Everyone has a right to be heard and should be heard, no matter how ridiculous or intellectually bankrupt they may sound.  Some people don’t want to listen to extreme points of view by others because it angers them.  I used to be one of those people, but now I love listening to people from the “loony-left” and the “radical-right”.  When these people show their true colors and expose themselves by their viewpoints, they make me realize how normal I am after all!  They indirectly teach me that my views are not nearly as extreme as I may think sometimes.  By taking the time to hear the opinions of both sides, we can use our own common sense to purposefully place ourselves somewhere in the middle.  Regardless, even today it amazes me how out of touch most people are who sit too far in either direction.  That’s one of the beauties of the Philippines and other poor Asian countries….you never lose touch with reality since you always see humanity in its most raw form.  People are people…people are people…people are people.  It doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor, ignorant, or overly-educated.  It doesn’t matter where in the world you are born.  There is only a fine line that separates us from turning into savages.  Wealth or education will not stop people from being murderers, drug-addicts, or pedophiles.  Race, culture, or creed can only do so much to keep us civilized.  Under the right conditions, we all will eventually lose our humanity or our sanity.  Read “Lord of the Flies” sometime.  The world has golden-hearted angels as well as brutal monsters that come from all societies.  In the Philippines, we have our share of “limousine-leftists/Escalade-Elitists” or “Range Rover right-wingers” who think that people are happy being poor and simple under their "glorious" rule.  Imelda Marcos is the embodiment of that concept.  There are also communists in the NPA on the "loony-left" who think that we can pick money off of trees to build everyone a three bedroom house and lot if everyone works together.  They dream of a civilized and peaceful utopia, but will murder and terrorize all who stand in their way.  That’s irony for you.  Finally we have the “radical-right” who is ultimately responsible for our over-population and subsequent poverty through the lack of separation between Church and State.

There are so many voices and so little time to hear them all.  Even I can’t get to all of my e-mails everyday.  I’m thinking about setting up a discussion board if I can figure out PHP on this server.  We can talk about all things in the Philippines since I literally get so many questions:  real estate, travel, retirement, visas, nightlife, legal advice, and setting up business and even issues from day to day.  As a foreigner and even as a new business person here, you need to know what you are doing here in the Philippines, or the corruption will eat you alive.  The only way our country can improve is by foreign investment and support.  I’ll try to moderate it at first, and then I’ll recruit some of my long-time readers or board veterans to help out when they can.  BTW, don't expect this to happen until March at the earliest.  Wow…that almost seems impossible right now…but it seems like a lot of fun!

February 26th, 2005