To those who were 21 in the Year 2000
Are these really the years of living dangerously? I was browsing through my notebooks, looking for a particular entry when I came across this:

16 October 2000
Monday, 7.37

There is something in the air which makes me fear that we are living in interesting times. In the span of a week, a huge controverysy involving gambling, disgruntled friends and the highest official in the land has plunged the country in near chaos.

Or are we just imagining this? The peso has plummetted to Php48+, you cannot trust your leaders, what is there to turn to? And yesterday on Twisted, part of the discussion was that the Philippines has that same state of panic and anticipation as what had been in 1986. I had been hankering on and on that I had been too young to remember ever having participated in Edsa, and what if I get my wish to experience a life-changing revolution right now?

It is quite undeniable that something is bound to happen. Earlier this morning on the radio, there was news that since Thursday, ATMs have been off-line a lot. And since I'm not really fond of keeping money in my wallet, all I have at this very minute is Php 43.75. I wouldn't even be able to do anything at all if all the ATMs in the world conked out.

I am tempted to ring up people and ask them: Are we about to experience a revolution?

The huge difference between Martial Law and Edsa and now is that there are no protesters -- no banner toting students clad in red, shouting "Down with the Dictatorship!" Student activism may very well be dead, and my peers, those who are 21 in the year 2000 -- do not give a flying fuck as to what is happening in this country. They are all occupied with their mobile phones, their e-mail, their cable shows and MTV to even think of what is going to happen in the future.

What if we don't have a future? Twisted pointed out that we're the ones who should give a shit, because they've lived a life and we're only starting, and there's no foundation to build something on. We desperately need a figure head, someone to believe in, someone to cheer on, to lead us out of this miserable state. Who is brave enough to step into the melee? Who wants to be Messiah and die a horrible death?

If this is the moment to prove ourselves as a generation, then I think this should be it. This is our Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage, the time to do something reckless, to do something as a collective. Our claim towards a usefulness, a definition of identity, something to anchor our nation's history upon.

We are in the cusp of change, if you think about it. 30 years ago there was the First Quarter Storm. 14 years ago was Edsa. In 2000, time dictates that a shift should happen. To define the difference of who we are now. Because if we don't do anything, if nothing happens, or if something does happen and we refused to make a stand, then our generation will definitely be lost adrift, anonymous, unremembered. How is that for a coming of age tale? And it's not yet even 8 a.m.

It's strange how it's been two years already. I didn't even have a mobile phone back then, and I still spent a huge amount of time hanging out in my headwriter J's house, and I'd get up early and scribble on his breakfast table. Several days prior to that entry, we all huddled in his living room. We didn't dare go out because some guy was assasinated right out into the street. All that chaos. Fast forward to now and we're all living different lives but the inflation is even worse. People you know have been victims or near victims of kidnap gangs. The Chinese are right, living in interesting times is a curse.