editorial :)

Everyday, we keep on doing the same things that last for about 8 hours in the 4 corners of our classroom. And oftentimes, we fin our mind wander, ‘Why am I doing this?’

When we were in preschool, we were at the relaxation point, reading stories, counting numbers and eating our snacks with our classmates. When we had stepped in to grade school, things went more challenging than usual; more subjects to study; more teachers to deal with, and anxieties to deal with puberty. And then we reached high school, where everything went new….. From our young-innocent minds back then, we started to get curious about every little thing, and from there we started to find the answers. Through liberty, influences and breaking the rules, some were no longer the students who study to learn.

The youth nowadays, are products of growing influences-cultural, technological and social. These factors are primarily the outcome of such negligence that many youths are engaged into. As different cultures easily exchange through movies, TV shows and internet, many are unmindful of the consequences that could possible change their lives as an ordinary youth. The youth lack such consideration of what’s right and wrong. They no longer care whether they obey or violate the rules of propriety, and worse many are perplexed of their own spiritual beliefs.

Observe your surroundings, look at the persons involved in different social issues. Are not their looks, too young and innocent? Are not their emotional stability too weak to face such predicament? Ladies and gentlemen, this is an alarming situation that all of us should recognize. Wherever we go, we all hear many delinquency comprised by those who tried doing something for curiosity’s sake. Consider here; teenagers getting drunk from partying somewhere they should not be allowed to enter, teenagers involved in crimes such as hazing for gang membership’s sale, teenagers engaging in premarital sex, thus resulting to early pregnancy which, in come case, gone to abortion. From the given cases, one thing is frequent; Unawareness heading to recklessness.

Bitter! These and all things alike should serve as an awakening to everyone. We do not do this for ourselves; we do this as a whole for our crying nation, pleading for our awareness and involvement.

What do we know about the hostage taking of 22 Hong Kong nationals? How do we react on it? Young as we are, yes, we have the right to comment and criticize on the actions of our country’s policemen and other government officials involved. We do say about the merciless prosecution of the hostage taker, the unimaginable errors of our policemen, the improper handling of the media people and the slow response of the government officials to the demands of the hostage taker. Sitting on our couch, watching the news live, we act like it is so easy for us o utter such accusations. Critics there, arraignment here! The damage has been done everyone! We could not just sit there and say; ‘those should be avoided if…. They should have saved them if….’ Again, the damage has been done. Let us not settle on the things that we could no longer change, the things that make us regret more, those things which in such situation; could make our country look helpless. Again, let us do what is right, each of us has a voice, and if be influenced it shall be heard by many, let us learn from those things; take advantage out of the situation. We might end up, clapping our hands for acting right. Let us be responsible enough to take part in our accountabilities, as youth, let us defend our side even as we know there is so little to fortify, pray harder on the immediate recovery of the broken relationships of the countries involved, and hope for peace even as we are cursed by many.

All mentioned may sound, ‘business of the professionals’, but still there is a need for us to get involved. We are heading through the same path, that’s where we are going. In order to reach the future that we hope for, we need to act just; we need to be qualified, to be well-informed and productive to be a part of something we’re looking forward to.

And how do we get there, if as early as now, we forget about our responsibilities, the demands for our involvement, the will to do right, the trust in ourselves and the response to every challenge, as a student, as a youth and as a young citizen of the country? The answer lies within us.

Marga B.