EDITORIAL - How they face crisis is what makes nations

For all the bellyaching about martial law by people far removed from its implementation, we have yet to hear of a single complaint of abuse against any of its implementors in Mindanao, the specific place where it is being exclusively implemented. All the nightmare scenarios being served on a daily basis by fear-mongers have no actual and verifiable basis to proceed from.

Others, aware of the dearth of evidence with which to promote mass hysteria against martial law, resort to questioning some legal points in its implementation long after these points have been addressed and laid to rest by far superior, more credible, and vastly experienced legal experts. So why keep it up? Because they are the willing heirs of a narrative that has gotten stuck at some point in history and refused to move on.

All countries and all peoples, without exception, all go through bad times and difficult moments. But it is to the credit of these countries and these peoples that they learn from every experience and adapt to every change. They do not mope and they do no whine. They just become resilient. And in their willingness to take things as a matter of course, they became the great countries and great peoples today that we can only look at with great envy.

Look at Germany, for instance. Or Japan, for that matter. No countries have been more reviled after the Second World War than them. No people have been hated without distinction between civilian or soldier in uniform than the Germans and the Japanese. But look at them right now. They are on top of their respective spheres of influence. They are being regarded with respect.

The United States is a much younger country than ours. And it has been through a lot. It even nearly broke apart in the Civil War. China was ruled by tribal chiefs and emperors and foreign powers did not become a truly unified country until only fairly recently. Russia swung from monarchs to peasants to blizzards and still managed to steady itself and find its balance. Now they are the biggest superpowers in the world.

Now, the Philippines had a brief interlude with martial law and it has become psychologically and emotionally scarred forever. The mere mention of martial law sends every conceivable wrong signal to those who prefer to stay rooted in its nasty memory. But the beauty of learning is not to avoid using fire because it burns but to harness its great powers in order to tap its potentials to one's advantage. Unfortunately, that is simply not the attitude of some Filipinos.