We are lucky, aren’t we?

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

A comic strip artist said it very beautifully on Independence Day. In having her character justify his greetings of “Happy Independence Day”, the cartoonist had him saying that we should be happy, indeed, because we are so lucky that we are not like Ukraine, Syria, Nigeria, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Thailand, China or Russia.

Indeed, we seem not to have realized how truly luckier we are than all those other troubled countries, who are either fighting among themselves, or being attacked or annexed by others. Everyday we hear or read reports about bombings, explosions, fightings, and so many other disturbances.

Even the countries we used to envy for their material prosperity and great tourism income, like Thailand, are now embroiled in internal squabbling. Note that Thailand, that we had believed to be so peaceful and prosperous, in now under Martial rule.

We had gone through Martial rule and a dictatorship, but we managed to rid ourselves of them, without bloodshed, and in the shortest possible time. Look at Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and, again, Iraq.

And here we are, so critical of our own government and always negatively comparing our conditions to those of other people. Yet we celebrate our Independence Day as a truly independent people, free to criticize even our highest officials, free to accuse them when they are perceived to have committed crimes against us, as we are now doing. If we are being troubled by the illegal acts of incursions by the gigantic China, we are taking the legitimate steps in seeking a solution, a decision that has brought us the sympathy of the world.

Now that we think of things like this, wasn’t that a Happy Independence Day, indeed? And don’t we feel lucky to be in the situation that we are in today?*