Today is one of those days when we recall and ask people we know: “Where were you when it happened?” It’s like 9/11. Where were you when it happened? What were you doing?
Of course, I am talking about something else. Exactly a year ago, our country lost one of its treasures, President Corazon Aquino, who died of colon cancer at 76 years old.
Last year, the nation mourned the death of its own democracy icon. But today, things are different. After all, so many things have happened in just a year.
P-Noy is in with a clear and great mandate to serve, while PGMA is out and politically isolated. And with a new administration, comes a great gush of hope. Many promises have been made from top to bottom to turn a new leaf in our country’s history — to a new chapter where corruption is eradicated, where public service is a public trust once more.
Many have lamented that the spirit of EDSA has died. And it had seemed that, given the scandals and problems of the past 27 years, the death of Senator Ninoy Aquino was also in vain. Will Cory’s death, many years from now, just be another footnote in history? Just a sentence or two in her article on Wikipedia?
Today is “babang luksa” or the end of mourning for relatives of the former president, and perhaps, for the whole nation. But as we celebrate the legacy of Cory, we realize that have a long way to go. Whether one is in public service or in the private sector, we have much work to do. If fact, our work is only just beginning.
So today is the end of mourning. But with it, the challenge is for us, as a nation, to work harder in order to realize finally the dreams of this nation. To move from inspiration and mere feelings of patriotism and translate all of these into action. Now, that is real love for country.
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