A whole new world

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The year 2025 has set the world on an entirely new path – economically and ideologically.

US President Donald Trump has implemented a new economic and ideological world order that we are all still reeling from and trying to adjust to, hoping somehow to survive as a small bit player that continues to be a pawn and a laggard even in our own small part of the world, where a slumbering panda has reawakened.

Peace is now a fragile promise that we all hope will not completely shatter as the conflagration between Russia and Ukraine continues to burn, the Israel-Palestine conflict seemingly quiets down to a still dangerous ember and small conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand and in several African countries continue to spit out some sparks.

For us, the Philippines – an island nation that should be free from border conflicts as we are completely surrounded by water with rich marine resources – has become a source of envy, with our panda neighbor fully awakened and trying to lay claim to our bountiful seas.

Our ASEAN neighbors, blessed with the same natural abundance but faced with porous borders and shared culture and heritage, struggle to define and delineate each other’s identities, needing to have their own personal space.

With determination and focus, they have managed to move ahead of us – rabbits to the turtle.

Trade with our once benevolent Big Brother, whom we heavily relied on, is now a carefully treaded path wherein we have to ensure that we somehow do not displease him while trying to likewise deal with our panda brother, who has slowly and quietly gained almost equal footing with the US bison.

The tariff move has set ripple effects that are now affecting global interest rates to contain and manage the inflationary impact of the readjusted global tariff structure and the development of new technologies and artificial intelligence that bring their own still unforeseen economic and ideological changes.

Even climate change has been affected by the ideological shift of the US, with renewable energy now almost an undesirable economic concept that the world has embraced and must now set aside because Big Brother has changed his mind and global warming is now an illusion that, however, is still keenly felt in climate-vulnerable countries like us.

Internally, our pillars of respect, honesty and integrity have been relentlessly eroded and the corrosion of corruption has been exposed. But the exposure, alas, may be short-lived and perhaps it will be quietly allowed to retreat back into the shadows to flourish anew.

And yet, strangely enough, we Filipinos still manage to thrive, survive, smile, embrace and show the world that even as we wade through knee-deep or chest-high water, we eventually dry ourselves, wait for the sun to come out again, clean, repair, rebuild and resume our lives without bitterness.

We like to criticize ourselves constantly and yet we like to smile sillily, we embrace the strange, the new and forget and dream again. It reminded me of William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” – of finding beauty in nature and its impact on us through good and bad.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company:

I gazed – and gazed – but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with the daffodils.

This poem somehow seemed appropriate at a time when a whole new world is being shaped by forces that we still cannot completely see or have not seen the end of and yet our island nation is like that field “of golden daffodils, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze...with stars that shine and twinkle...I gazed and gazed but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought.”

Perhaps we actually do realize what we have, how lucky we are that we cannot be easily invaded on a flimsy whim of stepping over a so-called borderline when nature itself surrounds us and guards us, that what we cherish more is people, family, friends and even enemies and that perhaps we should all reflect on the beauty and abundance that surrounds us.

That we are not in a conflict-torn area where even some of our brothers and sisters risk their lives to work just to earn dollars to send back to their families in our island nation. That we have the resilience and nature to bide our time until the fruit is ripe and ready to fall into our open mouth as we lie prone on our bamboo bed.

That despite several generations of political clans who continue to rule their provinces like fiefdoms and personal treasuries, we continue to forgive and forget and grow at a slower pace than our Asian and ASEAN neighbors but that in our hearts we continue to love, live and thrive.

Happy New Year to all!