Almost There… | Clare

I had originally planned to write about the elections but more on the aspect of annoying jingles, the posters and all that but now that we are just a couple of weeks away and so much has happened, I felt that it was time to write about something else.

Social media has been around for a while now but it seems that this year’s elections has seen a surge of social media use to promote the candidates, particularly for President. I don’t think that my Facebook timeline has been fired up so much about the elections as much as it has this year.

The whole social media thing has its good and bad sides. Good because you learn more about the candidates and what they stand for. Bad because you also see the ugly side of politics (and people) with all the dirt being thrown around. It’s sad to see that friendships are becoming affected by how people see each other’s candidates. It’s disappointing to discover that there are a lot of people who are capable of trolling and bullying online for the sake of their candidate.

When I think about the online fights going on about the elections I  think that as sad as it seems, it also shows that people are passionate about what they believe in. That people are craving for a better country and they will do anything to help make it happen.  I just wish we could channel that passion into something else other than bickering online and trolling each other because we don’t support the same candidate.

I wish people would agree to disagree. We all have the right to our choice of candidate. Let’s put the fighting aside and just vote for who we believe in and let the majority decide on who should be the next President, Vice President, etc. No matter who wins, I hope that we can put the passion that we are all showing right now into good use by coming together as a country to make the the Philippines a better place. To be a good example to each other, to work together and make our home a country we can be proud of.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this passion can still live on after the elections. We all need to be passionate and willing to change for our country to survive and thrive in these trying times. I hope we can all work together to do so.

Graphic Source: Nico Villarete, Rappler