By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
Arriving a week ago, my family and l are here again in this inspiring and endearing country — Japan — whose one beauty lies in its contradiction. For while concededly an atheist country, it’s people are incredibly predominantly honest, polite and strikingly helpful, ironically, the very basic values and unquestionably the hallmarks of Christianity. You leave or forget your personal item in a rest room, but you can go back to retrieve it after an hour, and you find it still in the same place untouched. One time, my wife and l lost our way, like babes lost in the woods, and thereupon we were pressed to request a busy lady nearby to show us the way to our destination; she readily let go her affair, and obligingly gave us her extra mile (ironically again, a christian overused utterance or injunction) to help us reach our desired place. All these values, the Japanese people we encountered with have always consistently displayed in the places we visited. In the Philippines, a country that takes so much pride and noise for being a Christian nation, honesty, politeness and service to fellowmen are values that remain in the lips of its people and rarely find expression in their actions. How can they not be wantingly Christians when their leaders in government, their ever showing off politicians — the very powerful and irresistible influence — in their lives brazenly regard as honorable and a source of bragging rights and privilege to steal from their government coffers, to engage in all imaginable forms of dishonesty and lying openly in public, and to delight in self-entitlement and in a ridiculous belief they owe no one a service? Imprisoned by such great influence, they hardly find anybody of stronger influence and popularity from whom they can emulate virtues of honesty, genteel manners and love for fellowmen?
Moving along from from this introductory digression, we proceed to our main subject: social media.
It is a mind-bending thing for most of humanity to behold that God foretold social media’s coming to pass in our times, our so-called modern times, or what the Bible variously describes as “the time of the end,” or “last days,” or “perilous times,” through His prophet Daniel about 3000 years ago, when Daniel wrote, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Please don’t fail to read Daniel 12:4) Through the promptings of the Spirit of God, Daniel foresaw in our modern times, that the travel of men to and fro by land, water and air would become blindingly fast and furious, and knowledge (technology or science) shall increase to bring about the mind-boggling information technology of our times that makes any and all information from anywhere in the heavens and in our universe freely available in seconds through some equally mind-blowing technology devices.
This God’s prophesy that is being fulfilled in our present time is just one, to our own reading and knowledge, of the many prophesies and assertions He pronounced in the Bible that have all been likewise realized on earth — a truthful scenario that has helped solidify to a large measure our belief that God exists. (Please read Isaiah 42:8-9) That’s why we fully understand and see clearly the wisdom of God’s indictment meted out in the Bible against those who don’t believe Him as “fools.” (Kindly read Psalms 14:1). (Please no offense or aggression meant to friends who are atheists or agnostics. We are just stating a biblical fact).
Social media is absolutely an aspect of God’s prophesy of increased knowledge in our present age. Just like certain contrivances under God’s will, social media is both a blessing to some and a curse to others at the same time.
Personally, social media has made our life more comfortable, pleasant and pleasurable, overwhelmingly less hassle, vastly informed and afforded this time with an intellect gratified and titillated, in short, conceive of anything that makes life more beautiful and worth pursuing and we find social media stands out the source and the cause.
It was social media, in fact, that solely moved our mind to write this piece. My wife and l got lost several times on our way to places we wanted to go by train. The Japanese train system is a complex caboodle of different train lines that cut across and crisscross Japan metropolitan swathe. Trains here do not always travel straight to places, but travellers have to get connecting train lines to get to their destinations. In the midst of our several encores of confusion which way to go, left or right train direction, or which train lines to take, as we said earlier, we were like babes lost and cried in the woods. We had to ask help from the local travellers, and you know what, came the revelation that the locals could not readily show us the way, but invariably they consulted their cell phones for the maps and other data — yes the social media. After looking at their cell phones, they appeared to be mentally computing or arguing with themselves as they looked at the electronic boards notices apparently for confirmation or validation. Thereupon, they finally gave us the right directions. Thanks to social media, now my wife and l are ready to serve as escorts of confused travelers in Japan’s jungle of trains.
Some moral lessons we cannot help draw from our trekking experience: There is wisdom in asking questions, be not afraid or ashamed to ask, and there is sheer foolhardiness in pretending to know. Asking questions makes you more wise and knowledgeable. It is wise to throw our children to the water or leave them in the woods, so to speak, leave them in a hard situation to struggle for survival, to learn the ropes of life to ready them to face the hard challenges of life that are certain to come. This way they will surely end up with strong character.
But social media inflicts a curse, too, at least on the wicked. Never in the history of mankind, has every person given the channel to express himself on air freely to condemn and praise, to comment on his fellowmen and his government for their actuations, virtually unrestrained by any power, except his conscience, than as now through the platform of social media. Social media, through its so-called vloggers, has taken over the traditional function of the now snoring or scaring mainstream media which had, for a long time, always been quick to launch a broadside attack against a government and its officials for their acts of ineptness and malfeasance in governance and their gross and sustained corruption.
The prime days of vloggers have come wherein they can freely fire their brutal as well as brutalizing attack against useless politicians who are openly focused on politicking and grandstanding and far from serving the people, who engage them as public servants and who pay them their salaries. Public servants who in constant shrill cries reprehend the alleged absence of due process in the elimination of drug lords, drug pushers and drug dealers, but absolutely and defeaningly mum on even a modicum benefit of due process for our innocent or peace loving citizens — and for our country’s peace and progress. These vloggers spill the truths of issues under controversy in clear logic and critical discourse, shaming these rogue politicians with the full exposure of their lies and reprehensible injustices that stink to high heavens, in a language so frank and cruel. These vloggers undertake this task everyday, not only in the full view and hearing of the entire nation, but of the entire world.
Social media is the modern-day knight in shining armor that will rescue our country from the choking grip of these politicians, who are just too happy to be the children of the Father of lies. As he roared like a lion in his recent Senate hearing, FPRD must tell them also, “l will drag you to hell,” where, of course, their Father reigns!
