Dean Michael Berris

So today is the first official day of of the company I'm working with in the new office. It's been a good month or so since I last blogged and it's more because I have been thinking about what I want to write and what I intend to accomplish by writing. For a long time it's only been about me saying what I think and what I'd like to share with other people. It's always been much about me, this blog (after all I named it after myself), but I think I'm taking another direction in this next year that I'll be going to do this. So now, this blog is going to be a no-holds barred attempt at changing the Philippines one entry at a time. If you're interested, read on -- if you're not, please keep reading so that I may try to convince you about what I'm attempting to do.

There are some things I've noticed after 25 years of being in the Philippines (the last 18 being a thorough critique about family life, the youth, and juvenile, and the foolish) and I'd like to share some of them to the world at large. Hopefully this doesn't turn my friends off from what I write, because I usually will take a stance that is counter-intuitive, sometimes radical, and sometimes boring and safe. There's a lot of reasoning that happens in my head about the preferences I take and the policies I agree with and disagree with. This blog I'm going to maintain as my political statement on the affairs of the Philippines. I may use some previous experience in my (admittdly so far short) life and some insight into the thought process that happens in my head. Hopefully some people will find this interesting enough to read.

As a child, I was never political -- I was always someone who thought the way I liked to think, to question anything I want to question, someone not afraid of what the consequences of what I'm saying and how it might affect others' way of thinking. However, as I grew older and got to the point that I'm at now, I see myself as someone who has my own ideology, something I think is different from the agenda that any political party out there has already been living by. I view myself as someone who would not conform to the norms of society as far as philosophy or ideology is concerned, but that I've chosen what to believe and stand by in an active process of evaluation. No, it's not rationalization -- some things I just believe in without question, some values I hold just because, and some principles that are non-negotiable -- but rather more reflection. If I think that something may it be policy, process, or propaganda is contrary to my values and principles I will say so directly and explain my thoughts; and if I agree with them then I will post appropriately.

The reasoning as to why I'm doing this is because I've found a lot of my countrymen who have something to say have chosen to be silent. They're not apathetic, they just lack the guts or the means to actually publish what they think. After seeing this ad about Ako Mismo I decided to write what I feel about what's happening to the country. It's my way of helping in the littlest way that I can using the skills that I've been developing for the better part of my life -- writing. Ako mismo, magsusulat para sa ikauunlad ng Pilipinas.

So hopefully I can find some things I would react to, and hopefully this blog becomes a productive channel of thoughts, ideas, criticism, and sometimes even praise about what's happening, what should be done, who's doing it, and where we're all headed. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.

Until next time.