Taun-taon ay sumasali ang aming paaralan sa paligsahan sa talumpatian na iniisponsoran ng San Pablo Water District Association. Ito ang ikatlo sa piyesang Ingles na sinulat ko sa tulong ni Mrs. Lydia Nuque tungkol sa kahalagahan ng tubig sa buhay ng tao. Sa piyesang ito nanalo sa District at Provincial level ang aming estudyante na si Jhoanne Carla Omagap. Sa kasamaang palad, hindi na siya nakarating pa sa National Level sapagkat natalo na siya sa Regional Level Competition pa lang na ginanap sa Diamond Hotel. Bagamat hindi namin tuluyang nayakap ang tagumpay, buo ang aking paniniwala na ang tunay na kabuluhan ng talumpati ay ipahayag ang mensahe nito sa maraming tao upang pakilusin sila sa isang partikular na paksa. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit isinama ko ang piyesang ito sa aking blog.
Please take time in reading because I genuinely believe that water is truly our accountability.
WATERSHEDS AND DRINKING WATER: OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Be alarmed as you try to picture this scenario in the movie, The Tuxedo of Jacky Chan. In this terrorizing motion picture, the villain’s intention is to sabotage the world’s water supply by adding an ingredient that will cause the victims to dehydrate and die; a sinister maneuver so that people will only depend on the bottled water he invented in order to live. In reality, isn’t it true that we can be the villains of our own story when water is concerned?
Ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant afternoon to all of you.
It is actually quite astonishing for me that our affinity to water as a prized liquid is absolutely incomparable. Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move each and everyone of us. We adore it, we play in it, we write, sing and dance about it, we holiday near it and we fight over it. As we all live together on this water planet, in our water bodies, we are inherently and intrinsically fascinated to healthy water. Isn’t that amazing?
Water, with no uncertainty, is an important part of our being. Its significance cannot be estimated for it is a fundamental element to life and society – a major source of nourishment and energy, a raw material for practical and productive activities, a way of transport, a determinant aspect for the preservation of the ecological balance and an integral part of the public patrimony. It is also effortless to mention its dynamism in our bodies for it plays a major role in our overall physical health and spiritual well existence.
The countless uses of the miraculous element God has given us seem endless. However, is this really our concern, the infinite uses of water in our lives? Is this all that matters?
We should be aware that today, many of us have regrettably lost respect and concern for water and Mother Earth. We are recklessly destroying water’s life-giving capacities. Water, the lifeblood of human race, has been deserted and contaminated to the limits. It is so ironic that we cried over the rotten body of a dead criminal thrown in our dams for we fear that it makes our water dangerous for drinking but we care less for the abundant seas and great rivers that are domicile to teeming water creatures and yet become a dumping ground of our poisonous wastes.
Friends, poor water condition is a growing global concern. It is heart-breaking to know that the water we drink which gives us life is the same water that kills the future generations.
According to the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, an estimated 1.1 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, 2.5 billion lack proper sanitation and more than five million people die each year from waterborne diseases such as malaria, cholera, dysentery, schistosomiasis, infectious hepatitis and diarrhea – ten times the number of casualties killed in wars around the globe. The world is running out of potable water and a major policy initiative to guarantee freshwater as a human right is required.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we need a global approach to solve the problem from all sides. We have a lot of ways to meet our energy needs. We must educate the people, we should require the scientists to create new technologies, we ought to obligate the engineers to generate the networks, and we should strengthen every human being to be aware of how precious water is. We must understand that everybody has to be involved in a very firm and assertive way. Each one must treat water as the most important thing in the world, the most valuable natural resource. And so, let us not be extravagant so that this cherished commodity will never run out. We cannot afford to be negligent about water for a simple fact that in human consumption there is only limited amount of it in this planet.
The hard lessons of history are clear; a nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters and watersheds that sustain it will be condemned to wither because of its shortsightedness. Let us all be ecologically sensible. Be economical with water. Don't waste it! We still have time to do something about this problem before it is too late. The protection, revaluation and sustainable development of the water resources and watersheds are actions of general interest. The human right to water is essential for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.
Now is the time to do what we ought to do. Let us be superheroes in ourselves and make this world we live in a better place. The challenge is on you and me, on all of us. Let us be responsive to the call where the answer lies only on our hands. Let us all have a common goal of stopping the ill-practices of contaminating our water supply and watersheds. Let us develop consciousness, a sense of preservation, and a sense of responsibility. Let us treasure one of the miracles God has bestowed upon us, the life giving water.
Ladies and gentlemen, remember that when God created us human, He endowed us with the highest intellect among His creations to guard all the worthy things He has given us including the valuable water we inhabit. I therefore say, that it is our sole responsibility to protect water, God’s ultimate gift to humanity, for water means Life.
Today, as we campaign and struggle for clean water, let this meaningful passage by a critically-acclaimed author Jane Scrivner becomes our guiding principle in life – “The waters of life run through me, love and light!” A word for word pronouncement that will prove, that water, truly, is the blood in our veins.
