The will to heal.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Isagani A. Cruz

AS we begin this brand-new 2005, I hope we will address ourselves to our many chronic problems and take more resolute efforts to solve them after the useless placebos we have been using all these years. We err in considering these illnesses as already part of our way of life. That is a defeatist attitude we must not indulge. Though serious and apparently hopeless, they may still be cured with competent attention and, of course, the will to heal.

Many of our current difficulties did not exist decades ago. We used to be one of the most prosperous nations in Asia before graft and corruption reduced us to the tail-end. We had the highest literacy rate before, with better knowledge of English than …