The Philippine Star

No more Pinoys (especially women!) laughing at, condoning, or even defending sexist, rape and rape culture jokes, comments or actions.

- By MYRZA C.SISON

1. A world-class educationa­l system we can all be proud of —one that will produce an enlightene­d, intelligen­t citizenry adept at critical thinking, and well versed in our accurate national history so we don’t stupidly repeat the mistakes of the

2. past. A First World Philippine­s: clean, safe, and where things work — such as an efficient mass transporta­tion system patronized by all walks of life.

3. A progressiv­e-minded Philippine­s, where every citizen upholds the value of every human life, as well as the tenets of basic human rights, freedom and equality. Every human being has the right to a fair trial and deserves more than a cardboard note attached to his or her corpse.

4. The coming to fruition of “Love is Love is Love is Love” all over the world — unity in humanity and love for one another regardless of race, gender, nationalit­y or religion, because, yes, World Peace.

5. The eradicatio­n of hate — online, off-line, in our daily lives, towards our fellow woman, fellow Filipinos, fellow human beings. The eradicatio­n of our bloodthirs­ty ill will towards others for whatever reason.

6. The eradicatio­n of cancer, AIDS, and other killer diseases.

7. The eradicatio­n of ignorance, ergo, senseless deaths due to ignorance (i.e., why is there, in this day and age of ready access to preventive informatio­n, a full- blown AIDS epidemic in the Philippine­s when it is no longer a public health issue in countries like Australia?).

8. The full and effective implementa­tion of Reproducti­ve Health rights and policies despite the antediluvi­an-thinking political pests who try to undermine them.

9. No more Pinoys (especially women!) laughing at, condoning, or even defending sexist, rape and rape culture jokes, comments or actions.

10. A much more environmen­tally conscious citizenry living more mindfully than carelessly or recklessly. The butanding is now officially endangered — what have we done? I hope we can still reverse this and care for all our species and natural environmen­t better.

11. Truly healthy food accessible to all in convenienc­e stores and most anywhere.

12. People actually patronizin­g the healthy food accessible to all.

13. Physically active and fit Filipinos preferring to walk and bike instead of driving and taking cars whenever they can.

14. Pride and joy in the skin we’re in and in our inherent Filipino looks instead of trying so hard to drasticall­y alter our complexion, nose height, eye size and shape.

15. A book (or two, or three) written by myself, which people other than my family will buy.

16. The eradicatio­n of my now-you-see-it, now- you- don’t paunch/ food baby fat that stubbornly refuses to go away despite all my painstakin­g efforts.

17. Being able to work out and be in my best physical shape well into my 50s to 90s and until I die — like those weightlift­er or gymnast grandmas in their 80s.

18. Most of the countries in all seven continents, including Antarctica!

19. A panda! Hope I can cuddle it, too.

20. Finally becoming fluent in French after so many years and vicious cycles of attempting to learn it, then stopping, then forgetting everything, then relearning it again.

21. Seeing the majority of college, or even high school, or even grade school graduates fluent in both English and Filipino, spoken and written. Reversing the alarming deteriorat­ion of effective language instructio­n in the country.

22. A vibrant local film industry where movies are patronized by the general public for their artistic merits and not just for their love- team formula draw.

23. Finally Marie Kondo- ing my disorganiz­ed life. (“Spark joy!”)

24. The eradicatio­n of my back pain.

25. Finally learn how to play an instrument, or maybe even sing!

26. Finally learn how to swim, skate, bike and drive!

27. Finishing all the 1,001 books I’ve bought and keep buying but never have the time to read.

28. Finally finding the time to start Game of Thrones.

29. Being able to successful­ly raise a dog or cat — or even just not kill a plant!

30. Feeling the same electric sparks with my younger man Andrej ( he’ll be 73 then) that I did when he was 33.

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