EDITORIAL - Freedom must work for its keep

Today is the 26th anniversary of the People Power Revolution that ousted a dictatorship and restored democracy to the country. It might be worthwhile to note, that while the anniversary continues to be observed, it is getting less and less celebrated.

And the lack of celebration is not simply a matter of fatigue or the passage of time. To an increasing number of people, the real cause is disappointment, of the deepest and must hurtful kind.

The anniversary continues to be observed only because government makes it a point to do so. What would be interesting to find out is what happens if government skips the observation for, say, one year. Chances are, no one would even miss the passing over.

Remembering, you see, is a celebration only if it is meaningful. Remembering does not even have to be joyful, for the heart makes no distinctions between joy and pain. But remembering needs to put a finger on something that means anything in life.

But what significance does Edsa cling to other than the fact that it happened 26 years ago? Of course there is the restoration of democratic freedoms. But freedom alone means nothing if left unutilized for the larger interest of country and people.

We are being stunted by our limited view of what freedom is, which is being merely the opposite of a dictatorship. Year after year, this has been the jaded theme in every observance of the Edsa People Power Revolution.

Nobody has given a thought to the reality that 26 years is a very long time to limit ourselves to a dictatorship vs. democracy point of view. We refuse to even try peeping out of the box and see that far-less-democratic countries have progressed far more over a much shorter time.

The fact is, you cannot eat freedom. Not that freedom is to be belittled. But freedom cannot stay forever as a bragging right or a conversation piece. Freedom must be invested, must be made to work toward earning more productive lives for the people.

Freedom must not be limited to political applications as how Edsa has always been viewed. It must be able to free us into greater responsibility in the practice of commerce. It must push back barriers in education and scientific research. It must break up the shackles of poverty.