‘NO ROCKY HILL FOR AN IRON WILL’ Tuesday, Jul 23 2013 Written by Editorial If we count the road blocks on the way before a Bangsamoro political entity becomes a reality, then chances that we will lose heart and give up. No doubt, the road to our final destination is full of twists and turns that only those endowed with dedication and determination will make it to the top of the rocky hill. The cold-footed will always fall on the roadside. When the MILF started its revolutionary journey in 1977, no one knew exactly what lied ahead, except hardships and sacrifices. When the MILF embarked on a peace journey in January 1997, no one knew that we will ever reach the stage we are today. We persevered, braved and surmounted every and all hardships and trials on our pathway that saw many if not most of our comrades either killed, surrendered, or became victims of the hard conflict of a lifetime. Pessimists, nay realists? like Alex Magno of the Philippine Star, see the dark future for the Bangsamoro entity, given the constitutional constraints for its realization. We do not fault them for their doomsday view but are they also aware that there is no rocky hill for people with iron will? The people want peace now. There is no doubt that both Houses of Congress also want the conflict in Mindanao settled. Pessimists should also be aware that the full blossoming of the Bangsamoro entity is for the interests of all, and a half-baked implementation will drag the peace negotiation, because only when all the peace agreements are fully implemented that the government and the MILF can sign the “exit agreement” terminating the negotiation? By their naysayers’ attitude they are also underestimating the determination of the MILF and the Aquino administration to implement what they have agreed and will agree in the future. Truth is that the demarcation line separating a pessimist from a coward is so thin that oftentimes the two are mistaken as the same. If a coward always sees danger in almost everywhere, a pessimist always views life as gloomy. Perhaps, a better mold is one of the optimist type, but even then this type glosses over the real negative side of a given situation. What we want under current situation are those who view the situation objectively. They present and weigh the pros and cons that give people the right way to appreciate the situation. Of course, it is not only sheer determination and iron will that steer us to stay on course. We have also our special way, tested for decades, of doing things. One defining aspect of that approach is to appreciate first the wholeness of the endeavor and then tackle it piece by piece. It is like the oft-repeated quotation that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. There is always no shortcut to accomplishing a huge deal. We always wanted an ideal situation to work on, but this ideal is only in the mind. It does not and will not happen. For us, we appreciate and work on any given situation.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 06:47:28 +0000
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