Sunday, October 29, 2006 Lim: What you can do By Melanie T. Lim Wide Awake
(Excerpts from a talk given to the Visayas Mindanao Youth Congress sponsored by the Rotaract Club of Cebu-USPF Chapter and the Rotary Club of Cebu on the “Ten Things the Filipino Youth Can Do to Help the Country.”)
1.Care about your environment. You don’t need to discover cold fusion to care about your environment. You can simply reuse and recycle. You can simply sweep your backyard clean. You can simply refrain from littering.
2. Guard freedom and democracy. You are not here simply to enjoy the freedom that was courageously won for you by those before you. You are here to defend that freedom tenaciously. Forces continuously conspire to take away human rights and civil liberties. You must always remain vigilant if you want freedom and democracy to prevail in this country.
3. Nurture the genius in you. Seek knowledge. Develop insight. Keep an open mind. But do not let talent blind. Do not let ego overpower your genius. Do not let ambition take over your soul.
4. Embrace diversity. In this world of disappearing borders, learn to embrace diversity—diversity of race, culture, religion, language, lifestyle, ideology. Be patriotic but do not be protectionist. Be nationalist but do not be xenophobic. Take the multicultural and internationalist view.
5. Love the good and hate the bad in Filipino. Love the way we are warm, friendly and hospitable. Love the way we can bounce back from one crisis after another. But hate our sense of “Filipino time.” Hate our crime and corruption. Let us honor the things that make us wonderful. But let us also abhor the things that make us weak.
6. Pursue excellence but don’t forget ethics. Aim for progress but not at the cost of dehumanization. Aim for economic sufficiency but not at the cost of environmental degradation. Aim for greater purchasing power but not at the cost of crime and corruption. There are no trade-offs for clean air and water, peace and order, moral courage and civic consciousness.
7. Work not for money. Do well. Aim high. Raise the bar. Go out on a limb. Run the extra mile. Don’t stop at mediocre. Go for outstanding. Work hard. But never work for the money. Work for the satisfaction of making a contribution to society. You are only who you are when no one is looking.
8. Remember the poor. To mark our Silver Jubilee year, we have launched a “Trash for Cash” drive to raise funds to get indigent cancer patients surgery. It will take some time for us to gather enough trash to convert to cash to save lives. But no effort is ever too small when one’s efforts are fueled by a huge heart.
9. Learn from the world. Do not be afraid to leave home. Learn from other communities, countries and cultures. Do not live in isolation of the global village. Global need not be bad and ugly.
10. Give back to your communities. Leave home if you must. But learn more in the process. And then, come back. Come home and give back to your community. Give back to your country. It doesn’t matter how far you go so long as you know how to come home and give back.
