Ideals against reality

By Gil delos Santos

I recently added a permanent text on my right arm that spells out "R E C I P R O C A T E" as personal outcry to combat the changing climate in society. Time had taught me to un-believe the efficiency of an old saying -- "Kill them with kindness" in as far as people relationships are concerned. Kindness these days becomes a bridge to the island of abuse...while tough-love is mostly perceived bad by the receiver that usually leads up to cause good-ties breakage. The cure is not retaliation but immediate reciprocity. Be the best to good acts in return but not to be too soft to those who take advantage that hurt feelings. No one deserves a guinea pig treatment for selfishness of others.

More over, the thought of "instinct" as the rightful inner voice that saves people from misfortune fades out in my head like an ice melted in time that loses its useful sense. Instinct nowadays becomes a dramatic reason to exaggerate people's stupid feelings of insecurity attributed by the virtual world of social media influences. Unless in front of danger, instinct doesn't work right outside that perimeter anymore. "Scientific judgment" is the new instinct. Do not be confused between instinct and intuition as their meanings are being switched by millennials and the millennial-acting oldies today. Film, teleserye, and social media destroy and corrupt every inch of life's individual reality as what they show becomes virtually ideal to the eyes and mind of the vain.

Stop having the ideals of virtual personalities as each one of us have our own unique reality. Let them share their own story but be wise enough what to believe and what to copy because our reality is different from theirs. Ikaw lang nakakaalam nun! If public display of affection for instance sells up for them, private individuals would choose privacy over it for prudent reasons. One is they don't make a living out of it, others do. We don't need to fit or copy our lifestyle or choices to the lifestyle and choices of our idols. Our life might have been so much better than theirs before the new standard set by social media takes effect on us.

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