zeitgeist

I just got out of my POS class. We watched a flick about elections here in the Philippines, with a hotchpotch of various commentaries and history. I had fun seeing these kinds of flick. You could actually learn besides enjoying them. Most of the stuff shown were quite familiar. Most of us probably know about the murders/assassinations Marcos did during elections. But the most of us probably didn't know the details.

Do you know about the man who was shot 4 times trying to protect a balot box full of votes, embracing it and running just to protect it? Or the NAMFREL volunteers who were shot dead? Or those who risked their lives walking out of the COMELEC's primary chamber for counting the ballots (I forgot the name of the place)? Probably, only a few of us know about these "small things" that really count big.

I always get this weird feeling (shivers?) whenever I see a people moving in the same direction and having the same goal. It's freaky and awesome. Such small acts somehow reflect what each of us should do to make our this country work. A priest in the movie said something like, "there has been change since EDSA". That really moved me a lot. I think the zeitgeist can be described in the same way.

And no, I'm not an idealist. I expect anarchy. I don't think everyone will be good and be concerned about the common good. Heck, I've read too much of Machiavelli to be this kind of psuedo-intellectual. I just think a movement of a collective is something awesome, something fantastic. Or to put it simply, something sacred. There's something romantic about becoming what we want to be as a people. It doesn't mean that that such a thing is always right.

I have thought of this before, but somehow my Philo teacher articulates it even better. He says that it is through this movement that the voice of God manifests. If you're not a Christian, better be one! No, just kidding. I think this same idea is applies to any religion. I remember that I once asked my religion teacher- a buddhist monk- back in high school about how the world was created. She told me that WE created it. I was perplexed and taken aback. But I think she probably meant the we were there in the beginning at the world's conception. Somehow, religions view this particular movement as something holy. This movement is not some abstract concept of holy things because it is born in human experience. This makes it even more worth celebrating.

Tell me this is happening right now.