Fight Your Fight Now!
It's been a little over a month since I started studying law at UP. During my first two weeks of classes, I reckon I've been able to read more pages than I've ever read my whole college life. It's been a real change in lifestyle but it's something I've learned to love. It sounds utterly strange, I know, but studying really is buckets of fun! (OK, I'm sounding pretty nerdy now) Point is, I've admittedly learned a lot, not just about how our country's legal system works but also (and this is the cheesy part) about life.
During the weekend, my new law school block had a party (yeah, that's what we do during the weekends) and just like any other party, a lot of us got drunk. Well, not really puke-your-heart-out drunk but just plain can't-walk-in-a-straight-line drunk. The thing is, as the night got older, and as the group got smaller and smaller yet drunker and drunker, the conversation seemingly grew deeper. It's weird. We went from stories about "performing a blow" (which was around 10pm) to "wild, unfathomable sex" (which was around 11pm) to "male-female power relations" (around 1am) and finally "fighting your fight, now!" It is about this last topic (the others seem a bit too self-explanatory) that I wish to dwell on.
Our talk on male-female power relations eventually led to discussions on difference: its inevitability and how it affects the politics governing our beloved (?) country. I'm sure everyone agrees that each and every one of us has his/her own ideals. Of course, we're young (at least some of us think we are) and still not exposed to (drum roll please) THE REAL WORLD. We all seem to have this notion of a perfect world where everyone is equal and there is no trace of difference whatsoever. It is due to the existence of this ideal that we love to complain so much. It is exactly this unique seed inside every youth that pushes us to question government and conduct rallies. It pushes us to join youth groups either to educate society, to try alleviate poverty, to build houses for the less fortunate and so on. We all have an ideal. And in the youth, whether you be from Ateneo, UP, or somewhere else, this ideal is pretty much the same.
The problem lies in growing up. Once we become part of the system, we lose this idealism. The lucky few who get to keep theirs are usually ignored or are currently contemplating suicide due to depression. A small chunk of the youth just keep their noses clean yet fail to stand up for what they believe in. Most will form a part of this monstrous corrupt leviathan called Philippine society. I know that most of the youth today disagree to this and swear on everything they hold holy that they never will give up their ideals. Well, a lot of that will change in time.
The inevitability of differences in our ideals will eventually lead to their abandonment. Honestly, do people think their can be a situation wherein everyone's happy? Some people might give an emphatic "yes" as an answer to this, but then again, that's their ideal side talking. No matter what happens, some, if not most of the citizens, will be complaining, again because they themselves have ideals. Even if an amazing god-like, all-knowing, all-loving person assumes presidency of the country, it is still very likely that people will rise against him/her complaining. There is no quenching the ideal thirst of people. We will always strive for an ideal that does not exist and this will lead to more rallies and complaints.
However, we cannot stop fighting. The beauty of youth and ideals is that it gets passed on to the next generation. When we, the youth of today, become adults, we will lose some of our idealism, probably even lose it entirely. But there is comfort in the fact that the future youth will have their own ideals. Yes, it will give rise to a whole new barrage of differences and problems; but this is exactly where hope lies.
We can never reach a state of perfection, and we know that. The only thing that keeps everyone sane and still breathing is the fact that people still fight for what they believe in, whatever it is they believe in. Without this difference in ideals and constant debating about how society should be, life as we know it would come to a screeching halt.
I know that I've been blabbering for quite a few lines now, so here's the point: fight your fight now, and fight it well! Once we become a part of the system, there's no turning back. After living our youth, the fight is passed on to the next generation.
Life now may seem hopeless and impossible, and there is no one solution to all our problems. But there is always the fight. And for the youth, like myself (I think), the fight is now! We should fight for our ideals as if there were no tomorrow; for it is true. Tomorrow, we'd be part of the system and our ideals would be a distant memory.
So we continue fighting... I continue fighting... And we never lose hope.
Who says you don't learn anything when you're drunk?
During the weekend, my new law school block had a party (yeah, that's what we do during the weekends) and just like any other party, a lot of us got drunk. Well, not really puke-your-heart-out drunk but just plain can't-walk-in-a-straight-line drunk. The thing is, as the night got older, and as the group got smaller and smaller yet drunker and drunker, the conversation seemingly grew deeper. It's weird. We went from stories about "performing a blow" (which was around 10pm) to "wild, unfathomable sex" (which was around 11pm) to "male-female power relations" (around 1am) and finally "fighting your fight, now!" It is about this last topic (the others seem a bit too self-explanatory) that I wish to dwell on.
Our talk on male-female power relations eventually led to discussions on difference: its inevitability and how it affects the politics governing our beloved (?) country. I'm sure everyone agrees that each and every one of us has his/her own ideals. Of course, we're young (at least some of us think we are) and still not exposed to (drum roll please) THE REAL WORLD. We all seem to have this notion of a perfect world where everyone is equal and there is no trace of difference whatsoever. It is due to the existence of this ideal that we love to complain so much. It is exactly this unique seed inside every youth that pushes us to question government and conduct rallies. It pushes us to join youth groups either to educate society, to try alleviate poverty, to build houses for the less fortunate and so on. We all have an ideal. And in the youth, whether you be from Ateneo, UP, or somewhere else, this ideal is pretty much the same.
The problem lies in growing up. Once we become part of the system, we lose this idealism. The lucky few who get to keep theirs are usually ignored or are currently contemplating suicide due to depression. A small chunk of the youth just keep their noses clean yet fail to stand up for what they believe in. Most will form a part of this monstrous corrupt leviathan called Philippine society. I know that most of the youth today disagree to this and swear on everything they hold holy that they never will give up their ideals. Well, a lot of that will change in time.
The inevitability of differences in our ideals will eventually lead to their abandonment. Honestly, do people think their can be a situation wherein everyone's happy? Some people might give an emphatic "yes" as an answer to this, but then again, that's their ideal side talking. No matter what happens, some, if not most of the citizens, will be complaining, again because they themselves have ideals. Even if an amazing god-like, all-knowing, all-loving person assumes presidency of the country, it is still very likely that people will rise against him/her complaining. There is no quenching the ideal thirst of people. We will always strive for an ideal that does not exist and this will lead to more rallies and complaints.
However, we cannot stop fighting. The beauty of youth and ideals is that it gets passed on to the next generation. When we, the youth of today, become adults, we will lose some of our idealism, probably even lose it entirely. But there is comfort in the fact that the future youth will have their own ideals. Yes, it will give rise to a whole new barrage of differences and problems; but this is exactly where hope lies.
We can never reach a state of perfection, and we know that. The only thing that keeps everyone sane and still breathing is the fact that people still fight for what they believe in, whatever it is they believe in. Without this difference in ideals and constant debating about how society should be, life as we know it would come to a screeching halt.
I know that I've been blabbering for quite a few lines now, so here's the point: fight your fight now, and fight it well! Once we become a part of the system, there's no turning back. After living our youth, the fight is passed on to the next generation.
Life now may seem hopeless and impossible, and there is no one solution to all our problems. But there is always the fight. And for the youth, like myself (I think), the fight is now! We should fight for our ideals as if there were no tomorrow; for it is true. Tomorrow, we'd be part of the system and our ideals would be a distant memory.
So we continue fighting... I continue fighting... And we never lose hope.
Who says you don't learn anything when you're drunk?