BY ROMMEL YNION
MILLIONS of words have already been written about the pork barrel scam and, matter-of-factly, we never planned to add more to them which, at best, can only be a step closer to the edge of insanity.
For it’s one thing to write about the substance of an issue; and quite another to rehash worn-out facts about it just to sell newspapers. And we are not going to do the latter just for the sake of filling up an empty computer screen and print it out as an opinion piece.
What we will write about now is the sine qua non of this earth-shaking scandal that has not surprisingly been tackled yet even by the most venomous columnists of today.
Yes, we all know about the facts about his pork barrel scam which have been reported by media ad nauseam for the past many moons already – we are not interested in that anymore.
What we want to tackle now is why such a cataclysmic scandal had to happen to us? As they say, nothing happens by accident; the immutable principle of cause and effect – or the law of reciprocity – is at work round-the-clock in this universe.
What then caused this pork barrel scam?
As within, so without; as above, so below.
It’s actually the man in the mirror all over again.
What uncorked it into the realm of our experience is our character that attracts superficiality rather than profundity; artificiality rather than genuineness; phoneys rather than down-to-earth individuals; showbiz personalities rather than servant leaders; highway robbers rather than Good Samaritans.
It’s about us, not about our so-called leaders; about our world-view, not about their decadence; about our dishonesty, not about their greed.
Why, in the first place, did we elect these scumbags into office?
What made us think we could entrust to them the business of governance?
Didn’t we know that, at the end of the day, we only get the government we deserve?
Truth to tell, it is all our handiwork because we created them to be what they are.
We have nobody to blame then – but ourselves.
We belong to the me-first society – nothing else matters to us as long as, before anything else, we get first what we want.
This attitude is evident especially on election day.
As long as we get money first to vote for the candidate of the cash-giver, we don’t care anymore – even if our dignity has been diminished after getting paid to vote even tested-and-proven thieves into office.
Yes, the buck stops inside ballot box; and as soon as we cast our votes for the candidates of our choice, we unwittingly or not become accountable for the performance of the candidates we voted.
The crux of the matter is that we created this scam – not Napoles; not those politicians we are now accusing of stealing at least Php 10 billion from us.
It is all our fault, not theirs.
Now, it is really up to us whether to change our attitude – our collective thinking, as some pundits may say – or not.
We have the power to choose whether to change our world or not.
If we want change, we must start with ourselves.
Let’s get ourselves right first before we expect the world to be right.
Alas, we don’t really need a change of men, but a change in men – not only to prevent the likes of Napoles from surfacing again but also to assure the survival of our scandal-torn republic./PN
