3 Positive Lessons I Learned From President Aquino

Just a few months more to go and President Aquino’s term will finally be over. Now that we’re near the end of his administration’s regime, many are asking what sort of benefits did he bring about for the common Filipino. Many of his critics here on GRP even go on to enumerate the many negative aspects of his six-year-reign and its detrimental effects on the country proper. As for me however? To be honest, I didn’t find that everything was bad. As a matter of fact, I learned three very important life-lessons from observing the man’s run as a president.

Would you like to know them?

He Taught Me To Be Responsible

One of the most important lessons I learned from President Aquino is that I have to take responsibility for myself and everything that I do. I simply cannot blame others for my mistakes as that will not make me a better person and will in fact only make me look weak and worthless. If anything, I have to admit to my mistakes so that I may in time find a way to atone for them.

Thanks to what I’ve observed from President Aquino, I learned to solidify my own personality and identity by taking responsibility for my decisions and actions. I learned that to simply rely on others for the validation of your own existence is nothing more than folly because, at the end of the day, everything you do is just someone else’s decision and not your own. By relying on others to make decisions for you as an adult, you are at best a childish person who can’t be trusted to your own choices or at worst, simply a puppet for others.

Responsibility may seem like an intangible concept, but it is a lot heavier than one would think. It is, in reality, extremely heavy and even more so if ever you are chosen as a leader as that would mean taking responsibility for your followers as well. Being a responsible person is the true mark of being mature and not simply being able to engage in vices like smoking, drinking and womanizing.

He Taught Me To Be Proactive

Another thing I learned from President Aquino is that words are never enough. Speeches, promises and alleged conceptual improvements may look good on paper but I need to prove their worth in real-world applications so that I and those around me can genuinely benefit from them. Indeed, I can say anything in the various blogs that I write, both here on GRP and beyond but I also have to back up what I do with positive thoughts and positive actions. Actions will always speak louder than words and, if what I do runs in contrast with what I actually say, then I am nothing more than just a liar and a hypocrite.

I can say anything I want to after all, that is one of the boons afforded by the freedom of speech. However, backing up what I say is another matter entirely and being able to make good on your promises and ideas is what will establish your worth before others. If everything I say is intangible and have little to nothing to show for it, then that only means that I’m just lying and have nothing to offer anyone at all.

I can always claim to hold the poor in high regard but when I treat them like dirt with little to no regard for their welfare, then I am simply a liar. When I claim to care about the masses but force them to walk under the heat of the Manila sun for kilometers, I am just fooling myself. When I claim to care about the poor but offer no improvement for their SSS pension, I am just fooling myself. When I claim that the common people are my “boss” but I refuse to acknowledge the brave men who have died for me, I am just fooling myself.

He Taught Me To Be A Gentleman

As I’ve grown up I’ve always had a problem with girls or women. I know for a fact that a lot of them dislike me even to this very day and is probably one of the reasons I have found it difficult to create a positive relationship with them. However, thanks again to President Aquino, I learned what must be done so that I may seem more pleasant or at least less repulsive to the opposite sex.

I learned that I shouldn’t seem so needy because this makes me look clingy and over-dramatic. Being clingy and dramatic are a huge “turn-off” for a girl as proven by President Aquino himself. I should always make myself presentable but approachable, perhaps a little goofy but still respectable. I should always have an air of confidence about me and have considerable control over my emotions even if I don’t have control over the situation.

I must also remember to be kind to women even when they don’t agree with me or don’t get along with them. While chivalry might seem a bit dated, I shouldn’t waste time bickering with them or blaming them for my own mistakes as that would be counterproductive and come off as grossly immature.

***

So there. Thanks to President Aquino, I learned how to mold myself into a good man. Thanks to President Aquino, I learned how to make an identity for myself. Thanks to President Aquino, I can look at mirrors with pride and be happy with being Thaddeus Grimwald or at least the rotting but animate corpse beneath the rusty and shattered armor of Thaddeus Grimwald.

Thank you President Aquino for teaching me what NOT to be! Thank you President Aquino for teaching me the value of being a “real man” which is most assuredly NOT like you! Overall, thank you President Aquino for showing me what I could’ve become if I didn’t mend my ways and stayed a worthless spoiled brat like you!

“It’s a damn good thing I met you or else, I would’ve become you!”

~Ken Masters, Streetfighter the Movie

Grimwald

I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!