The Triangle System

“There are three types of people in this world: The Rich, The Poor and the many others who are in between…” This used to be the social class during the time of Karl Marx, the time of industrial revolution but as the time pass by it seems that the system has changed – The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is what the triangle system have altered in our social class, a type of evolution that created a vicious cycle of oppression in all aspects, all because of greed – for power, fame and wealth.

            The triangle system: the triangle represents the entire population. The upper part represents a small population of affluent, prominent people in the society and the lower part represents the mob. The resources are shown in percentage.

            If you’ve heard the song entitled “Tatsulok” by Bamboo, you’ll have a glimpse of this kind of system. You see, only the well-off minority who belonged to the top of the triangle who enjoys that vast of our rich resources – all the leisure and pleasure life has to offer while majority of the poor population that is represented at the bottom of the triangle sharing and compromising the small amount of resources, only what is left and available from those who belonged to the top. Classic examples would be a conyo having an overpriced cup of coffee in a renowned highly prestigious coffee shop while an indigent is struggling to stretch a peso to survive a meal for a day; A rich kid hit a vendor on a street, yet escapes justice while justice is not serve on the poor man’s family because they can’t afford a lawsuit and while a politician has all the best doctors to cure his disease, many people are dying because they can’t afford treatment. So what’s the difference? They’re both people, citizens of the Philippines under in one constitution, living under the same flag, the same authority and sharing the same Filipino blood but a huge difference in terms of the standard of living and treatment.  There’s definitely a disparity in the distribution of resources from a logical point of view. Only the rich can have a good life while the indigents suffer, funny how it seems that we seek for justice in an already unjust system.

            Our taxes have been gone to the pockets of the authorities whom we gave their positions and in return, public service has never been more dull that it is serving its people. What are the offices been doing?  Build and destroy good roads?  Debate over craps? Or practicing their lousy speech? Then what about those  people who needs attention to healthcare; the assurance to safety and security; and the vast indigents who lacks education and the many other government services that only who could afford the red tapes are well-served. Even justice could be bought.

            Now this is a call for change. Change doesn’t happen in a snap, change happen because we want to and so we decide. We are all aware that whether we like it or not, we’re part of this unjust system but then we just shrug it off and become apathetic. We think that just because everybody’s doing it then a small change wouldn’t matter. We continue to hope but do nothing. Blame cannot make change. We cannot do change by ourselves but we could start little by little.

            I believe that the youth is capable to bring about this change, the most awaited change by the great people of our history – being the most dynamic and advance member of the society, the youth is surely an ideal catalyst. I believe that we’re productive enough to make a move. We choose our leaders and they should serve us well. We know the rules then we should follow. We are more aware in our society that the past generation are. The period of perennial monopoly are long gone after Martial Law and the following EDSA revolutions. Freedom is at hand, we should be responsible with it. Our lives can be far greater that be wasted on vices and we’ll never realize our full potential unless we push harder to the edge.

            Past is past but the future can always be change. Nothing will happen unless we start doing something, until then, the vicious cycle will continue, the situation will get worse and we’ll remain trap in this triangle system.