IT’S A GREAT irony I think, that some people in Mindanao are asking for autonomy that they already have, while the rest of the country are already wallowing in a democracy that they also already have, but do not appreciate.
Sad to say, this makes me think that some of our compatriots are asking for something that they do not really know what it is, while they are also already in possession of something that they also do not really know what it is.
To give everyone the benefit of the doubt however, perhaps it is better to say that most people actually know what democracy really is, but it seems that they do not really appreciate it as much as they should.
It has been said that Christians living in democratic countries do not really appreciate their faith as much as Christians living in communist countries do, simply because they just take their faith for granted, being able to practice it without any difficulties.
Similar to that is the fact that people of all faiths who live in democratic counties would tend to take their freedoms for granted oftentimes not appreciating it, unlike the people who live in communist countries who could only long for their freedoms, and could not even appreciate what it means to be free.
In theory, democracy is a social contract wherein the citizens of a democratic country are supposed to have certain duties and obligations, supposedly in exchange for the freedoms and other benefits that they could get.
Going back to the basics, most of our citizens presumably know that people, territory, government and sovereignty are the four elements of a State. I mentioned that, because most of our citizens should probably be reminded that their government is not alien to them, meaning that it is not apart from them because they own it, being the sovereign people that give life and substance to it.
Other than that, it seems that most of our citizens should also be reminded that the social contract is a two way agreement that involves law enforcement on one hand, and obedience of the law on the other hand.
What that means is that the government has the duty to enforce the laws, but the people also have the duty to obey the laws. That is actually a symbiotic relationship wherein one could not really exist or survive without the other. In an ideal situation however, there should be no more need to enforce the laws if only the citizens would voluntarily obey these.
For example, most of our citizens are probably taking it for granted as a matter of fact that the government has to deploy so many traffic enforcers in our streets, to ensure the smooth flow of traffic. Presumably, most of our citizens would think that our motorists would obey the laws more if there are more traffic enforcers. Ideally however, all of our citizens should obey the traffic laws even if there are no traffic enforcers.
I say ideally, because that is very far from our present reality now. The real situation now is that most of our motorists would only obey the traffic laws when traffic enforcers are around, out of fear perhaps that they would either be apprehended or fined. (To be continued/PN)
