But if Rizal did say it, then he should have a day to be commemorated by students by not having to go to school. (We revered heroes and saints that way in our time.)
The youth is certainly the hope of the nation in everything, especially road safety.
We know what readers are saying: "Another column on road safety. Again."
But we certainly won’t tire getting the message of our advocacy across and will always look for the flimsiest of reason to do so.
That’s why we’re really thankful to Ford for making road safety the theme of this year’s Ford Day: Another reason and certainly not the flimsiest.
In fact, there’s great reason to write about Ford Day. It saw the launch of what it calls the Ford Road Safety Youth Council.
Why does Ford see the need for a council for safety from among the youth?
According to Ford Group Philippines president Henry Co: "Hundreds of thousands of people lose their lives everyday because of road accidents. Statistics show that young people between 17 and 24 are more than likely to be involved in road crashes than any other age group.
"I am truly delighted with the Road Safety Youth Council as they are getting involved in helping us educate young people while at the same time understand the pleasures of safety driving."
The Ford Road Safety Council is an effort to reach out to young people at the prime of their driving life and aims to encourage youth participation in developing programs which would instill discipline and create awareness on road safety.
Already, the council has a core composed of 15 students from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, Asia Pacific College (APC), the Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA), and Thames Business School.
They are Gio Valencia, Vic Rosales, Raphael Oracion and VP Lim of ADMU; Monet Quindara of UP Los Baños; JM Belen of PSBA, Vinay Murjani and John Carlo Ruiz of APC; Jonathan Tocino and Hans Chua of Thames; Monica Verallo and Kevin Velasco of UP Diliman; and Junichi Kato, Stevenson Go, and Vic Acabado of DLSU. The council also includes JP Tuason of the Tuason Racing School as honorary member.
The council’s mission: To propagate and exemplify road safety among family, friends, relatives and other members of the community.
Its vision: To create a community of responsible motorists and pedestrians, aware and conscious of the safety and welfare of others.
The group’s main goal for 2006 is to recruit 300 members, not quite an ambitious goal if you think about it. But the group plans to use peer pressure in a positive way to make roads safer.
If each of the 300 can influence others to become disciplined and courteous on the road, the number of safe and considerate motorists can multiply exponentially.
Just think about it. If they can make it cool to be safe, then they’ll make the roads safer for youths of the present, youths of the future, and even for us members of youth past.
