I've been thinking about this since the overwhelming help that arrived from all over the Philippines, even overseas, to ease the effects of the tragedy of typhoon Ondoy on the Filipinos.
Millions of donations were received, thousands of volunteers worked.
I thought [in Tagalog, siyempre :'p] "If only these people had been doing something like this even before the tragedy, the separation of the poor and rich wouldn't have been so great."
From my Uncle Priest, Fr. Leonard Rivere — back when he brought me to Bicol some time in 2000 or 2001 — I realized the proper "distribution of economics". He doesn't patronize only one establishment or service of its kind. Doing so would not be different from supporting the Nazi war propaganda — they killed off others, and protected only their kind.
So, the heck with survival of the fittest. If you believe in humanity or God, that is.
On further contemplation, though, I realized that there wasn't really the multiplication of good or goodness. There was only the manifestation of it. I believe that like energy, goodness is neither created nor destroyed. It's there in a different form, or in a form that we do not recognize. Which reminds me of a text message from a friend Kristine Gonzales (yeah, sounds like "Cristina Gonzales", the sexy star... though I wish she were hahah!) at 11pm on the first of October 2009 (talagang kumpleto ang detalye…):
According to Murdoch's Law of Recognition,
Everything you need is already in your life,
Merely awaiting your recognition of it.
Anything unrecognized remains uncelebrated by you.
Anything you refuse to celebrate eventually exits your life-
A Gift, a Miracle, or a Person.
Don't miss that chance.
Look around.
Appreciate.
Cherish people.
I decided to keep the message because I wanted to share it, so now I have. I believe this blog entry is one of the reasons why I kept it.
†The good has always been there, only awaiting our recognition of it and our action upon it, because what good is good without action?
Here are some links related to this post:
-Just now I learned that "The Law of Recognition" is a book by Mike Murdoch.
-On the law of conservation of energy: on Wikipedia, and on SparkNotes.
-4 Myth Perceptions of the Apocalypse - survival of the fittest in larger context.
-Comic book character: Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), a fanatic proponent of "survival of the fittest" theory. (I'm a comic book buff :')
2 comments:
hey, thats some idea - goodness neither created nor destroyed, just transformed to a different form. if you come to think of it, everything around us is "good". its the balance or allotment of these "good" things that sucks. overabundance, or lack of it. really hard to establish a middle ground.. specially when all want the same thing, and resources are limited.
Wow... Paolo for President, man! hahaha
Thinking about what you said, that's one of the reasons why I'm having a hard time deciding who to vote for in the coming Presidential elections.
Who has the brains to distribute our needs properly, and who has the strength and the courage to do so? If only Superman were a candidate :'/
Thank you and may the Force be with You ;')
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