“It is an unwavering rule for those in power that, when it comes to heads, it is best to cut them off before they start thinking, afterwards, it might be too late.”—José Saramago, Seeing
THE old and blind sage was asked by a young trickster if the bird in his hand was alive. In this old story, the sage said he had no idea on whether it was alive or not, but he did know that the bird was in the trickster’s hand. The latter may have found it dead or that if it were alive, he’d kill the poor creature.
The People Power Revolution of 1986 did not fail. It had done its job, by sheer demonstration of what people power could do, in asking the question of whether that takeaway is alive in our hand or not.
There must have been bright moments in our country’s modern history, but these were brief sparks and all the years wane thereafter. The years and the polls that come every three years seem to show the stupor that deeply contrasts against the zeal and lore that our bird-in-hand story, the 1986 question, had left us. We are the citizens that are totally devoid of that confidence that we can easily rid ourselves of leaders who do not serve our interests.
Look at how, in the thick of making ends meet in our respective lives, we are easily the suckers who rush like mad for that damn selfie with the beloved official. Like the “solid fans” of the show business kind, we catch the token shirts coming our way, waving the imprints of their faces. Or that we don’t mind tucking ourselves in the little spaces amid traffic because the congressman’s speeding “wang-wang” is passing through.
Even our skirmishes on social media take the nature of a high school intramural, cheer squad and all, screaming our hearts out over our rabid loyalties for leaders who, yes, don’t even know we exist.
“People power,” that was 1986’s largest lore. That we need not arch our bodies backwards in eternal patience for government’s misgivings. We need to appreciate the weight of our power as a people; that easily we can tilt the balance at will, to our favor. It is no accident that they are called “public servants” and must not lord over citizens like gods. Last we looked, the monolith that said government was supposedly “of, for, and by” the people still stands solidly as ever.
The memory behooves us to constantly ask the question on whether we kept the lessons of Edsa alive or not in our hands.