GRAFFITI

As I take the brush and paint, I couldn’t think of anything but to engrave on a canvas those things revolving around our little worlds. We can never refute that our country has its great decline when everyone had his own way of moneymaking and threw these off towards the fire that caused a lot of lives to plunge.

Almost each day, shrill cries echo in every corner of our country…cries seeking for justice and freedom. Freedom---are we, Filipinos, indeed free? Or are we simply tucked up in a dungeon suffocated by crimes and captivity?

At some point, development of illicit trade arose. Now, have you ever heard about the illegal drug trade? Of preys of prostitution, pornography, sexual maltreatment, forced labor and reflex servitude? This eleven-letter word that kills young minds and souls…TRAFFICKING.

We can never deny that wheeling and dealing, whether human or drug, has been a big-time craze for those people who hunger for a bundle of money and power. It has been a drug-addiction, or simply, a passion for those who can’t get off without any box of treasure in their hands. Nowadays, drug trades are common anywhere in the country. Look at your left. Then, to your right. Everyone seems to overlook that what they do is illegitimate, what they just see are the treasures it might bring. Drug trafficking is indeed a fast-way-giving-money; so why spend your time for a useless job when in fact you can do this and that---well, you might really get a million prize but a billion impurities in your heart. On the other side of the painting, we see young women saying “We need to do this for our family…” Do you need to be a prostitute and dish up as a slave of illegal trade of your carcass to other people? You seem to remove your dignity and sinking yourself in mud!

Well, some could really just be victims of shameful and useless people who don’t know how to care. It’s a pity that human trafficking slaughters dreams of children…it’s a pity that the society’s backbone loses its hope and dignity. And it is indeed a pity that a big part of this canvas is painted black---hopelessness for the motherland.

Let us open our eyes! Let us not remain voiceless and very deaf! Let us not waste our lives swimming in wealth, instead, let us go hand in hand in promoting ‘anti-trafficking’ with our dignities raised up. Let us treasure His gifts---the motherland, the natural re4sources, and most, the people. Like a drug, too much money can thrust you into water and smolder your identity! Speak out…show off the world with optimistic ideas…be aware of the things around you…

Keep in mind that even the future doesn’t promise a more pessimistic evolution in our country. It is in our hands to bring back the bright colors of today’s painting. It is in our hands to erase all the dullness in her and bring back her sovereignty. It is in our hands to paint off the tears tainted on the canvas and totally give light to the darkening land. What we actually need is accord and teamwork of thoughts to avert and heal our dying land.

Let us realize that we can do something---with our paints…and our brushes…

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