New Year toast to the contributors and commentors of Get Real Philippines!

I'd like to take the time to extend my thanks to the men and women who set apart the Get Real Philippines Network and communities from the rest of the noise of the Philippine National "Debate".

I find that a lot of the really great commentary I’ve seen are from people who have an “outsider’s” perspective. This does not mean, however, that good commentary comes mainly from foreigners or people who reside outside the Philippines. A large number of commenters and contributors here are native Filipinos and residents but somehow still manage to cognitively step back and regard the picture like an outsider — which is remarkable because that (moving from an insiders’ to an outsiders’ perspective) requires a leap of imagination and intuition not normally found in the average Filipino.

To the people who not only seek to lend their thinking and voices to uplifting the national debate, but aspire to do so by applying imagination, originality, and rigour in their thinking, salud! Have a safe and happy New Year!



[NB: This post was inspired by and parts of it lifted from a comment I made on Get Real Post today.]