Scared & thrilled to be one of the 7 billion

Last Oct. 31, I became one of seven billion people in the world. I was both scared and thrilled. Scared because, seven billion is a lot of people to feed, thrilled because seven billion is a big market for all of us sellers of goods and services. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was the UN agency tasked to mark this milestone. This writer is UNFPA champion for HIV/AIDS awareness, a position that brought me to this Oct. 31 program at the Mall of Asia to remind people that yes, the world has now seven billion people. How many we are in the world, will affect the kind of life we live. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to ourselves and to each other for us to achieve quality life.

For the movie industry, it can mean a whole new generation of moviegoers who will have fun making that journey to the cinemas. And, if the massive crowds that flocked to the theaters to watch No Other Woman and Praybeyt Benjamin are an indication that people are back watching movies, then we have reason to celebrate for Philippine cinema.

The possibilities of good are infinite. We can be a happy world but we have to make it happen. How? Do it the best way you know, whoever you are and whatever you do. The rules haven’t changed to bring about a happy world. We need to be fair, we need to have jobs so we can buy food for our children, we need to be healthy, we need to go to school, we have to able to pray to our God freely, and we need to muster all the strength and courage that we have that our children are able to travel to their schools without fear of them being eaten by ravaging waters or killed by stray bullets from warring soldiers and dissidents. We need to be able to share our blessings so that the chasm between the rich and the poor will be bridged. There is so much to be done to positivize the enormous presence of seven billion people in the world. But it is possible. It can be done. It can start with you and me.

On the other hand, financial, societal and political upheavals are changing the world. Former US President Bill Clinton in his book Giving said that despite technological advances, the world has remained unjust, unequal and unsustainable. He also posited that we should celebrate our strong commonalities that will always be more important than our interesting differences. This is if we want a peaceful, happy world.

This is where young people come into the picture and how they can effect the necessary changes the world must bravely face. The youth has that power and hopefully, they will wield this power in a most peaceful way unlike the riots in London in the past months that were traced to the feeling of young people that they were being disenfranchised from their parents and government. That nobody was minding them. Whether valid or not, we need to learn from this experience and ask the hard question as to whether we are leaving our young people behind.

Youth engagement is fundamental in a world of seven billion. In my department, the young has the energy, determination and courage to inform and be informed about HIV/AIDS. Young people are not afraid to challenge the fear and stigma that go with the HIV virus. Young people, like crusader Niccolo Cosme, have enough tenacity not to stop despite the insurmountable challenges to campaign for responsible living and loving. Humphrey Gorriceta will never tire telling his story on how he got infected and how his rights are protected under the law, specifically the Aids Law of 1999.

One third of the Philippine population are young people. Around the world, two billion of the seven billion are young people. Every young person can claim his right to love, to live, to sexual and reproductive health, to education, to equal job opportunities. Young people have the power to make this world a better place.

Simply said, the power to be good is in the hands of young people. The power to end the deleterious cycles of corruption, poverty, violence belongs largely to the youth.

My heart and instinct tell me that young people today will choose the good.

I’m hopeful.