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Notes on complaining.
The state of the government is NOT appropriate date topic.
by Jennifer Mandac on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 5:49pm
With all that is going on in the government right now, I am getting sick of hearing statements that start with; “Ang problema kasi sa gobyerno natin…” because 98% of the time it would be followed by “Corrupt talaga lahat ng mga taga-gobyerno.” So I think once and for all I would like to say; NOT ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ARE DELIBERATELY* CORRUPT.
In this mass of state-fed workers-simply-waiting-for-retirement-or-death-whichever-comes-first there are those who continue to work for the government because they believe that creating a better future for our nation is a worthwhile endevour. There are also those who can be trusted to make solid and fact-based decisions and those who can be trusted with the powers of their office.
I have worked with people who can be trusted with big projects and millions of Pesos, I have worked with those who can be trusted not to bring home office supplies and the coffee for office meetings. YES, THEY DO EXIST.
Before you launch into a diatribe on the ills of the corrupt government think of them.
I also ask you to Consider this; AS A CITIZEN, YOU ARE PART OF THE SYSTEM. As a supposedly-thinking-and-purposeful actor in this system YOUR ACTIONS within this system serve to produce and reproduce various elements of the system, thereby institutionalizing systems. If this system we call government has persisted in its “corrupt state” it has not done so by the mere actions of the agents that work for it (i.e. government employees). Congratulations, YOU ARE ACTUALLY PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.
Recall the times you:
- harassed a government employee to let you go first in line because you thought your time was so much more valuable than all of the rest in line;
- submitted documents with incomplete attachments because you didn’t want to comply;
- entered false valuation so you wouldn’t be taxed right;
- called your office to get you out of a traffic ticket; and
- faked your Cedula number because you knew it would be too difficult to trace anyway.
The list can go on forever but I’ll leave that to God on the judgment day. The point is whatever action you perform as a citizen creates and recreates the system.
So please the next time we meet, do not begin a conversation with “ang problema kasi sa gobyerno…” if you are not willing to make a personal commitment to change your actions and to contribute to changing the system. If you cannot make that commitment, I am willing to talk about Bieber.
——
*Qualifier here with the word deliberately because it is possible to be corrupt by virtue of incompetence. Let’s face it, sometimes people are just not ready to perform their mandates - though that is not an excuse of course.
