I Am Running for President of the World

                      I Am Running for President of the World
               


                            Fellow Citizens of the World:

Today, I formally confirm my candidacy for the Presidency of the World. I come from a small country in Asia. A country you probably haven't heard of. A country that's not easy to find in the map The Philippines.

I speak not as a citizen of my country, which I am truly proud of, but as a citizen of a world that rests on a single planet:Earth.

The colors of our skin may be different. We may not worship the same gods. We may not share the same political beliefs. We may not speak the same languages. We may dress differently, eat differently, work differently, survive differently. But all this does not make us better or worse than the others.

"E Pluribus Unum", that proclaims the oneness of the United States, must also proclaim the singularity of the nations of the World. From Many, One.

We all belong to the same specie. Each of us feel the same emotions. Fear, love, hate, anger, grief, joy, loneliness, We share the same aspirations. Self-fulfillment,  security, health and long life, peace and happiness. It's only what we see that makes us different. It's what we don't see that makes us equal and the same.

The world may seem different now from what it was a thousand years ago. Yet
we face the same challenges of survival. Diseases continue to plague us. We still wage wars, no longer with swords and arrows, but with far more deadly devices for human destruction. Hunger still stalks millions. Poverty and deprivation grip large populations. Danger lurks in the streets, and terrorism strikes fear even inj  the most protected places.

True, we boast of amazing advances in all fields of human endeavor. We've crushed myths, searched the oceans depths, dug into limitless layers of earth, harnessed the waters, tamed the winds, and reached the moon. We have crossed boundaries which for centuries lived only in the recesses of man's imagination.

Yet, in the same breath we fail to settle boundary disputes among nations. We remain helpless against cancer and AIDs. Tyrants mock the ideals of freedom and democracy. Homeless children roam the streets, begging for food, and even stealing things they could sell to buy their meals. Crimes and mass murders are committed with impunity.

The means of communication enable us to talk to anyone anywhere. Then on Christmas Eve, we realize that there's no one to talk to. We have become strangers in our own world.  We could fly from anywhere to everywhere. But we must strip ourselves at airports, have our baggage x-rayed, checked and double checked. The freedom to travel is restricted by fear of our own kind.

We have become a world of dangerous contradictions. We destroy the trees that nourish our lands, lands from which w derive our food. We  pollute air that we breath, the water that we drink. We have become nature's worst enemy. We unmake that which makes us live.

These and many other reasons make me decide to run for the Presidency of the World. Heavy is the burden that you and I must bear. The challenges are enough to cower us to retreat. The comfort of home beckons us, tempts us to just take care of ourselves, and forget the rest. 

Across time, men and women have given up everything so that others may get a chance at the bat and strike a better life. Men and women have opted to take the untrodden path to blaze roads so others can pursue their dreams. Men and women have given up their lives so others may live, and find the kind of happiness they seek.

Today I join these noble men and women. I seek the Presidency of the World not to rule but to serve.###