COFFEE WRITINGS

Rethinking Society Over a Cup of Coffee

Obama: First African-American President

Obama has just won the 2008 US presidential elections. I bet that not only the United States is overwhelmed but also the world. Television News, newspapers, radios, the internet and especially the blogging community will all be telling something about the historic event.

After long long years, a black American has become the president of the United States. It tells a lot about the struggle of black Americans from slavery. I bet Martin Luther King and all those who died in the civil liberties movement is smiling down on earth and rejoicing, wherever they are.

I just hope that one day the Philippines will have a moment of this proportion, of a nation so thrilled about the prospects of the future. The Philippines also needs change especially structural change.

While Philippine Politics has become a boring subject of vote buying, smearing, vote rigging, hello garci, “dagdag bawas”, I still believe that the Filipino people can still rise above it. Definitely, change will not come from the top, nor from most of the politicians, who time and again have promised change and promised a lot but still delivered that same old social cancer of corruption, greed and the status quo.

As Obama faces enormous tasks and expectations ahead, we also face an equally enormous task. The struggle to make ends meet, the struggle against poverty and bringing food on the table, the struggle for peace especially in Mindanao, the struggle of everyday life.

The Philippines has been needing change for a long time.

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