The Two Clocks
The will of War and the will of Peace can be likened to two clocks.
Either one of these clocks may exist at the very heart of a nation at any time - right at the very head waters.
Each clock dictates the general inclination of the people and works to synchronize the movements of each our will of Country.
One clock inescapably leads to a time of death and desolation and the other to a time of life and abundance.
We move forward only by the weight of the burdens we must bear with each other as a nation and this burden is the burden of Justice.
It is a burden that grows even the heavier under the suffocating crush of War and the lighter under the sheltering wings of Peace.
When we follow or are led to follow the clock of War, the clock of War moves forward as the clock of Peace is stopped.
When we follow or are led to follow the clock of Peace, the clock of Peace moves forward as the clock of War is stopped.
When we allow the will of War to steal away the lives and promise of each our fellow Filipino compatriots
, the clock of War is hastened.
When we allow the will of Peace to work to fulfill the lives and promise of each our fellow Filipino compatriots, the clock of Peace is hastened.
Either clock leads all the way to the higher purposes of God for all creation and in all things, seen and unseen.
But the choice is always ours which one to follow.
For we can only follow one.
My honorable compatriots, this is the clock that a vast majority of the nations of our world have been following for the last 2000 years. It is also the same clock that was begun at the time of Abel.
It is called the Doomsday Clock.
We can see for ourselves here today where it has taken us (by the perilous state of the planet itself and the general brokenness of the nations of our world) and where it shall eventually lead all the nations of our one family of nations.
But there is another clock...
We now have a choice (at a time, times, and half-a-time).
It is the only choice we can really make.
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Alliances of Principle
No Country in this world matures on its own.
We depend on our relationships with other Countries for many things.
But there is such a thing as an alliance of principle - a relationship based on shared values.
There is also such a thing as a relationship of mere convenience which is not really a relationship at all.
Of the two, we ought to prefer exclusively the former over the latter.
There is no such thing as a false relationship. Either one exists or it does not.
Where it exists, it must be founded on common values. Where it does not, it must be bridged by common values.
What are these values?
Let us establish ourselves upon the first principles at the timeless foundation of our nationhood:
I believe in God, in goodness and the triumph of Sacred Life.
I believe in preservation of both human dignity and human promise.
I believe in the Four Faithful Causes that work to advance the Ages of my Republic undertaking in the one heart of my people across our generations to the very last of our generations.
I believe in peace and human community, a just equality, the inviolability of human rights, and in honorable religion.
I believe in freedom with responsibility, in choice with accountability, in press with humanity, and in meaningful, joyous service to the common people.
I believe (as far as this Republic of ours is concerned) to belong to only one class of citizenry with no elitism, no factionalism, no undue prejudices, and no monopolies on virtue and human morality.
I believe in a free market economy in the truest sense of the word.
I believe in authentic human entrepreneurship that is mindful of its roots and of its role in enriching and protecting the spirit and the values that underpin our national prosperity and the economy of our Common Market.
I believe, most of all, in the inherent ability of the least of my brothers and sisters of the Promise to obtain from God and this Country, both the material successes that honest labors provide and the felicity and spiritual communion that a faithful religion gains.
I believe that in and through all these things, we belong as a necessary and vital whole extending across families, tribes and generations as one nation distinct but not apart* from the one family of the nations of Mankind.
(*a nation distinct but not apart - the freedom to be different as well as the freedom to be the same - this is essentially particularity existing within a commonality; both of these are forms of belonging and equally worthy of the absolute defense)
I believe in, we the Philippines, and the one Republic that represents all our hopes - the guardian of our peace as a people and the keeper of the sacred remembrances of my one Filipino nation.
Now, I've only sketched out a very general sense of the values I know in myself we possess as a nation. But the point of the matter is that we should likewise seek to build our alliances based on a sense of shared values and principles.
Because the friendships we should seek to nurture and prosper with in this new age are those that recognize and communicate shared foundations.
They shall be real, living, evolving, even eternal relationships - refreshing, mutually beneficial, and solid against adversity.
And they shall nevermore be as those arrangements of the past - exhausting and frustrating to both mind and heart. That particular age is at an end.
We shall be a friend to our friends and they shall be a friend to us.
That's my thoughts on building friendships - alliances of principle - and I sincerely believe it should form a large part of our foreign policy.
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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.
Farewell to Promise