There is no stopping the Israelis from invoking their occupancy of the land where they are now that predated others by thousands of years to repel anybody who attempts to disturb them, even to the extent of using nuclear weapons. Their opponents are also determined to wipe out Israel from the face of the earth.
On the other side of the globe are the Russia and Ukrainian with its western sponsors who are not about to stop the carnage there
Then there is China raring to attack Taiwan and conquer it at the first opportunity to give meaning to the renegade province description.
So the hardships we are experiencing as Filipinos and as Cordillerans in particular will continue. Prices of basic commodities will keep on rising and economic opportunities will not be halted from spiraling down towards scarcity.
The lack of jobs might worsen into lack of basic food on the table.
In such dire scenario, it will be the resourceful who will excel, while of course, the tough ones will give them some good competition.
There is no university offering specialization on resourcefulness, but the university of life does. Somehow, we must teach ourselves and the upcoming generation the basics of survival. It is never too late for adults to learn how to plant pechay on a flower pot, to make peanut butter in the kitchen, or to tighten a nut and bolt of your rickety car so it can reach the next destination.
For the gloves will be off in the grapple with the realities of survival. There will be no kid gloves available. Accomplishing anything would be pure and simple hard work.
These are modern times so brick and mortar skills have to be upgraded even as leaders of society will descend into barbarity if a third world war would break out.
Of course, humanity will survive, but people’s primary concern would be to survive the next meal, or raising of the next month’s rent, or the tuition fee of a kid for the next enrollment.
All this boil down to having the skills or resourcefulness to make it to the next day or month, or year. The main prerequisite is the education necessary to move on with the times and not be left behind. Otherwise, one will go the way of the dinosaurs of yore.
It is the duty of those who could, to teach or inspire others into the right path. Not doing so means that after coming up with all sorts of definitions of the word progress, we have not actually learned yet the essence of the term. Or that we are really stupid despite all our pretensions.**