ang edsa, bow!

in emile durkheim's elementary forms of the religious life, he mentioned about the importance of religious rites and symbols. these rites are regularly done to reaffirm collective morals and beliefs in the minds of all members of society. This is important because people, if left to their own for a long amount of time, the beliefs and convictions of individuals will weaken in strength, and require reinforcement.

this makes me think, if there's one good thing brought about by our crazy political situation now, its the fact that people remember edsa 1. imagine 2 or 3 years earlier, when everything was relatively peaceful, no one gives a damn about edsa. aside from the usual flag raising ceremony done by government officials and the activitists' commemoration of edsa 1 through protest actions for a current issue at that moment, edsa 1 anniversary would just be an ordinary day. walang pasok kaya ang mga tao nasa bakasyon.

but look at the edsa anniversary now. yes, there are a lot of people who are still oblivious to what has happened 22 years ago and are still clueless as to why the people power monument was erected near white plains (or was that corinthians), but at least now, there are more people who either went out of their comfortable homes or cut short their out of town trips just to be with other people who are calling for a change in the present government. at least there are more people who are realizing the power that lies in their hands and are willing to take accountability/responsibility in the future of this country.

i was watching mornings in anc earlier and the hosts were talking about their personal experiences in edsa 1. 2 of the hosts didnt really have personal participation in the event since they were too young to participate. tj manotoc on the other hand was so young and was in the states during that time but remembers his mother being very active in all the anti-marcos rallies due to very personal reasons. it was just ricky carandang who was physically in edsa.

back in edsa 1, i was 4 so obviously, i was oblivious to what was happening in our country. but in edsa 2, i braved the long walk from the university avenue to ortigas because i felt that thats what i have to do at that time. i remember that going there was caused by a mixture of a sense of idealism and adventure. but the feeling of uncertainty about the future was also there. imagine walking out of class for 2 days just to be in edsa and learning from the university's bulletin boards that you could continue doing that until erap resigns. what if he didnt step down? what would have happened?

i guess feelings of uncertainty are always there to test our character once in a while. there are always situations when youre put on a crossroad and while you may dread being in that situation at that particular moment, sticking to our principles and values would always lead us to the right direction. if we would allow ourselves to be on the safe side, to be hindered by our cowardice, nothing will happen. if people were frightened of the tanks in edsa 1 or if us, the youth, were frightened by the uncertain future facing us in 2001, we might still have erap in the office. and while im not very happy with what his successor is doing in malacanang now, im still glad that i was one of those who forced him to step down. now, we as a nation are still faced with another crossroad. and im hoping that soon, i could muster enough courage to make a choice and stand for it.