This article was made last Presidential Election as an entry to an essay writing contest... of course by yours truly... its like two years ago... good thing a copy is saved to the PC...
Votation is synonymous to making an architectural plan for an edifice to be constructed. It starts with making pencil guidelines to be soon darkened by inks. Each inked line should correspond exactly to every detail that the structure should posses, or else it can never be built.
In the upcoming Presidential elections, all registered voters will once again draw a line in our nation’s history. All will be given a chance to take a stand and choose the persons we know has all the capabilities, determination and courage to lift this country into new heights. In this undertaking, what we all hold at stake is the future, which can be either better than the past, or be left to the mercy of its damnation.
In the coming weeks, endless shouts of campaigns will be imminent and flowery words will fill our ears and wash away our principles. Added to these are controversies and anomalies, though not really a new scenario in every election that instigates different impressions in the eyes of the public. Political rivalry is impeccably obvious, which might lead to a social disorder that is hard to cure – diversity.
It is a fact that by merely casting our votes, we can be considered as good citizens, for voting is not just a right, not even an obligation, but basically a responsibility. And to harness such responsibility will confide no one’s welfare but ours. It is written in the 1987 Constitution that all Filipinos of right age are given the RIGHT TO SUFFRAGE, or the right to vote. It is the high law that constituted this right and responsibility, and all is expected to support this bill and hereby forge the nation.
Presidential elections are done every six years, and at the gap of these years the whole Philippines face the consequences of an event that only happens in a day or two. So it is a very must to be WISE in voting or else everyone will have to wait for another six years to attend to a minute of mistake.
But how do we know we are WISE in voting? Is it by our choice of the most flowery quotations and hit musical adaptations? Is it by choosing the most prominent and influential? Or perhaps the choice by the profession of the person vying? Or by simply selling our votes for a sum of money irreplaceable to a right banished?
Being wise is connoted with being knowledgeable. It is our knowledge that will light the way. Seek ourselves what we need, and what we want our children and future generations to experience. It doesn’t stop there by merely meditation, for it is also recommended to know every candidate up close, even personal if possible. Thanks to our brothers in the media, this is now a possibility. Knowing these persons’ background, both in service and in privacy, will help us make up our mind on how they will carry the nation, inside and out.
In the voting population, a large fraction falls on the youth. Though they contain the youngest of the voting realm, it is considered that they are the most demanding, unveiling all means to know in depth the person or persons who deserve their vote. They are the common denominator of protests and rallies voicing out against election arguments. However, it is a sad thought that the most number of unregistered voters also falls on them. Why? Most of them are losing hope, for what they perceive in the present, as they think, is irresolvable even by the means of national awareness and campaign. Eternal incongruities rip the high powers of the state apart, leading to all sorts of “complications,” from the economy, down to the industry and commerce. For them, election is but another outlet of all atrocities, further subduing the nation.
“The youth is the hope of the nation.” Words coming from our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. This clause may seem too cliché for others to heed, but this moment needs every youth to prove this long-lived quotation. These times calls for a cumulative awareness and an unconditional surrender for nationalism, not diversity and selfish compliance. What this country needs is a unified body pursuing change and prosperity, not individualism and negligence in civil status. The nation might be experiencing the difficulties and surging the bondage of hopelessness at these times, but this is the time we have to show the world what Filipinos are really made of.
In weeks’ time, we will all work hand in hand to draw the future of our nation. The guidelines and the plans are all set, all we have to do is to make these guidelines permanent and shape the plan for the country we all foresee to flourish and thrive for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Everyone might say that a single vote may not be enough to change the future, but all the courage and hope for betterment is tucked in that piece of paper. It is not the persons that we will put to position that will lift this nation, but the choice of making it better and that choice is given to no one, but to us.
