Deliverance: A Voice to the Voiceless
I used to not care about the news. I disliked hearing and listening to them.
Whenever I would come across a news station on the television or see an article on social media, I would avoid it. It wasn’t because I was disinterested, it was because every time I’d see another person killed, or another family experiencing injustice, it would break my heart. So, I decided to shut my eyes and cover my ears. I became indifferent towards what was happening around me.
It wasn’t long until I joined The Paulinian Link. It was hypocritical of me to become a student journalist because I had a mindset like that. How will I be able to be a voice for people if I’m not listening? How can I be a proactive part of society if I’m no different from them? I am an enabler, which hit me right in the face.
From then on, I was gradually starting to open my mind and my heart. It wasn’t easy to hear teenagers close to my age killed, raped, and God knows what else they have done to the others that wasn’t filmed and reported. If it was hard for me, what about the victim’s families? It didn’t just crush their hearts, a part of them died too.
On the other hand, I’d hear and see officials who swore to protect the people be the reason for all this chaos. It was infuriating to watch how they seemed to have lost their heart and just became mindless robots following a self-centered leader.
Joining a school publication ignited that fire in my heart and the passion that was slowly burning inside me. I wasn’t confident enough yet to write in the News Section, but I was halfway there. I wanted to make a difference; I wanted to be different from the old me who stood by and did nothing but turn a blind eye.
Despite the oppression of SPCP against campus journalism, when I was a writer for The Paulinian Link, I started to realize how important it is to deliver news to people; how important it is to give voice to the voiceless.
At a young age, it’s essential to have an open mind and at the same time have compassion in our hearts. It’s essential to be aware of what’s currently happening, for your eyes to be open, you have to see the injustice and inequality in the society along with your ears to hear the pleas of the people. That’s what campus journalism did for me and that’s how much we need campus journalism. That’s how you mold the young minds of the society — by letting them see and read what is happening in a way they would understand, written by students like themselves.
Campus journalism is more than just writing about their respective schools, it can also help shape public opinion by providing relevant information. This gives the opportunity for students to exercise their freedom of speech and expression. It helps promote their growth and development as a member of society as well as strengthens their critical and creative thinking.
Moreover, campus journalism promotes responsibility and social awareness. One of the responsibilities of schools is to mold its students to be an effective citizen, to be at their best self. Yet, it’s crazy that some schools out there oppress their students from speaking the truth and being a voice for the people. It’s better to start early in encouraging the youth to be a responsible citizen, and to build up their ethical values so that they will be socially aware and be prepared for the future. Because our future is in our hands, and we must fight for the future that we want.
Years later, here I am, making a difference by being a voice to other oppressed student journalists out there, something that I wasn’t able to do before. I still dislike seeing the news on the television or on social media. My heart still breaks for every story I hear about the killings in our country, including the tragic death toll brought by the pandemic that should have been handled months ago. The worsening human rights situation that is making the lives of the Filipino people miserable still angers me. It still saddens me that the social inequality we are fighting today doesn’t feel like it will end anytime soon, and that many Filipino families are still facing injustices. The only difference now is my eyes are wide open to see the incompetencies and negligence of the government, and my ears are hearing the cries of the people for a better life, and I am not indifferent anymore.
