Interesting times ahead

It is already 2012. The superstitious will probably dread this year, in light of that flap over the Mayan calendar, which supposedly says this is the year the world will end. That this has been disputed by experts provides small comfort to the believers.

 I pity the believers because they will constantly be biting their nails in dread. Not that the world is not going to end some day. It will. But as to when, I prefer to let God do the worrying. I find great comfort in leaving my fate in His hands.

 By entrusting everything to God’s wisdom, much of my time is freed up to enjoy the beauty of his creation, or at least what is left of it after the senseless and insensitive stewardship of man.

 There is my family, for instance. At least to me, it is a difficult existence to be the only man in family of five. Four women, one a full-bloodied Waray and three in varying degrees of ethnic affiliation, can be taxing to a Cebuano domesticated in his own home.

 But I would not exchange my family for anything. They are my only true treasures in this world. And that is why the beginning of each year can be quite a challenge. Because you have to consider how to keep the circle together under circumstances for which no pattern is yet set.

 There will be plenty of diversions, of course. The political horizon for this country is littered with foreboding silhouettes of great political personages clashing, over interests that mostly have nothing to do with the general populace.

 A former president will be going to trial for election sabotage. A sitting chief justice is headed even sooner to his own trial following a controversial impeachment. There will be many questions surrounding the legitimacy of many of President Aquino’s actions going to these cases.

 In other matters, slightly off the political field but not entirely uninfluenced by politics, there is the prospects of educating one’s children, now made topsy-turvy by government insistence to follow what other countries are doing, i.e. have 12 years of basic education.

 I have said it many times and I will say it again — just because the others are doing it does not mean we have to do the same, if that is the only reason why we have to go through this folly.

 Even if we are the only country in the world stuck with a 10-year basic education program, we are definitely not the laggard in the entire universe. Even if we only have eight years of basic education, we will still be better than a great many other countries.

 Conversely, even if we do not stop at 12 years but slap ourselves with 20 years of basic education, if we are not prepared for the shift everything will just be a useless waste of everybody’s time, money and effort.

 Like the useless doleout of tens of billions of pesos for the poor, President Aquino should reconsider the untimely imposition of the K+12 program. If there is one thing Aquino needs in order to succeed as president, he must learn not to be too insistent.

 My friend Choy Torralba has a great description of Aquino. But I choose not to repeat it here, upon instructions of my wife. Suffice it to say that I fully agree with Choy that it is unusual for a man never to budge once he has made up his mind.

 If I am right in my appreciation of some of the men behind some of the great success stories of our time, there are those who have the humility to change their minds, the grace to make careful adjustments, and the strength to carry through the new direction.

But Noynoy is obstinate (my description, not Choy’s). He refuses to listen despite his constant bragging about listening to his “bosses.” Noynoy must not only talk. More than anything else, he must listen.