An Emerging Republic

The next time you hear, "third world country"... THINK.



Whenever I hear a fellow Filipino refer to our Republic undertaking of Country as "a third world country", I think of the mindlessness of such talk and shudder at the thought that many of us may still, for lack of a better working model, thoughtlessly accept this concept of a three world global order based on perhaps, a most narrow and unfair definition of national wealth.

Too, there is something implicitly prejudicial about the concept...

We are NOT a "third world country". We are an emerging Republic - just one of the many undertakings of Country (Republic or otherwise) cast upon a World afloat in a vast temporal ocean composed of Nations unevenly spread, under the unfathomable dictates of the Providence of God, upon an area of earth, sea, air, space, and spirit that comprise in all its sum (at the time of this writing), only a single planetary whole.

We exist, a Nation among Nations, growing great through our labors of Country as Trees exist, growing together in a Garden of Many Trees.

We (1) emerge to belong, (2) we belong to build, (3) we are built to become, (4) we become to belong, and (5) we belong to be one with the One - for these are the Five Ages of Country.
---<--@

We are, therefore, we must.


The Ages of Country

Walker on the Path

If you think the straight path is straight because of the path, you haven't really looked beyond yourself to see what lies ahead...



Peace be with you!

If you feel that our world -
which needs so much of our love and care -
is presently difficult and confusing,
then let us fall back to our own nation
and work to improve the peace of our Republic
from within our national communities.

If you feel like our nation -
which needs so much of our love and care -
is presently difficult and confusing,
then let us fall back to our own selves
and work to improve the peace of our Republic
from within our own families
and circle of friends.

All of this we can achieve
by continually choosing to being better
than our own worst selves...
and in spite of it.

(Is not the first meditation of our rosary of hope
the strongest foundation of all the other hopes?)

- selah -

We do what we can, the best we can -
the rest we leave to the care of Almighty God
and to other citizens not unlike ourselves.

The straight path is straight not because of the path
but because of the walker on the path.
---<--@

Refer to: Salutation #83 (Straight Path)
              Salutation #150 (Rosary of Hope)

Salutation #142

(Perceiving the Path)

When we think
to plan for our Country,
let us not think to plan

for a year, or two, or five,
or ten, or twenty.

When we plan
for this one Republic,
we are thinking of perceiving
- a path -
that opens a way
into forever.

So let us not be
so limited
by what years we posses (and perceive)
as individuals rather,
let all these years merge
- seamlessly, freely, lovingly -
into that great and fruitful longevity
that is our noble Republic undertaking;
the labor of our generations

to the very last of our generations!

Indeed,
let everything
lead into everything -
spirit unto Spirit

and truth unto Truth -
from hope to hope

and strength to strength -
because to everything

and in everything under heaven
there is a place and a season
in this Republic of ours.

   (So that
   if it is truly a good thing,
   and if this truly good thing matters
   to the welfare of our people
   from least to the greatest
   then, my compatriots,
   it may only be a matter of when.)

- selah -

Let us bear this now,
in mind and heart -

When we plan
for our Country,
we must plan - as if -
the entire width and breadth
of its glorious lifetime
was ours today.
---<--@



A year

is a measure of distance
only if it is imparted with a certain motion
- towards or away -
depends upon each thy own heart,
how empty or how full.

Salutation #83

A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.

- Andre Gide (18691222-19510219), French Novelist

(Straight Path)

The straight path is not a straight path.

It will have its own twists and turns

and it does have its own ups and downs,

but it leads somewhere.

It leads somewhere - because -

those who travel on it are committed

to see the journey through.

It is a straight path - not because of the path -

but because of the walker on the path.

---<--@