Our Best Shot at Change

To those who asked me for a copy of the June 12, 2014 Independence Day Speech, I apologize I wasn't able to get your contact information immediately after the ceremony.  Anyway, here's a copy of that speech.

" Hon. Manuel Sagarbarria, our City Mayor, Hon. Woodrow Maquiling, our City Vice Mayor, Hon. George Arnaize, Congressman of the 2^nd District, Hon. Roel Degamo, our Provincial Governor, Hon. Mark Macias, our Vice Governor, City Council Members, Provincial Board members, the Most Rev. Julito Cortes, Bishop of the Diocese of Dumaguete, Rev. Elmer L. Saa of Silliman University Church, Imam Sadic Amboloto, of the Muslim Community of Taclobo, Dumaguete City, distinguished guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Today we have come together not just to celebrate 116 years of being free to chart our own destinies.  Today we have come together in the spirit of hoping again, of dreaming again, and in becoming one people once more united in our desire to live in an era where the dreams of the great Filipinos before us will become tangible realities.

This is not a tall order but because of the glass walls and the glass ceilings that many of us have built over and around ourselves, this kind of change has seemed so elusive and at times, impossible.  Today I tell you that we are the only ones depriving ourselves of this change because if there is one thing that is for certain, unlike the great Filipinos before us, many people today are afraid to take great risks, to dream, and to hope. 

We dream of a better future for our children, a country fueled by inclusive growth, world class social services, and that no parent, no sibling, no relative has to leave the country in order to stay alive—but many of us are not willing to go beyond our call of duty as citizens that we may finally live that dream.  Today, many of us are willing to accept with resignation that we cannot change our destiny when deep inside you and I know that we are only too scared to step out from our comfort zones, to make big, probably unpopular decisions because in reality we would rather make the safe and practical choice even if it comes at the cost of settling for what is mediocre.

This freedom was earned with the expectation that the next generation, that our generation will give this country our best even if circumstances are bound to give us the worst.

It is indeed ironic that although centuries have passed since our freedom as a nation has been bought by blood, my friends, we are still not truly free for the reason that lasting change still seems to elusive to us is because we continue to be prisoners of our own minds.  But because this is an issue of mindset and personal belief, the good news is that we hold the key to this prison all along.  We are the only ones placing a limit on what we individually and as one team can truly accomplish.

We don’t have be a third world country if we don’t want to.  The world’s greatest powers engineered their empires from scratch but it is with grit, determination, and confidence that they could create something big out of the most adverse conditions that they are today’s titans.

Our battle today is different from those whose shoulders we now stand on.  But our task is crucial nonetheless because with this freedom that we are given is the expectation that all of us will pay this gift forward and this begins by changing the way we think about the bounds and limits of what we can do.  Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot change a nation if we its citizens are not willing to change their hearts.

How exactly do we do this?

To our leaders in school, in the government, and at work, today’s great societies are built on the foundation of great innovators, imagineers, thinkers, inventors, and creators.  Let’s work together to create an environment that will allow these great minds to flourish and to change our world.  Let us be open to change and to creative destruction by making sure that the people who are building tomorrow will leave free to create, to innovate, and to engineer the things that will redefine our future.  It’s about time for us to honor and support those whose contributions will truly matter.  The celebration of true freedom in the most doable sense is about building on each other’s ideas.  I am a social psychologist and I know that so many good ideas, policies, initiatives, and laws are shot down simply because of the irrational reason that these ideas come from someone of a different party, a different religion, an outgroup if you must.  Change cannot take place under these circumstances because change can never thrive where there is hate, insecurity, and division.  Let’s crystallize the change that we want to enjoy by creating public policies that will enable us give way to the right things. It is about time for us to lead from the head and from the heart. 

If we are to dance to the tune of lasting change, we need to move as one, to play our part in the best way that we could.  If we want to be one of Asia’s tigers, we need to stop stooping down to cat fights.

