Part 1: A man with robbed dignity, a reason for abuse?

(A series about abuses deeply rooted in mans lost of dignity and value to human life)

Abuses on people (relatives, friends, children, old men and women) to animals, to nature, how many times had we seen and heard of these in the news? 

In a third world country like ours, news about these many forms of abuses being committed daily is no longer unusual. Since to hear and read them in the news is already a part of a reality that most of our people are aware of, but always tends to ignore.

Why? In truth I could not really say, but allow me to recall what had happened in the last 30 years or so…

What we had gone through

Thirty more or less years ago, because of a man’s lust for power and fame, our country has been enslaved not by other nationalities but buy a single man’s ambition.

Thrown into poverty for more than twenty years with human rights being violated from every corner of our land, our natural resources being sold to other countries, our people, especially those who live in the far flung areas of the provinces were merely taken for granted and left with themselves, leaving them with almost nothing that they could claim to own.

The result of this was an armed revolution that even to date is considered to be a major problem by every leader that comes into office. A problem that has divided our people for more than twenty years that even becomes more difficult to address as the years goes by.

February 26, 1986

After the world’s famous Peaceful EDSA revolution, that was started by then Gen. Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile, backed by a call from the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, for all our countrymen to unite and end the tyranny of a man who has been in power for more than twenty years, a widow of a slain Former Senator, Cory Aquino came into power.

With full hope and trust from the people that placed her in power, her government started reforms in the way our country is supposed to be run by its leaders. Armed with a New Constitution, slowly our country restarted to shape its new destiny.

At the end of her term a new leader came to power, in the person of a former military man, one of the leader of the peaceful revolution , Gen. Fidel V. Ramos. As President, he made reforms and made known to the world our workforce competitiveness in terms of our skills that made our country more competitive with other nation. At the end of his term, our country was already moving forward, we were even called a tiger cub of Asia.

Alas, his term ended and a new leader was elected, a leader elected by mere popularity by the masses, a leader trusted by the ordinary people because of his promises of “a better life.”

As it turned out, this President that promised heaven to these ordinary people betrayed their trust, with cabinet meetings turning out to a mere drinking and gambling sessions, the country that we had hoped to move forward, halted, all in a sudden. 

Today we had a new leadership, though her mandate is still clouded by doubt, if the news articles were correct and contains the truth, our country is slowly gaining its pace, slowly, but at least moving forward.

Causal effect

Throughout these events in our history, we, as a people without realizing it, had started to loose something within us, that, sad to say, most of us were not even aware of. With most of our population thrown into complete poverty, some of us had already lost the character that has made our nation strong in the past.

After the EDSA revolution, what most people had thought was, that they were able to remove a tyrant, what most of them had failed to realize was how a single man's ambition had change the views of the society that we lived in, not because the society believed nor rejected him, but because of the causal effect of what he has done.

Our diligence, patience, patriotism, faith in God….our dignity…value for life...was slowly taken away. To some of us, we had already started to loose most of it, and for most of us, we had already lost it.

The dignity that makes every man, a person and unique, was attacked and slowly taken away not directly, but indirectly, not only by the man accused of tyranny, but also by the few others who had manage to stay in power, and continuously lust for power, fame and fortune.

“The end does not justify the means”

Slowly robbed of their dignity and thrown into complete poverty, coupled with deficiencies in basic services such as health, education, and basic infrastructures that our government continuously fails to provide to people who lives in the far flung areas of our country, due to whatever reasons that only the people in our government knows off, but mostly caused by corruption within the government. Most of the people, especially the masses and the poorest among the poor, easily fell pray to unscrupulous individuals whose only aim is to take advantage of their grave situation.

How many times had we seen in some documentaries children in hard labor, diving for pearls, quarrying stones, entering dangerous mines, just to earn something for the day and help their own families?

How many times have we seen young women promised with a job in the cities and yet forced into prostitution rescued by people who believes in human dignity and value of human life?

How many times had we seen and heard landslides, soil erosions, fish kills, red tides, occurring in areas abused merely for profit? How many lives have been lost because of these abuses?

How many times had most of these people decided to sell their votes during election periods? how many times had these people voted for electoral candidates due to popularity?

How many of these people had eventually allowed themselves to be manipulated and be used by men in power and authority who wanted to protect their own interest and to prevent others from taking away from them their power, fame and fortune?

Too much to say, but with poverty being given as their greatest reason, can we really blame them?

The reason why most these people were abused, is not only because they were force against their will, but most of the time, they just openly allowed themselves to be abused without even realizing it, mainly due to their hope that what ever they have decided to do now, will help them getaway from their present situation and have a better life.

Not totally realizing that their end, no matter how good will it be, will never be justified by their means...

Not totally realizing that as they do so, they were not only allowing themselves to be used and abused by these people who only care for themselves, but also slowly allowing them to take away their very own dignity.

But again, if we are on their shoes, can we really blame them?

Next topic: Dignity of a human person

God Bless