sick and tired of being sick and tired

Okay. That's it. I'm done being tired.

Let's just forget about that previous little entry shall we?

I went to the rally in Makati yesterday, the biggest one yet since this whole NBN-ZTE deal started. I was vacillating for some time before I finally decided to go. And I'm glad I did. What was I thinking?! I should have gone earlier.

Whenever I hear of people rallying against rallies, I'm usually... deadma. To each his own. You don't want to rally, then don't. It's your right and it's your prerogative. But now I can't help but think that the reason I just can't bring myself not to go is precisely because of the things I hear from people, my own family included, why they don't think it's worth it. I'd rather be on other side, thank you very much, even if that side is just as flawed. I've gotten sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm sick and tired of hearing why people are sick and tired. The more I hear about the little complaints about why I shouldn't go, the more I want to go.

First of all, nobody ever said rallies were THE answer to everything. Of course not. They are not, they never were and they never will be. To say that rallies don't serve a purpose simply because nothing ever changes just reeks of a naive or oversimplistic appreciation of the nature of mass action. Mass action isn't simply about overthrowing the government as if it's the solution to all our problems. Sometimes rallies are just ways for people to make the government accountable to its citizens. They're just calls for transparency from the government officials who SWORE to serve US. When we elected them, they took a vow to be honest and transparent in their public duties. Why should we not demand that our public officials perform their responsibilities as they promised to when we elected them? Why should we not get outraged when they are remiss in their duties to us, to its citizens?

Outrage. Second of all, I don't understand how some people can get pissed off at the traffic that rallies cause and not get outraged when they hear of 130 billion dollars that one person steals from the taxes that people work so hard to pay for? 130 billion dollars is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of homes that families could live in for years, it's equal to college scholarships for a hundred thousand kids. It's equal to health insurance for 40,000 people. To not be outraged that all that money will go to one person is to me, a massive absurdity. Anyone with even half a brain knows that there is some truth to the allegations. And yet we grumble more about the traffic or other minor inconveniences. If you want to express your outrage quietly, by doing your own thing, then fine. There are plenty of ways to express patriotism. Some people just prefer to express it differently than others. It doesn't mean your way is more valid than the others'. I mean when some individuals are angry, you can't expect all of them to be quiet and go their own little way. It's hard to do that even in our daily lives. When someone does us wrong, our immediate reaction is to call that person's attention. What more on a grand scale like this?

And lastly, I just refuse to be party to GMA's obvious intent to let the "proper channels" handle the issues. Proper channels? Who in his right mind actually believes that a lapdog like Raul Gonzalez and his Department of Justice will observe the "proper" process? Who believes that the Office of the Ombudsman, which by the way, has not convicted even a SINGLE administration-affiliated government official under the present director, will actually be fair and impartial? These institutions are so heavily influenced by the administration that you can't blame people when they distrust the very institutions that are supposed to protect them. GMA would be so happy to bring this issue to court where it can get buried under red tape, technicalities and legalities. By the time anything happens, GMA would have already enjoyed the fruits of her "labor."

Of course we all should do our job. Be good productive citizens, pay our taxes, do our best in our little spheres of influences. That's all fine and dandy. There's nothing wrong with that. I just think that rallies have taken so much crap. If anything, these rallies have further emphasized the need that rallies are not the solution, that in fact we should do more to address the underlying issues of corruption and that there is indeed a greater need for genuine reform. I suppose this animosity is understandable in a way, especially in light of extra-constitutional fiascoes like the ones in Oakwood and Manila Penn. Yes there are still power-hungry people at the helm of those rallies and yes there's still so much partisan politics involved, but when you're there, in the middle of tens of thousands of people, when you're there sweating it off with other everyday folks, folks who work just as hard, folks who just really want a decent life, a better life for themselves and for their families, things just look quite different.