On Playing your Part, Self-righteousness and Freedom of Speech

When you do your part, you don't earn the right to judge people on the basis of what you do. Why? Because that is YOUR part. You don't go around making yourself the standard. Their part, no matter how seemingly insignificant to you, may be most significant to another. When you volunteer for something, and when you feel so selfless helping strangers, you do not become better than people who choose to take care of their family, or their friends. You choose your part. No one imposes it on you.

Everyone has the right to say their piece. There is no blame per se, there is a discussion. An analysis of what could have been done, an expression of what one feels. This is why the Freedom of Speech is a right, not a privilege. There is no prerequisite but yes, there are limits.

And this is not to say that we know better, it’s just that when things like these happen, you rely on people who specialize on resolving these kinds of situations. When they don’t deliver, you resort to discussions not because you want to put them down but because you want an explanation. After all, everyone’s accountable for their actions.

They need to explain because they were the ones who had business there. I just follow this logic, If you’re a lawyer, would you expect the police to do your pleading for you? No. And when you fuck up, can you prevent them from saying that if only you wrote your Complaint more meticulously, the case couldn’t have been dismissed?” NO. Why? Because that is your turf, and they expect you to deliver.

Self-righteousness is a slippery slope. Being affected by a tragedy that killed people is not self-proclaimed patriotism,  nor is it an instant acquisition of crisis management knowledge. It's instinct. When someone dies, you care... not because of anything else, but because we all are here to live and we should be able to do EVERYTHING to ensure that we live. This is not being accusatory, this is probing.

Let people talk. Let everyone do THEIR part. Anyway, you're talking too. Who are you to judge?

On the Manila Hostage-taking Tragedy

First, this whole taping someone who's dying / who died has got to stop. Seriously. Second, I still don't understand why the police had to focus on their conspiracy theory re: the hostage taker's brother. Third, if only they watched Denzel Washington's The Negotiator, they could have at least known that CALCULATED and ...not POINTLESS PATIENCE is the key. Fourth, it seemed like they didn't take the threat seriously and tried to intimidate someone, who obviously was ready to die, by harassing his brother. Fifth, from experience, pag may galit, BAWAL MANG-AGIT! Today is a sad day.

Let's all pray for the souls of the victims and pray harder that everyone learned a lesson or two from this unfortunate event. Please, please, please try to train our Crisis Management Teams more thoroughly. Oh and media, how do I start?