The youth speaks of life

AS THE editor of the religious section of the Varsitarian, I have the obligation to get the truth of issues holy or unholy.

It so happened that last March 25, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) along with other religious groups, held an inter-faith pro-life rally at the Quirino Grandstand to protest the Reproductive Health bill.

To be honest, there was nothing unusual with this religious rally: the usual invocation of the will of God, the condemnation of politicians supporting the RH bill, dubbed as “evil minions,” and the celebration of the mass.

As pro-life advocates, apart from covering the event, we had the initiative to reprint and disseminate information by handing out copies of UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa’s column in the Manila Bulletin, slamming RH bill advocates, and the current editorial of the Varsitarian that called the RH bill as “anti-constitution.”

With the help of my colleagues, we scoured the field, handing the people we pass by a bit of truth to our cause. Surprisingly, they were receptive and kept coming to us to ask for more copies.

Before we ran out of copies, I became aware that someone was speaking on stage with conviction. It was a young man like me.

He did not speak about the lessons of old men and women about faith. He knew and understood well the RH bill and was sharing to us his beliefs.

It was not the things that he said, not even the loudness of his voice with which he professed his faith. It was the fact that a young man spoke on the Grandstand in front of his fellow believers.

Furthermore, people were listening intently to his story. When he wanted to elicit a response from the crowd, the young people of his generation answered, along with older men and women who knew, with sound mind and heart, that he was right in saying that the RH bill would motivate immorality among Christians, and especially young adults who he believed should wait for the right time to have sex.

I saw in him the kind of fervor that I recognized when I watched Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in a black-and-white documentary I saw when I was a child. The young man in Luneta gave a variation to the words of Ninoy and, in the context of chastity, then proclaimed “I am worth waiting for!”

This man knew better than the politicians who are lobbying for the RH bill that it is not wise to entice the young generation to have sex. He knew the right thing was not to will himself towards immorality which the RH bill is trying to lead the citizens of this country.

There was a sense of “oughtness” or what he ought to do for himself and his dignity that this man showed a crowd of near 300,000. He showed the crowd that the youth are still the future that they are all hoping for and whom politicians are involving in the line of fire between pro-RH supporters and pro-life advocates.

The truth is politicians and free-thinkers have forgotten what it is like to feel young, their innocence and strength of their conviction to have dreams; dreams of making everything morally worthwhile until they find the “right time” for love.

This is one thing that the RH bill is stripping away from the young. When the time comes when the unfortunate happens, there will be no dreams for them.

Maybe Carlos Celdran should think about them before he starts ripping off streamers and posters that promote life.