Too Much, Too Bad
By: Geronimo Martinez
When we want something done, we just think of the immediate results, but almost never of the long term consequences. If you suddenly withdraw your support for the government and staged a rebellion calling for the president’s resignation, you probably didn’t think about the power struggle that would have occurred had you succeeded, and countless other political warfare that would have followed nonetheless.
Acts born of rashness is stupid and or selfish. Even acts that are intentionally good might still be bad if its long-term effects and eventualities are not anticipated. In deciding what to do, we must think thoroughly. Bearing this in mind, wasn’t Trillanes a bit arrogant and selfish to do what he did? We can ask ourselves the same thing.
Some people claim that when we complain, we’re brave and intelligent. Let us keep in mind though that there is a clear difference between intelligence and awareness. Awareness is the simple knowledge that something is wrong and that something needs to be done about it. You don’t actually display intelligence until you have an answer to that problem. Then again, even when we have an answer, if we haven’t thought it out carefully enough, we still can’t say that’s intelligence because we’d probably make the problem worse for everyone. Also, doing something for yourself (like planning your own power-grab) as an answer is just damnably selfish.
On the other hand Sen. Trillanes isn’t the only one at fault. While a curfew was a tolerable precaution due to the Makati Stand Off, it still had an air of exaggeration. Even media men were handcuffed and their footage seized by the police just for being there. They were imprisoned for doing their job: showing people what’s really going on. These kinds of government action have never been done since the martial law.
One can’t help but wonder if the government is hiding something. What if Trillanes was right all along? Though he did a rash action, he might’ve been right about his claims. Nonetheless, it’s becoming slowly but steadily obvious that those in power have ulterior motives. If they really were planning to repeat martial law as some people claim, then Trillanes just gave them more legal justification by proving that security is lax. This prospect withstanding, at least Sen. Trillanes made people more aware of the government’s supposed corruption albeit in an overly scandalous manner.
Often, when we try to speak against something wrong, those to whom it was addressed do everything in their power to prove you wrong, or to make you wrong, almost to the point of overreaction. Even the smallest hint of negative insight against the system is dealt with in the same way.
Undeniably, in one way or another, both parties are at fault. Too much rashness, too much reaction. Too much of anything is bad. Let’s clear out our intentions. Tell the truth, instead of all the ambiguous and ridiculous scandals we keep doing. What is it that we want done and what will we do afterwards?
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