My Watch Says TRUTH

Tick, tock; What does your clock say?

OPINION is like the wall clock at your house, or the wrist watch that you're wearing right now--most have their own, but no one has the accurate answer if you ask them "What time is it?"

There are times we fought long and hard, with teeth and nails for the opinions we arrived with and believed in. We see this actively happening now, as uproars in Facebook, Yahoo!, Twitter and blogs--the internet space in general--have made their way to the news, about a variety of issues in the Philippines that have become, well, POPULAR.

Look, he has already been "meme"d.

On Christopher Lao, whose unfortunate car incident during one of the typhoons in the country was caught on camera, and the video aired by GMA 7, where we were all blamed for his car getting stuck in the flood. Of course, we only get that side of the person's life and story. But that doesn't stop netizens (that's right, that's what we're called now, if we interact with people on the internet) from ranting and blabbering about our opinions. The poor guy's name trended on Twitter PHL for days, and a hate page about him was even created on Facebook.







And here you can see other "haters" post more hate pages on its wall.

And then, there's Mideo M. Cruz and his controversial "art" (which some questioned whether it was really art) piece, the collage POLETEISMO in the exhibit "Kulo" (a commemoration exhibit for our National Hero, Jose Rizal's 150th birthday) in Cultural Center of the Philippines. This man and his art piece gained notoriety after it has offended our Catholic countrymen, and then gained publicity momentum after it trended (again) in Twitter, and became a topic of conversations Facebook users' statuses and walls. His infamy was even picked up by international news (that's just one link, there's more) after former first lady and now Ilocos Norte lower house representative Imelda Marcos commented on his artwork.

21 years old, speaks Filipino fluently.

Recently, it's James Soriano and his article on the Filipino language published in Manila Bulletin that became a popular conversation piece. He was/is(?) accused of belittling our native tongue, household helpers and street vendors. Once again, the venue of debates were the online community.

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HONESTLY, I have my own set of opinion in all of these issues, and some of you may have had heard from me in a form of a rant, a blog or a comment on your posts and your own blogs. Admittedly, I was passionate--possibly, too passionate--about what I thought about these things and argued out my thoughts with different sets of people. While you're reading the first part, maybe you also recalled your own take on these issues... Maybe at one point you've become so fervent about it that you blogged about it, posted it on Facebook and Twitter, or discussed it with your friends with intense fire. Or maybe some of you chose to keep mum about your opinions, or chose to not have a stand at all (that could be an opinion, too).

After having my own servings of arguments online and in person when I was a lot younger, I realized what a mistake it was to go in a word-brawl for my opinions. And recently, I saw the patterns emerging again--Googling issues, 'eavesdropping' on my Facebook neighborhood about what they think on issue so-and-so and arguing what I believe with them if I find that they don't agree, with our friendship at stake--but I decided I don't want to make that mistake anymore.

Why is it a mistake?

Well, for starters, what gain do you look for when you argue your opinion with others--strangers or friends? To win the other person to your side? And win them for what? For a good cause? And what good cause is that? If there's no good cause, then for what? I invite you to check your motives when you go online and start bashing these people involved in controversial issues, or when you start an argument with someone like a friend or a total stranger.

There are people who claim that we need to put a stopper to some people's foolish opinions and argument online by giving them a dose of the "right arguments". I remember also reading in our literature class (often attributed to Mark Twain), "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." And here's another one: "When you're arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing." (Author unknown) Enough said.

And then there's the fact that there are a lot more important things to do than arguing; or a lot more important things to discuss than their issues. People end up fighting for something petty, or something that has nothing to do with how their lives will improve at the end of the day. Some spend precious time just fight for an OPINION--where no one wins, in the end, anyway.

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However, as passionate as we are for our opinions, we're not equally passionate for the TRUTH that we know and believe in.

Let's classify truth first. Compared to opinions, truth has no sides or version. Truth has to be in agreement with the facts or reality. The only opposing side to truth, is not another truth, but a lie. Now THERE'S something worth fighting for! Because there is no absolute correct opinion, no one 'wins' in any arguments (some are just under the impression that they did), but when the truth prevails, at least someone (or a group of people, for all you know) always benefits. If you know the truth, and you happen to be aware of another person living in a lie or believing the lies, don't you want them to find out the truth no matter what it takes (especially, if it's poisoning his/her life)?

Nevertheless, I'm not promoting arguments or brawls to publicize the truth; ends do not justify the means. In this country, we've seen resources ruined and lives wasted in unnecessary actions or violence as a group of people fight for the truth. There is, however, an effort needed to be exerted for the truth to surface. Easier done now, especially with the tools provided for us... which we also happen to use when we ranted about our opinions. People are empowered in the internet to voice out their opinions, then why not use it for a far more worthy purpose?

What kinds of truths need to be fought for these days? Well, that's for you to know--we all know some truths that are underplayed in the society today, compared to the above-mentioned issues that get the airtime and our sleepless nights.

As for me, I decided to fight for the truth that Jesus came in this world 2,000 years ago, died for our sins so we can live a holy life, and rose again three days after because death has no hold of Him since He is the Son of God. I will live with that purpose in my heart daily, and passionately "fight" for it, not in violence but in methods such as my blog and the social networks I'm an active participant. A lot of people have been told a lie about Jesus, or about their lives that there's no way out of the sinful life that they live in--there's my "target."

You can choose for yourself the truth that you want to fight for, convictions that you want to stand up for; something more worthy for public discussion or debates--especially those that don't trend in Twitter, don't become top news in Facebook or don't become top hits in blogs, Google or Yahoo! but definitely needs your fervor to make the truth known.

You know what time is it? My watch says it's time for the TRUTH to be known.