There is Always Hope

Last night I was reading the speech made by President Aquino when he was conferred an honorary degree by the Loyola Marymount University. I was mainly curious because my sister got her MBA degree at Marymount University (but in Virginia). It was a long speech, but I found the answer I've been looking for in the past week.

I am at my worst when I'm sick. I've just recovered from a 3-week bout of sinus infection and I was feeling really good when I went to work last Monday. I was all systems go to plow through the projects I have to complete this quarter. Ended my work day quite happy and was looking forward to spending time with family in the evening. By 9 in the evening I was feeling sick and by ten I already had a fever. I went to sleep early, but kept waking up and by 3:30am I gave up trying to fight the sickness and drank some paracetamol. When I woke up in the morning I was in bad shape and had to take the day off.

By Tuesday night I was pretty much despondent about being sick again. I generally have a sunny disposition and only my family sees me when I'm down in the dumps. I get really cranky when I'm sick and that's because my brain goes to the gloomy side when I'm unwell.

So what does PNoy's speech have to do with my flu?

Being election year there's so much negativity floating around back home. When you open social media you see complaints left and right (yeah I complain too), mud slinging, judging, etc. etc. It's an endless tirade of people giving their opinions. I rarely see solutions from these tirades. I can certainly whip out the PolSci in me, but I prefer to discuss these things in person (that's why I miss my Dad so much, but Miguel actually likes talking about politics and current issues so lucky me).

I always wondered how can a President survive his time in office where expectations are very high and the satisfaction threshold is in another galaxy. I guess as any leader would do, you identify problems create targets, plan programs and work hard to hit your numbers. We all do this at work and we all experience office politics as well. As a leader there would be times you'd have to say, "Team, heads down and let's do the work." And you just ignore all the negativity surrounding you. You cannot after all solve everything in one go (we all experience this when we run programs).

So PNoy said, "There are so many who are disenfranchised, who are powerless, who are in a condition that really can make them so despondent, so cynical, so hopeless. But yet, they strive in their daily lives and if there was one mission that we sought out, those that have joined us in this quest, it is that we have to maximize opportunities for all. And in the end, that is not just a thing to do, that is the right thing to do."

Maybe if we all spent some time teaching at least 3 of our co-electorates what kind of candidate we should vote for (and not necessarily who), then maybe we could really move our nation up several notches more.

Thanks PNoy for pulling me out of my flu rut. Now we just need to wait for the meds to work its magic.