The Way I See It

I have heard so many people say "Sana manalo ako sa lotto."

But when you ask them, "Tumaya ka na ba?"

They'd tell you, "Hindi. Bakit?"

To myself, I'd just say, "Duh, eh paano ka mananalo kung hindi ka naman tataya"


I remember my European Economics class back in 2007. My professor loves sharing anecdotes about his life in England like the mountains of butter stashed in a room and how your life isn't complete until you've seen it. In one particular day, I think we were discussing opportunity cost or something like that. Anyway, he narrated the story to us in this effect:

"When I was in England, I was living in MFN," he started.

The class was looking at him, some raising eyebrows.

"Where's MFN?", I asked.

"MFN is middle of f***ing nowhere," he retorted. "And I had this professor who drove to the city just to get one of those lottery tickets. One day, I asked him 'why do you always drive so far when you know that you wouldn't have high chances of winning'. He replied, 'because if I don't get one, i wouldn't have a chance at all'."

And everything made sense to me. In the same way that we could not pray for peace, without being the agent ourself. I remember Bo Sanchez' teaching: that when we ask, we should always plant many seeds so that God will be able to give us what we ask for. Nowadays, we pray for a better nation and to fight corruption. There are several ways todo it. We can volunteer for good causes (for me, that's Gawad Kalinga and other election related groups) or if you're old enough, go and register for the elections, campaign for the candidate who can lead us honestly and wholeheartedly. To be honest, this country is not for the halfhearted, and so when we elect, we should weigh our choices well. That could be our taya, and in essence, our ticket to the jackpot. If a lot or all of us do it, we have a greater chance at winning back our country over just fighting by ourselves. God has blessed the Filipino people enough to have given us the land we have, let us do our share in making it a semblance of His great kingdom. :)