‘…the exercise of our most valued power as citizens of our republic must inspire us to dream big as we choose the men and women to represent us for the next three or six years.’
RIGHT before Pope Francis passed away, I decided to read a book he published at the height of the pandemic.
Entitled “Let us Dream: the path to a better future,” it was written when the world was in darkness and humanity was filled with doubt and uncertainty, even fear.
I don’t usually read introductions or prologues, but for one reason or another, I decided to read the one in the book. A line on Page 6 struck me. The Pope had written: “This is a moment to dream big,” and, he continued, “to rethink our priorities – what we value, what we want, what we seek – and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of.”
I must admit that for a very personal reason, I was struck by that line. And thus have not put the book down, carefully reading every page instead of speed reading through, marking passages with my Faber-Castell marker that I purposely bought for this book.
Whoever reads things I write – and those who personally know me – know that I’m allergic to organized religion. But I am definitely not allergic to books, even those written by holy men – and this is one of those I am enjoying reading very, very carefully
This is a moment to dream big.
What a revolutionary call to action, if you ask me. One that the Filipino people need to adopt and embrace and live by, immediately. We cannot afford to waste another second, another minute, another hour – for far too much time has been wasted and too many opportunities lost. And the urgency of the matter is made more serious because a huge percentage of our people are disadvantaged, health-wise, financially, and opportunity-wise.
The urgency is triple for them.
But why should anyone not among the less privileged care? The answer was articulated very simply by my favorite US President, John F. Kennedy (#35). A society that cannot help the many that are poor, he once intoned, cannot save the few who are rich.
Unfortunately, those who are better off in life gloss this over. Life is good for them. So why worry about the others?
Pope Francis writes about that in this book but maybe that can wait for a future piece.
This is a moment to dream big.
Most especially since it’s election year, and the exercise of our most valued power as citizens of our republic must inspire us to dream big as we choose the men and women to represent us for the next three or six years. We have to find a way to rekindle our belief in ourselves, in our potential, in our future. And then act accordingly.
This is a moment to dream big!
