Friday, November 12, 2010

Do the math, listen to the heart

Sorry, guys, I have been a delinquent blogger. Has it been a month already!? No fear, I'm getting back on track... lots of interesting stuff at work ;-)


Last Tuesday I attended the CBCP-CMN Tuesday Breakfast Forum in Ilustrado Restaurant, Intramuros, and Paranaque Rep. Roilo Golez was there to talk about the issue on the value of human life, which the RH bill is bent on putting down. This congressman really talks sense into the whole matter--and from an economic point of view too.

What he explained was: let's say a Pill costs 10 pesos, and that at present there are 10 million women of reproductive age.

10 x 10,000,000 = 100,000,000

And there are 365 days a year.

100,000,000 x 365 = 36,500,000,000

That's right, folks! 36.5B a year on the Pill alone! How many schools will that put up? How many workers can that train to be competent in their jobs? How many... well you can figure it out.

The comment I appreciated the most from Rep. Golez had nothing to do with math, budget or economics, though... it's the comment he said as a father. In the forum, he pointed out that it has become "normal" (or worse, "safe") nowadays to bring a condom to a gimik, just "for goodtime." But he adds:

"Paano kung yung daughter mo ang mag-goodtime?"

Bam! Paano nga ba?

I don't have a daughter, but as a daughter myself, I can imagine the adamant NO coming out of my parents' lips. It's not just about getting pregnant (which the condom "fixes") that I think bothers parents when their kids, specifically daughters, um, run rampant, but rather it's the respect she loses, the values she throws out, and the reputation she builds, and ultimately the person she becomes, that make Mom and Dad--especially Dad--become protective.

Call me conservative or old-fashioned, but I think I'm not alone in the belief that there's nothing unjust in the fact that women give birth and men don't. Give it up already. Women can't be men and men can't be women.

What is it that "feminists" are so envious of men about? The fact that they can sleep around? Who says they can do that anyway? (And why would you want to do that?!) Sure, men technically can sleep around without suffering evident consequences, but how does it corrupt them inside? It shifts their priorities, befuddles them about whether they really love or just lust after someone. Where is true happiness in that?

It can't be stressed enough that the family is the basic unit of society. If we allow ourselves to be corrupted--our mindset, our values--in the heart of our home, paano tayo pupunta sa matuwid na daan?

1 comment:

WillyJ said...

The cost of implementing the RH Bill have to be discussed at some point, and it appears crafty for the sponsors in avoiding the discussion of cost matters so far. I have made some conservative calculations myself and have come up with some staggering figures, along the lines of Congressman Golez' analogy. The smoke screen has to be blown away in due time.