“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the perfect present for the test of our civilization.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Almost two Christmases into the public awareness of the covid19 pandemic, the global acceptance of the fact that Covid vaccines remain effective at preventing hospitalization and death is still being challenged by those who refuse to be given the shot, now termed the pandemic of the unvaccinated (Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, 11 September 2021)
“An unvaccinated pool of individuals provides a reservoir for the virus to continue to grow and multiply; therefore more opportunities for such variants to emerge.” - PNAS
The omicron variant is starting to spread in Europe and is called a “variant of concern” while studies on it are being sped up. (Inquirer. net)
Social acceptance is being shaped with information on social media growing haywire from all sources, with just a handful knowing how to discern truth from lies using the same technology as a tool. People start not wanting what they need and taking what they don’t need simply because the source aligns with what they think.
“What I fear has died is any acknowledgment of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.” –Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise; the federalist.com
As an exacerbating factor, political impediments such as unequal access to vaccines and other essential covid19 treatment and facilities contradict the national goal to bring the vaccines to more people, making herd immunity difficult to accomplish. Meanwhile, the situation continues to effect horrific personal and national tragedies we must hasten to control and avoid as individuals and as a nation.
Yet the season for joy is here and the Filipino spirit starts to soar bit by bit because we are still alive and kicking, a reason for thanksgiving. What the quality of life we live in an altogether different story: it has never been harder.
Simultaneously, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections 2022 caravan is on!
Personal tragedies and national losses
Gasping for breath and panic-stricken, a 76-year old mother was hurriedly half-carried by her eldest daughter into a tricycle to bring her to the hospital where the mother’s doctor attended. There, beyond the family’s comprehension, some twenty tanks of oxygen were administered round the clock to help the mother breathe while tests were made and results awaited. In contrast, the hospital warned the family of being unable to provide the sick with emergency treatment and medication unless a hundred thousand pesos were paid on the first day. For almost five consecutive days the expenses spiraled and the daily collection of a hundred thousand pesos drained the mother’s pension savings, choking the family by the throat. Initially diagnosed with severe pneumonia to having contracted the covid19 virus, it was difficult for the family to move the mother to a public hospital. A few days later tests were redone and the hospital staff said she was covid free! On her tenth day, I gave the mother a call from a long-distance when she told me softly, like an angel’s voice, she couldn’t take it anymore and waved me goodbye on the cellphone screen. I wept.
Before the month ended, she was in the hospital morgue, frozen until the money was raised for her bloated body’s release for a decent burial. The hospital couldn’t maximize her government insurance benefit since they didn’t have that certain procedure which is included in the covid19 benefit package. They casually gave this information while we all tossed our minds in disbelief! The family mourned, but will never forget. My sister died of the covid19 virus made horrific by the inhumanity brought by those in any form of power entrenched in our socio-economic systems.
Countless similar stories are on social media platforms and told from newsrooms all over the country while lawmakers spend time hearing cases of lawbreaking by associates of other law enforcers and other lawmakers, as the judicial players grapple with the paper chase to find evidence. Meanwhile, we continue to lose the lives of health care professionals and other citizens from all walks of life.
Still, the Filipino working class continues to break its back to survive even as they pay taxes, the ill-gotten wealth holders continue to plunder, and the poor are made poorest from disservice, hunger, sickness, and death.
Elections 2022: How we decide as a nation and significance of the youth vote
As the national election of 2022 draws near, we face yet another critical decision to make for ourselves and the nation. How do we do it? Let’s take a look at how we did it during the past presidential elections. Data analytics of a premier advertising and public relations agency presents three trait areas of presidential candidates that make people vote for them: the idol image, the heart image, and the mind image.
President Rodrigo Duterte got a landslide win in 2016 with almost 17 million popular votes or 39.01% of then registered voter turnout, with Millenials putting in more or less the same percentage into the Duterte winning votes.
Value system
Rooted primarily in personal alliance, kinship, obligation, friendship, religion, and commercial relationships, our political arena is laden with so much of these value system traits that breed nepotism and make political dynasties a norm. Alongside these favors come a feeling of superiority and privilege that inevitably result in abuse of power and corruption, leaving the people on the begging end of the continual disparity and imbalance of the justice system.
The significance of the youth vote
Young Filipino voters increase in number each election season and for the 2022 polls, they comprise 52% of registered voters or a staggering 31.41 million voters ( aged 18-40) out of 60.46M registered voters (COMELEC 2021). The future of this nation is in their hands.
The Millenials or those categorized as being born between 1980 and 1995 are generally characterized as idealistic while the Generation Z or those born –between 1996 and 2012 are said to be pragmatic. (en.wikipedia.org)
Probably most are in the BPO industry, married and with families of their own who need to seriously think about their own, more so of children’s future.
The youth thus is apt to ask: Do we have candidates who care to advance the working class and their conditions? Is there anyone who could realize the possibility of helping the poor by honestly giving what is due to them, making them self-sufficient to finally get out of the poverty cycle? Are there those who could help efficiently and effectively jumpstart the climate change campaign for a Generation One carbon emission-free generation by 2045 to lessen air pollution and eventually lessen health issues and probabilities of natural disasters? Do we have candidates who are willing to curb corruption from the bottom-up?
Yes, we demand leaders to do their job of putting the public interest first before anything follows because they are essentially representatives of the people they lead; let us make them remember lest they forget.
Decadence or recovery
Shall we see the tempest done and hope for the sunshine six years after the 2022 general elections? Or do we continue to go into darkness?
Parental and family influences still have a good footing in our young people’s decision-making process: parents and other adult significant others may help the young voters come up with an informed and enlightened decision for the coming 2022 polls. Peer group meets may be turned into healthy brainstorming sessions to aid members in the choices they will make especially among candidates for President and Vice-President.
Technology is an essential and crucial player in our time and the youth is more adept at reaching information via the internet. Researches may be done accordingly and guidance here is much needed to make a credible search possible.
Change for the better is a long time coming and whether it will come or not now lies more in youthful hands. Let us help them in this colossal task.