12 Little Things

I haven’t really written anything nice right now (school seemed to be the start of my laziness, though not academically), so let me post my first homework instead. 

I read this book from cover to cover!

 Almost every trite patriotic speech or essay concludes with vague declaration of hope and promise for our nation. I should know. I did a plenty of written works before that contain empty but pleasant-sounding words such as “prosperity”, “betterment”, “unite”, and so on. Now that I think about it, it was not really my intention to mislead anyone by writing any of those five-paragraph, almost-formulaic prose works. It’s just that, for a girl as young and inexperienced as I, the idea of progress could be such an intimidating thing. Influenced (or perhaps brainwashed) by the long-held beliefs of many people around me, I had come to think that it requires a huge amount of energy, will and resources to counter the downward spiral of our country. I had grown cynical — “the selfish outnumber the selfless, the cowardly outnumber the brave”. At best, a new Ninoy Aquino will probably rise up sooner or later to revive the Filipino spirit once again. But that’s about it. End of story.

However, in the past few months, I’ve come to realize that the future may not bleak as I had previously thought. I found myself absorbed in the likes of Kara David, Lea Salonga, Josette Biyo and other people making a difference by doing something in their element. Alex Lacson might just be a part of that long list of people I look up to, as I found his book compelling and fresh. Not in your typical “I-liked-that-chick-lit” kind of way, but in a special “that-book-changed-my-life” sense.

In his book “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help the Country”, he starts with a simple premise that little things can go a long way. It may not be the most comprehensive book, but it empowers by stating simple and specific strategies towards nation-building. Now I know why it became a bestselling book, and now I won’t have to complain about the hopelessness of this country.

The truth is, we really are the change. The Philippines still holds promise. And as trite as it may seem, there is really hope for the nation.

I think this book is too powerful to be left in the bookshelf. For starters, I’d like to take Lacson’s piece of advice by buying a book for a friend and telling him/her to do the same for another friend. I also pledge to do #2 (ask for an official receipt), #3 (refuse to buy smuggled goods) and respect public officials from now on. I know that these may not be much, but as the book says, “The best way to build a dream is by attending to the little things that comprise it.”

Let us begin the journey of a thousand miles by taking that first step. We will carry on.