a "writer's" block :)

Ten years ago, I was in a writing class. Our facilitator was a known, respected and seasoned journalist.

And during the 'Q&A', I asked, "How do you break your writer's block?"

He smiled and said, "I can not afford one or my family does not eat."

I'm glad I facilitate learning to put food on the table for I've been agonizing what to write for the past week.

And all of sudden, clarity is spelled - builders, takers and consumers :)

I follow and think about what's happening in the largest economy in the world, the US and the Wall Street strike (?), and I wonder why HBO have ramped up broadcasting Michael Moore's film, Capitalism: A love story? I think I saw it for the third time this morning :)

I follow and think about the death of Steve Jobs, his memorial and the autobiography that came up this morning and I wonder will America ever produce someone like him again?

I follow and think about what's happening in the Middle East, the Arab spring, as the journalists' (or politicians') have called it and I wonder why now? What happened? It seems that the lines that were written some 40 years ago is being redrawn right at this very minute. It does not help that one of the heirs to the throne of Saudi Arabia succumbed to cancer.

I follow and think about Japan's effort to entice tourist to come and visit by promising 10,000 paid round-trip ticket and I wonder what stories will the visitors tell after their trip?

I follow and think about the flood in Bangkok and I wonder, how will that affect the price of rice, the Filipino staple, next year? Will it drive inflation beyond the 2012 target?

And then, the news from our very own place. News about bribing. Buying an election. Filipino soldiers dying and teenagers shooting each other at the mall and I wonder when will the media start to report on happier things other than the boxing exploits of Manny Pacquiao?

And then after all this wondering, I realize all I did was to take and consume time. Did I build anything while I was taking and consuming? No :)

And then I realize that the reason why the US is in funk is because the builders are dying, aka Steve Jobs, and the ever increasing takers and consumers have 'obliterated' the fruits of the builders that came before them.

That somehow, the spirit of building has left the West, this includes Europe and the EU, and is now comfortably nesting in the East, the Middle and the Far :)

Though Japan is economically in a funk, I doubt if they will ever stop building. I don't think they will ever stop. I can confidently say that now after being among them even if it was for only seven eventful days. Because the lesson of building and of progressing is trumpeted all over the place :)

Which bring me back to us. Are we building or are we taking and consuming? Or should I say, am I building or simply taking and consuming right now?

Which suddenly brings me to this 'out-of-nowhere' question - how can one build an urban transportation in Metro Manila when all the 'masterpiece' benchmark of urban mass transportation of the world assumes that the consumer follow the schedule of mass transit? A fact that runs contrary to the Filipino 'mass' transportation experience for in the Philippines, the transportation system is the one that serves the heterogeneous demands of the masses that's on, sadly, Filipino time, which explains the proliferation of tricycles and sidecars and the under utilized jeeps and FXs :)

If the transportation system is geared towards the customized needs, should it still be called mass transportation?

Where shall we find the solution to this? The West? A West that has stopped to build?

Or should we look to ourselves and find the solution here?

I realize that it is good to be stuck. Because it is only when one is stuck that one asks the really important and life-altering questions :)

Am I still consuming or building now?

:- )

"... why think like mere men?"