Freedom of Choice

I was born in the year Ferdinand Marcos was elected the 10^th president of the Republic of the Philippines. Growing up in this era reminds me of our struggle for democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and protest. Now that democracy has dawned the Philippines through the 1986 EDSA revolution, the country enjoys democracy and the abundant freedom it brings with it for most part.

When I look at the Philippines today, I wonder if democracy has done well in us as a people and as a country. And in the interest of time and space, I won’t enumerate and break down what had gone from bad to worse. I am not saying that if Philippines didn’t had democracy, that we will be a better people and country. What I am saying is that while freedom is a blessing, it could also be a curse.

When God created Adam and Eve, He has given them dominion over all His creation. We call animals as animal, fish as fish, birds as birds etc. because Adam named them. Even as created beings, God gave them their freedom of the will and the only thing that God forbids them is to eat the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

If we look around us today we will see the many people, and their numbers are overwhelming, who seem to have eaten the same fruit that God has forbidden. The era of “freedom of choice” where there is no longer an absolute right or wrong and the individual becomes the ultimate judge whether his/her actions and decisions are morally right or wrong.

While I can understand that we are free to choose what kind of car we want to buy, or what type of restaurant we want to dine, as these are matters of preference and they do not harm anybody whether you choose one from another, there are certain things that we don’t have absolute power of choice especially if it affects the lives of others.

We don’t have the power to decide who lives and who dies. Hitler had that power and I believe the people who lived in that generation and participated with him either by approval or omission will not remember their time and their contribution to society with great pride.

C.S. Lewis in his journey to understand God through nature has concluded that men have a natural vacuum in life that only God can fill. As God’s own image, our search for true freedom ends with God and only with God we can truly be free. If He is able to give us His life, we too can give back our life to Him.

If we die to our selfishness, we will stop killing our unborn and call it “choice.” They are beautiful creations of God like you and me. As Blessed Mother Theresa said “the destroyer of peace and love is abortion for if a mother can kill her own child, who are we to stop one another from killing each other.”

Christmas is almost upon us. Let us take this opportunity to remember that there was a time that we as individual and as a people obey the commandments of the Lord. Lives were simple and less complicated but we were happy. If we can do this, we will realize that yes happiness is not about doing what we want to do but doing what God wants us to do.

Let us take joy on the assurance that when we kneel down in prayer, there is a God on the other end listening to us and fighting our battle.

I wish all of you the joy that God wanted to bestow upon us through this experience of incarnation – Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. A blessed Christmas to you all!