Araneta For President

For the record, no, I have nary an intention to run for the student council, let alone a government position. Well, that’s at least for now.

This whole hoohah is a product of something we admittedly take when bored out of our wits --- Facebook quizzes. Upon seeing a certain test result on my former Ateneo blockmate Yumi’s site, I thought, “Hey! This seems like buckets of fun. After all, this is all for laughs.” That quiz, “What’s next for you after the Ateneo?” is no different --- created just so that Ateneans and former students of the university can snicker at their “future careers”. So yes, I did decide to take it. But after all the giggling, what was left was astonishment at the result.

“Alexis, you are meant to be in the political arena.”

Me? Politics? Are you kidding me?

I must explain myself. No, I do not have a hatred for governance and all things related to it. I’m actually one of those rather rare individuals that believe that politics isn’t a dirty word (with consideration to those who believe it as such, of course. I don’t go around talking about political blah to people who’d rather keep their mouth shut about it.). In fact, I have quite a number of Political Science majors and wannabe lawyers for close friends. I’m pretty used to discussing about laws and ethics at lunch. But seriously, I just never thought of my name having the title “Her Excellency” or anything of the sort appended to it.

Yes, I can see myself as “Prof. Araneta” or “M.A” at the end of my name. I’ve never hidden from people interested my desire to take a Master’s degree in Literature (and perhaps another in Linguistics) and teach that subject oh so close to my heart. Yes, I can see my name being equated with some newspaper column I’d write. Hey, I’m even thinking up of my column name, making sure it fits me. Yes, I can see my name in some film credit roll. I can see myself thinking up of plot twists and character development methods for my latest screenplay. But the word “President” preceding my name? Nah!

I mean can you imagine me as the Commander-in-Chief of the nation? Just how would I order the Armed Forces? Can you imagine me trying to properly apportion our national budget for different areas of pressing concern for our citizens? Yes, I know I’ll be giving education a bigger slice of the pie (something I suppose I’ve mentioned in a previous entry), but what else? Can you imagine me delivering a State of the Nation address before the Filipino people? Yes, the actual public speaking isn’t really a problem (thanks to my oratorical and debate training), but what am I ever going to say? No, I don’t really think I’m cut out for the presidency.

Then, I realized that is exactly the problem. Nobody wants to be president. Nobody is willing to leave their comfort zones to serve their fellowmen. Nobody wants to assume the responsibility to care and do something. This isn’t limited to the national level, by the way. We can see this in every class election starting around 5th grade wherein some nominees shake their heads and blatantly refuse being written down on the blackboard to be included in the possible class auditor list.

But, you see, there are around six billion people in this world, and sometimes all we care about is just one --- ourselves. Just how many stupid times a day have we used the word “I”? If we care about the rest of that six billion, isn’t that a much better use of your time and effort? And who knows? Maybe, all that is needed to alleviate the condition of that six billion is one --- you. (Thank you to the film “The Princess Diaries” for coming up with that! I just modified it.)

And no, you don’t need to be president to serve. As I’ve said, you can serve the nation as a government official, director, teacher, student, accountant or jeepney driver. All you need to do is to always act out in love for your countryman and do something.

But hey, the legal age for me to run for president is still decades away.