I GOT to roam a mall alone again the other day, just like what I used to do when I was single. The difference was that I used to do this only during my days off or when I finished work early. I am now retired and obviously have more time to do this without being bothered by work pressures. The wandering was more leisurely.
The mall has changed much since the few times I visited it in the recent past. Additional structures have been built to accommodate the growth in clientele and the sprouting of more establishments. The problem with mall designs that veer away from the box type is that the possibility is high that you would lose your way. I had to stop at times to get a sense of where I was in the part of the mall.
I am a loner and I do want to just roam around alone. I used to do this in the mountains. My favorite act then was to go up the peak of the mountain when the moon is bright, bringing with me a cassette monitor with antenna strong enough to catch a few FM radio station signals. There I would sit alone with the rough terrain stretching out around me as far as my eyes could see.
There I would bathe in the gray of the moon light while the soothing music from the monitor would lift up my spirit. I would sit there for an hour or so, thinking of things that transcend the merely mundane. This is perhaps the reason why I could easily shut off the hustle and the bustle when I am roaming the mall alone and only be with my self and the world my mind imagines.
Indeed Cebu City has grown big. I could sense this even in the years when I spent my time solely in one part of Cebu that stretched only from our residence in the south to my old work place, SunStar Cebu. In the south, one could no longer find a reason to go beyond SM Seaside City, or in the old days Gaisano Fiesta Mall in Tabunok, Talisay for anything you or your family needs. Roaming the mall and walking the nearby streets yesterday gave me a glimpse of how much the other parts of the city have grown, too.
Which is why having good governance is crucial to the city’s current affairs and further growth. Crucial to that good governance is good leadership, which is also why the coming election is crucial. This is, after all, what democracy is all about. Voters are regularly given a chance to choose the leaders that they deserve (in our case that’s every three years). That is why they must be responsible enough in exercising their right to vote.
For the longest time, I refused to exercise that right. I boycotted elections after elections thinking that nobody deserved my consideration. The candidates in most elections are often the least deserving. Which is actually the weak part in our kind of an electoral process. You get to choose as leaders only those who present themselves during elections. It is such a limited choice.
But I realized that it is what it is. So I registered in the city as a voter and for the first time in decades went to a polling precinct to vote. I chose from a list who I thought was the best bet for the job. The choice, again, was limited, but what could I do? In the end, I realized that despite the limitations, good choices can still be made.