Admit it or not, we have been languishing in the doldrums of insignificance. While our neighboring countries have been making giant strides towards global prominence, we Filipinos are seemingly enjoying our socio-political and economic downward spiral.

 We keep on asking what is wrong with us as a nation. We know there are problems, but we don’t seek for solutions but hunt for someone to blame. We would expediently point accusing fingers to other people, or to the incumbent government, for whatever misfortunes that may befall us.

 My dear friends, accept it or not, that’s our hamartia, the tragic flaw in our character as Filipinos. We are fond of playing the “blaming game.”

For the sad state of the nation, can we as individual persons say “mea culpa?” Can we have the courage to acknowledge that  we   have   contributed,   directly   or   indirectly   to  our socio-political and economic retrogression?  Whenever calamities,  crises or any unfortunate circumstances arise, we castigate government officials for their failure to perform their functions, but have we ever asked ourselves what have we done to make things better. Or that’s the best we can do… blame the government… and worse… blame God for allowing inopportune things to happen.

When things go skewed and screwed up, like what happened in the hostage drama which claimed the lives of several Hong Kong tourists, we blame other people, we blame government officials for incompetence. But can we ask ourselves… Could we have done better had we been the ones who handled that crisis? Could we have done better had we been the ones wearing the shoes of those who bungled their opportunities to show to the world the greatness of the Filipino race?

In the aftermath of catastrophic events like “Ondoy” and “Pepeng,” the self-proclaimed experts would come out with their unsolicited post-mortem. And what do we hear or see… the usual “blaming game.” But curiously, did those who gave their intelligent diagnosis even bother to join relief efforts or  donate something for the victims?

But despite the seemingly regrettable state of our nation, let’s not lose confidence in ourselves, let’s not lose trust with one another. Most specially now that we are facing an adversity when  we were unnecessarily thrust into infamy because of the act of one who has seemingly pretended for a longtime to be “an officer and a gentleman.” This is the time when we should stand together as Filipinos. Blaming anyone would definitely not help. What’s done is done.

With our strong faith in God, we can wiggle out of any adverse situation. We must stand together and prove our competitiveness as a race and goodness as human beings.   We can not afford that that little confidence the world may still have on us would totally vanish.

Each of us must initiate an ethereal conversion. It’s not the form of government, nor those holding its reins,  that we must change. What we need to change is our character as people.

Let’s begin by addressing our tragic flaw, our hamartia. Let’s desist from blaming others for the unfortunate circumstances happening around us. Instead, let’s take courage in helping  alleviate difficult situations. Let’s rekindle our  competence and find solutions to the problems and not add to them.