Mabuti Pa Sila
gary granada
Mabuti pa ang mga surot, laging mayrong masisiksikan
Mabuti pa ang bubble gum, laging mayrong didikitan
Mabuti pa ang salamin, laging mayrong tumitingin
Di tulad kong laging walang pumapansin
Mabuti pa ang mga lapis, sinusulatan ang papel
At mas mapalad ang kamatis, maya't maya napipisil
Napakaswerte ng bayong, hawak ng aleng maganda
Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa
Ano ba'ng wala ako na mayron sila
Di man lang makaisa habang iba'y dala-dalwa
Pigilan n'yo akong magpatiwakal
Mabuti pa ang galunggong nasasabihan ng 'mahal'
Kahit ang suka ay may toyo at ang asin may paminta
Mabuti pa ang lumang dyaryo at yakap-yakap ang isda
Mabuti pa sila, mabuti pa sila
Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa
Mabuti pa ang simpleng tissue at laging nahahalikan
Mabuti pa ang mga bisyo, umaasang babalikan
Mabuti pa sila, mabuti pa sila
Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa
Pigilan n'yo akong magpatiwakal
Bakit si Gabby Concepcion lagi na lang kinakasal
Mabuti pa ang mga isnatser, palaging may naghahabol
Ang aking luma na computer, mayron pa ring compatible
Mabuti pa sila, mabuti pa sila
Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa
astig talaga tong kantang to...
Friday, July 27, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Consumer-cialization of Education
As I have promised on an entry I posted here, here it is. I just thought of the title a while ago, and felt that it would best describe the following statements that I would make here. So, here it goes...
It really disappoints me that many people today choose jobs (instead of careers) not because of the fondness of the work being done but to because of its lucrativity. The vast majority of people today are living or want to live in the framework of a very harmful idea: CONSUMERISM. The term means "equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption." It is really contradictory not only to the Christian principle of being simple, but to many humanitarian thoughts as well. People really think, although they rarely admit it, that the purpose of life is to consume as much material goods as possible. This is sick. Why? Because consumerist living standards, usually western ones, are very impractical in the truest sense because they only deplete the already scarce resources of the planet. Ecological footprint analysis consistently shows us the impending doom: that if all the people around the world are to follow consumerist standards of living, we will need three Earths to subsidize that. That's right, three planet earths just to satisfy unecessary wants that industrialized countries dictate to us as "needs". And many people now prefer to work in jobs in accordance to consumerist trends and culture.
That is why many young people want or are pressured to taking courses like nursing or caregiving. The essence is not there already: someone wants to vbe a nurse not because he/she wants to take care of the sick, but to EARN MORE MONEY in order to consume material goods, thinking that this would save them from the poverty that they experience. Or worse, just to earn more and more money to consume more and more material goods.
Most parents tell us that they only want to be practical, not realizing that the poverty is in the collective consciousness of almost everyone that are being enslaved by consumerist trends and culture. There would never be any satisfaction in this. Worse, the family is also modelled to function as an economic asset, investing in formal education not for the sake of fulfillment of the children, but on the security that the family would be ensured of being able to consume more material goods. If only people would educate themselves in the light of reforming the structures of the society where they belong, then the worst kind of genocide-- poverty-- would be lessened to a great degree.
The youth who are supposed to resist and reform this system are slowly eaten by it. And by the time that they become aware of the true situation, their energies would have been exhausted by the system itself. Why? Because of the inculturation of consumerist trends by various social institutions like the family, media and education. Not to mention the failure of the church to promote true progress holistically, of not being enslaved by this culture. Why not evangelize using the Social Teachings of the Church?
It seems a hopeless case. But then again, if there are still people who do not stagnate in their thinking and resist the current system, then there is still hope. If intellectuals stop taking pride in their being ONLY intellectuals and not engaging in endeavors that would help their countrymen, then there is a lot that can be done. They must participate actively in policy making and not only on being steeped in intellectual enterprise. For knowledge is meant to improve the lives of humanity, not oppress it. In a nation like ours, we CANNOT afford to have farfetched thinking; what we need is grounded knowledge and the drive to put this into use to help the needy.
It really disappoints me that many people today choose jobs (instead of careers) not because of the fondness of the work being done but to because of its lucrativity. The vast majority of people today are living or want to live in the framework of a very harmful idea: CONSUMERISM. The term means "equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption." It is really contradictory not only to the Christian principle of being simple, but to many humanitarian thoughts as well. People really think, although they rarely admit it, that the purpose of life is to consume as much material goods as possible. This is sick. Why? Because consumerist living standards, usually western ones, are very impractical in the truest sense because they only deplete the already scarce resources of the planet. Ecological footprint analysis consistently shows us the impending doom: that if all the people around the world are to follow consumerist standards of living, we will need three Earths to subsidize that. That's right, three planet earths just to satisfy unecessary wants that industrialized countries dictate to us as "needs". And many people now prefer to work in jobs in accordance to consumerist trends and culture.
That is why many young people want or are pressured to taking courses like nursing or caregiving. The essence is not there already: someone wants to vbe a nurse not because he/she wants to take care of the sick, but to EARN MORE MONEY in order to consume material goods, thinking that this would save them from the poverty that they experience. Or worse, just to earn more and more money to consume more and more material goods.
Most parents tell us that they only want to be practical, not realizing that the poverty is in the collective consciousness of almost everyone that are being enslaved by consumerist trends and culture. There would never be any satisfaction in this. Worse, the family is also modelled to function as an economic asset, investing in formal education not for the sake of fulfillment of the children, but on the security that the family would be ensured of being able to consume more material goods. If only people would educate themselves in the light of reforming the structures of the society where they belong, then the worst kind of genocide-- poverty-- would be lessened to a great degree.
The youth who are supposed to resist and reform this system are slowly eaten by it. And by the time that they become aware of the true situation, their energies would have been exhausted by the system itself. Why? Because of the inculturation of consumerist trends by various social institutions like the family, media and education. Not to mention the failure of the church to promote true progress holistically, of not being enslaved by this culture. Why not evangelize using the Social Teachings of the Church?
It seems a hopeless case. But then again, if there are still people who do not stagnate in their thinking and resist the current system, then there is still hope. If intellectuals stop taking pride in their being ONLY intellectuals and not engaging in endeavors that would help their countrymen, then there is a lot that can be done. They must participate actively in policy making and not only on being steeped in intellectual enterprise. For knowledge is meant to improve the lives of humanity, not oppress it. In a nation like ours, we CANNOT afford to have farfetched thinking; what we need is grounded knowledge and the drive to put this into use to help the needy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
