
“The Philippines as we know it might not be around a century from now,” says an article that came out a while ago in a weekly local newspaper. What a preposterous statement! Besides, who can really predict the future of a country? Look at the middle-east countries. Many of them were dessert wastelands before Ford invented the car and the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Who would imagine a century ago that the rulers and elite of those countries will ever get out from their tents and live in high-rises? Who predicted that one day their oil-rich land will have such geo-political significance that industrialized nations are willing to go to war to protect the flow of oil from their wells.
“Look at the middle-east countries. Many of them were dessert wastelands before Ford invented the car and the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Who would imagine a century ago that the rulers and elite of those countries will ever get out from their tents and live in high-rises?”
Back to the article. Well, what does the next century look like? Most prognostications of what our future civilization would look like is based on extrapolation of facts — of what our society looks like today, how it got here, and trends that indicate future trajectories. What the world would look like, and, of course, the Philippines, if it’s still called that name? (Even the name might be the first to change. Someone in the not distant past suggested the name Maharlika, which was the old name of the Philippines). If you ask, say, a political scientist or economist, he’ll make his predictions based on things like government system or social infrastructure, gross domestic product, government debts, etc. A meteorologist or an earth scientist will probably tell you that the melting of the earth’s ice caps, if it continued at rapid rates, will cause sea levels to rise a few feet. In less than a century, most cities, or even countries, as we know them now, will be under sea-water. If you ask a spiritualist, he’ll probably tell you to repent for your sins because Armageddon is just around the corner.
“Well, what does the next century look like? Most prognostications of what our future civilization would look like is based on extrapolation of facts — of what our society looks like today, how it got here, and trends that indicate future trajectories.”
Based on “common-sense” knowledge or basic facts what can we predict? First, we know that the earth is finite. Some things in it are non- renewable or cannot renew faster than our demands. Second, natural wealth is not evenly distributed among nations. We have more of certain things but less of other things. What we have in abundance we should use wisely, and the excess we can trade for what we have less. What we have less we should treasure and find ways to maximize. Third, we cannot have a civil society when more than half of our people spend most of their waking lives trying to meet basic survival needs. Fourth, we cannot have a viable nation in the midst of an explosion in information, knowledge, and technology and keep losing our best minds to other countries. Fifth, we cannot have a healthy nation when a big sector of our working people leave their families behind for other countries in order to keep themselves and our economy afloat. Sixth, the kind of politics and politicians we have is not sustainable. Our “leaders” lead the country the only way they know, degradation.
Finally, we cannot have a respectable nation if we do not honor those who died for our Land. Be grateful to those before us, our ancestors, upon whose shoulders our nation stands. Love our country. If we do, maybe, our country might still be around centuries from now, come hell or high water.