To our teachers, professors, and mentors in school and in the academe, your role is crucial because you hold the honor of shaping the minds of the next generation of leaders who will in turn shape the world.  It’s about time for us to change the way our students and parents think about excellence.  True excellence does not stop with straight line of the 9s, latin honors, or a few awards.  Five years after graduation and it’s only then that I have truly realized that the real measure of success is when you are able to dedicate your time and your talent to empower other people without calling too much attention on yourself.  Excellence and accolades can be blinding and they are a double-edged sword.  While it encourages our students to continue shooting for the stars, without the proper mentoring, these very same enablers can make these young achievers resist change.  Let’s recreate our classrooms to make them laboratories where we do not only shape tomorrow’s innovators and inventors but let us recreate it in such a way that we produce leaders who inspire trust.  After all, what you do does not matter as much as how you felt while doing it.   At the end of the day, schools and universities have this tremendous responsibility of imbedding this value in the hearts and minds of its students: that real success in life is not limited to being materially rich but it is measured by how many lives your have changed for the better.    

To the parents who are here, you have made your life’s decisions, now allow your children to make theirs.  Like our teachers, your  role is that of an enabler.  Pass on that gift of freedom by encouraging your children to make responsible decisions and to pursue their life’s goals no matter if at the moment it seems impractical to you.  Seek to understand the motivation behind these choices and continue to encourage them make bold moves.  At the end of the day, pushing for change means going beyond what is practical and comfortable to ourselves and to our families.  Let us be reminded always and everyday that our children do not just belong to our family but they belong to the greater family of humankind.  So let’s not force our children to be doctors, engineers, accountants, nurses, or whatever ‘practical’ profession we think there is if they do not want to.  People never excel in something they find no joy and meaning in.  We already have too many miserable and frustrated people around.  Let’s not add to the list.

To my fellow journalists, let’s be reminded of our role in shaping responsible opinions and telling society what is and what is not important.  We are not here to merely educate.  We need to go beyond that by helping society become more analytic thinkers.  It all starts by choosing what kind of news we want our target audience to read and to listen to.  True, there is no way of doing away with bad news but may we report these kinds of articles in such a way that we are able to synthesize it, to process it well, and accompany it with a message of hope that things will get better. Never underestimate the power of following up reports.  May journalism always be a public service rather than a business model.

To the businessmen and entrepreneurs who are here, your world is not so new to me because I have dedicated my entire life after graduation in the world of business and negotiations and I know very well the struggle to keep one’s business alive for yet another day or another year.  Today, let us change the way we do business by making giving back to the communities where we operate in part of our agenda.  I am not talking about dole-outs and stop-gap measures.  Let’s look at the long term and work with the government by training social entrepreneurs from the grassroots.  These initiatives can range from sourcing out one’s materials from local farmers and paying them exactly what they deserve for their goods, to providing stabl, meaningful, and secure employment to people in the community while at the same time helping them develop the skills that they need to work.  Consider this an investment into the greater future because when you give people a chance to make their lives better, they ultimately earn enough money to become your next consumers.

To the women who are here present, I need you to listen good and listen hard.  Our heroes did not just fight for the men but they fought for you that you may be here today to listen, some of your to go back to work tomorrow, that you may be given equal opportunities to make it good in life.  Savor that freedom by not allowing your families, your husbands, and society to limit what you can or cannot pursue in life.   In the Philippines, poverty has a woman’s face due in large part because plenty of women still believe they cannot do it.  That they cannot be mothers and leaders in their fields of specialization at the same time.  Women, your parents did not send you to school only to go back home and wash dishes for the rest of your life.  I hope you will find joy in making your mark in fields now currently dominated by men by not competing with men but by being partners in the quest for success.  This freedom was fought for you so don’t throw it away by saying that you will not sit at the board room or by saying that you will not lean in to your career of choice.  You owe it to yourself to define your own success, to contribute to the formal economy, to look back and to say, yes I did it.

Finally, to all of us who are here this morning, let us not be afraid to give this country our best shot at change.  Just because we live in hard and difficult times does not mean that we have to live this way forever.  We all have a choice and if we say that we are willing to change our destiny then by all means we most definitely can.  That change may not happen overnight but it surely shouldn’t take centuries for that to take place—at least only if we want it so badly.  "