City Government of Tagbilaran

Cascading Strategy Workshop, ISA
October 07, 2011

To people who have grown accustomed to quick fixes, instant results and shortcuts, there is not much excitement in our activity this afternoon. We expect that during impressive launching activities or triumphant closing ceremonies but not from an event that is transitional and in-between. And yet each of you here would be willing to take issue with me about this. It is not just because you know how important this activity really is but because you can already see the results at this juncture.

I won’t argue with you on that because I agree with you. I was merely laying down the predicate that we live in a time when people have become so impatient that they would rather embrace something wrong for as long as it promises immediate results than do what is right if doing so will take time.

Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it. This advice was given thousands of years ago, but it remains true until this time. Our children are the best resources that a community can have. They are also our best legacy to the future. Our children are far more precious than the wealth that this world can offer. This is the reason why Tagbilaran takes very good care of its children. We value them so much not only because our future is in their hands but because our concern for them defines our character as a people. Concern is something you do. It is not something you say. It is not concern if it is only expressed by the one who claims to give it but not felt by the object of concern.

Some people just refuse to give up even when the odds are against them. Sir Walter Scott was a cripple. St. Paul was a prisoner. George Washington was once buried deep in the snows of Valley Forge. Abraham Lincoln was born in abject poverty. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis. Glenn Cunningham was severely burned in a schoolhouse fire but went on to set the world marathon record for a mile. Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf. Enrico Caruso was the first child to survive in a poor Italian family of 18. Albert Einstein was a slow learner, retarded and was written off as uneducable. They had ready alibis to fail in life. Instead, they conquered their limitations and attained not only success but greatness.

Hayden Planetarium in New York city ran an advertisement in the newspapers inviting those who would like to make the first journey to another planet. Within a matter of days, over 18,000 people applied. Their applications were given to a panel of psychologists who, upon reviewing them, concluded that the vast majority of those who applied wanted to start a new life on another planet.

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