Spirit will be a beacon that we little candles can look up to for guidance, hope, and strength during times when strong winds come and tend to blow out our individual little lights.
Among Ed, we are praying for your success in your governorship so that you may gain and increase more in the knowledge and skills of a good and honest public servant so that you will be ready in whatever bigger and harder tasks that the Lord maybe preparing you for in the near future or in the not-so-near future for the country and the people (your bigger flock).
The Lord always works in simple but unexpected ways. For who would have expected that a lowly and lonesome work of "shepherding" would turn out to be a preparation and intitial training for the rulership of a nation? That happened in David's case as recorded in the history of the Bible.
Meanwhile, Among Ed's case could not be far from it. A lowly "shepherd" from somewhere in the rural lahar-devastated province of our country is being prepared and trained by the Lord to pull our nation out from being buried in the lahars of corruption and lead us into the "foot of Mt. Sinai"? The idea defies traditional politics.
(Readers, you may be interested on this old entry in my other blog. And maybe on this one also.)
