Adhesive bandage, helps keep wounds from further damage.

How do you heal a wound?  It really depends on how wide, deep and the manner on which the wound came about.  A small gash would only require a slight medication.  A cut would be requiring more and a slash would need a considerable treatment and will take longer time to heal.

But how do we heal a nation grimacing in pain, with blood flowing endlessly, a nation that had been stabbed and continuously being pierced millions of times from all corners? 

This, my dear countrymen, is the current state of the Philippines.  It had been languishing and aching from abrasions it got from all of us.  Yes, including YOU and ME.

You may probably ask, “Why include me, I didn't do anything”? How can I possibly inflict damage to my country?  That's exactly why WE were included… “WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING”.  Not only those that we do can hurt our nation.  Our undoing can hurt even more.  It's like we have a wound but we just left it open and kept unattended.  It will be run through over and over and therefore, it will be aggravated.

Perhaps, your follow up question could be, “What can I do, I don't have power, I have no means to do anything”?  If you are referring to having the power to overturn the fate of our country fast and easy, I agree.  Because even our leaders who all have power, capacity and means to do everything did not succeed.  I suppose they were just doing “other things”.

But we don't need to have great powers to make a difference.  Simple things like getting up early, coming to work or school on time (or even earlier), wearing a smile day in day out, properly disposing off garbage, communicating with your children, voluntarily and unconditionally sharing to others the best of your abilities, doing things within the bounds of law, moral, right conduct, public order… basic things like these.  These regular things when done consistently will become HABITS; habits that would become ATTITUDES; and attitudes that would eventually become a WAY OF LIFE.

How many times have we complained about floods?  I am sure you have lost count.  We are always whining, but are we disposing off our garbage correctly?  Even those tiny candy wrappers, when improperly disposed off endlessly by YOU an ME, will surely clog our drainage system. 

How about the ever rising cost of water and electricity?  Although these are mainly due to some uncontrollable factors like the worldwide cost of fuel and other variables, we are partly to be blamed.  The rule of thumb in economics is that when demand is high and the supply is low, price goes up.  We always have the opportunity to save energy and water but are we seizing those?  Are we turning off electrical devices when not in use?  Have we checked any dripping from our water system?  Small savings my friend, when compounded daily multiplied to the number of Filipino households will turn out to be really big.

When a boy suffers a wound while playing or doing his thing, he runs home crying.  His parents, who care for their child's well being, would normally ask him how he got wounded before proceeding on how the boy ought to be treated.  This is what we should do.  We should try to dig deeper as to the root cause of our years of affliction.  Why our country, previously the leader in our region fell down from top spot?  It can't be because we lack in natural resources; and I strongly believe it can never be because we lack in skills and abilities.  In fact, we have millions of those.   

So where lies the problem? We can't point fingers at anyone but us.  We are no longer under the colony of Spain and have been liberated from Japan decades ago.  We are already on our own.  But are we free?  Are we really free?

Come to think of it.  We may be living in a democratic country but ironically we are not free.  We are still slaves… not from another country; not even from autocratic rule. We are slaves to our selves.  We are still encaged from our own selfish thoughts and worldly desires.  We have to break loose from these negativities hurled at us by the devil.  These are his ways to blind us from the truth.  He knows our weaknesses and he is hitting us right on target. 

He knows we need money and we crave for power.  He then tempts us to amass wealth and be powerful.  We are engrossed to achieve these to the extent of violating not only the rule of man but also that of God.  It is no secret that corruption is prevalent in this country.  I cannot over emphasize more as this is indeed a glaring reality.  Individuals and families kill each other for money and power.    Why are these so?  It's because we have allowed the devil to win over us.  Really sad, but it's the truth.  We always leave ourselves open and we don't wear any armour.

How then can we shield ourselves from these attacks?  I am no preacher here, I am just a regular Filipino guy who happens to understand logic and makes use of his common sense.  To me, the Bible makes perfect sense and that this is the best weapon we can have especially at these times.  It is full of scientifically and historically proven Biblical truths that we can apply in our daily lives; truths that could lead us to cleansing our minds; truths that could soften our hardened hearts; and truths that could heal our ailing souls. 

So now, how do we regenerate our wounded nation?  Well, I think we don't have much of an option but to turn to a doctor… and there's no other doctor that would come even close to the Creator.  God had already written  His prescriptions… it's really on us to read it and take into our lives.

Heal yourself, heal your nation.

God bless us all.