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Apolinario Mabini once said, “You always look upon
your countryman as something more than a neighbor. See in him the
friend, the brother, or at the very least, the companion to whom you
are bound by a single fate, by the same joys and sorrows, and by
common aspirations and interests. As long as the frontiers of
nations exist … to him alone should you unite in perfect
solidarity of views and interests, in order to gather strength, not
only to fight the common enemy, but also to attain all the goals of
human existence.”
This is the essence of the idea
of social capital—the sum total of things unseen that bind us
together as people with common aspirations. If we have low social
capital as we do now, we operate in an environment of distrust,
employ a crab mentality and tear each down like a pack of wolves. In
a setting with high or strong social capital, we can quickly come
into collective decisions on our public weal and trust one another
to do the right thing.
Alas, what is happening?
Institutions and personalities are pitted against one another in a
vicious downward spiral. The rest of the consequences I leave it for
others to write.
In the meantime, how we build
social capital is top of mind priority. It may sound blasé but
education, including formal and informal channels, remains the
answer. Educating the individual usually enables him to advance
materially. The economic success of Juan is the GNP growth of all.
That is for starters.
Conversely, material progress of
the nation will follow the emergence of a conscious social
solidarity. That ultimately, what we do singly affects us all. A
case in point is the dawning realization that our treatment of
Mother Nature returns to us a hundredfold—we really reap what we
sow.
Education develops people like
only education can. It is the single most important influence in a
child’s development within the context of the family and the
community. It is imperative that education policy and implementation
be insulated and kept as far away from the tentacles of politicians.
It cannot be subjected to regular rotations of heads of office, of
appointments of officials by connection rather than by merit.
Full exercise of our freedom is
the final test of a society’s success. It is when choices are laid
out and we can actually make them and take them to its logical end
that we can say that we have arrived. In a society like this, every
person shares the common knowledge, values and capacities. There is
a continuing relationship of exchange that is at any given time
unbalanced in the immediate term but involves mutual expectation
that a benefit granted now should be paid in the future. It is
paying it forward and backward and all around.
Despite the political noise and
the dearth of positive news from government and other sectors, we
need to carry on the urgent task of education without regard to
unfounded criticisms and scheming interest parties by tackling
bureaucratic complacency, improving teacher’s welfare and
providing quality education for our children. It is a Herculean
effort given the decades of neglect and management and the systemic
problems that abound. The solution is as always to find the good
people and give them the authority and support to do what they do
best—educate to build social capital.
In this season of Lent, please
allow me to end with a quote from St. Francis of Assisi. He said,
“Everything I have, I recognized as having been given to me by
God, and I stand ready to give them back to Him.”
Congratulations to JCI-Zugs,
specially Leah, Tisha, Les, Mia, Christie and Marie for the
successful feeding project for special children in little- known
Hipodromo Barangay Hall in Cebu City.
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