Bleeding and Breeding

There has been so much expression of outrage over the death of 17-year-old Kian de los Santos. His untimely demise as reported by witnesses and as captured by CCTV has made everyone conscious that in the Philippines, no one is no longer safe. Kian could have been your grandson, your neighbor, your brother, or you. Anyone could just catch a bullet in his head because hey, it's our country's war on drugs. There are bound to be casualties. 

And I am now wondering about the kind of people our country is breeding. I am one of the thousand Filipinos who are now living in fear (even though I am currently based abroad) because I have loved ones back home who might become another Kian (God forbid). The line, "Hindi ka papatayin kung hindi ka naman nag da-drugs" no longer applies. If I am this scared even though geographically speaking we are from a safe distance, how much more of the families of the victims who were killed since the great President sat in power? What fear their parents, spouses, and children must be facing right now.

We are breeding citizens who in the future will be paralyzed with fear because they thought the firecrackers outside sound just like gunshots. We are raising our children to become desensitized to deaths caused by stray bullets, 'police mistakes'-so-please-forgive-them, and riding in tandem murders. Our young ones will grow up thinking that a president who curses and who orders killings is a normal fixture in the great grand scheme of things. They too, will take up their parents' guns for protection or maybe in support of the government's war on drugs because, after all this is a cause worth fighting for.

But no, we will not allow such things to happen. Because we, the so-called 'young once' are burning with anger. And anger is the enemy of apathy.

If Kian's death will not wake you up from your apathy and bigotry, what else will? Don't wait for that bullet to get you or your loved ones. No one is safe. No one.

#justiceforkian