Bayan ko mahal ko. What does that mean? An Australian writes that he loves the Philippines and her people. A Korean student also says that he loves the Philippines and volunteers that many of the local problems may be because the Filipinos do not love their country enough. When Korea fell into financial problems, he says, that many Koreans surrendered their jewelry to help the country out. When we say we love the Philippines do we mean the mountains and fields, the waters, rivers and seas, or more than that the people who live there. Is it not the legal entity named after Philip II of Spain? (America is named after an Italian cartographer Americus Vespucci.). Is it the people who live there? Yes, but more than that the sum of these elements. When we say we love our country it must mean we prefer the country to our selves. To love is to prefer the other to self. The country is the land and the common good of the people in this territory. To have emotions helps but the essence of love is to prefer. To love the country is to prefer the common good of the people. This can be dry without emotions.

To have emotions helps but it is not the essence of love. We often lose sight of this goal of the common good as against self-interest and self-love, a constant dilemma both in small things and in big things. But they are not always in conflict, most of the time they coincide.

The next concern is the definition of the common good. The most good for the greater number is a good definition but it is not enough. There must be a bending over backwards for the less fortunate especially those who do not have the bare minimum to live as decent human beings. Fairness and justice should prevail but preferential bias for the less privileged is better. Our tradition of "paraya" follows this view of reality. At present the common good may not be singled out enough. Self-interest may overwhelm the duty to seek the common good. The proper mixture is what makes the difference. The next concern is our vision of the ideal Philippines. Many of us have not made this visualization of the ideal for our country. We have not consciously set a destination and accordingly might be running around in circles since we have no direction. We do not have a star to which we can hitch our wagon. What would you like the country to be? What would our neighbors, all good men, and the Lord want this country to be? We want a country of peace with great effort towards prosperity and happiness. We have sometime short cut to happiness and by pass prosperity. We need both and the Lord wants us to be happy not only in the next life but also here on this earth. We are exceptionally fortunate, in our mild climate, fertile soil, gentle people, an abundance of material and human resources. Maybe the only thing we do not have is an external enemy to threaten us and thus leave us soft. We have tried to personify poverty to be an external enemy but we have not succeeded. We move on in easy going ways.

With a vision we next have to desire it. Our vision will not materialize by itself but only through our own effort. We cannot make a heaven on earth but we need to put in the effort to make the best we can. And these should be translated into objectives that are feasible, measurable and time bounded. They also have to be checked and regularly evaluated. That is the human condition that we move forward inch by inch. Unless we are saved again and again we will not have the final salvation. Try, try, and try again. Plan and plan again. If we fail to plan we plan to fail. But planning is not enough. There must be action, even fanaticism for us to accomplish the approximation of the vision we have set for ourselves for the country we love. <emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com>