Why Citizen Y?

As far back as I can remember the whys and whys-not of life have been a long-standing fascination. My favorite fairytale was “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. I empathized with the little boy who asked what everyone preferred to overlook: Why was the Emperor not wearing any clothes?

My Grade 2 teacher told my mother that I was very quiet. But on the rare occasions that I spoke, it was always to ask why. I don’t know if that was a complaint or just small talk. But I shrugged off the comment assuming that all six-year-olds are entitled to ask WHY? By the Age of Reason I demanded answers.

In high school we memorized and recited Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. The iconic lines were: “Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die”. I thought how true. If you can’t ask why, you may as well die. I made a mental note never to become a soldier or join any profession that asks you to die without knowing why.

In Journalism 101 we learned that the first paragraph of a news item should answer the five basic questions: What, when, where, how and why. If a crotchety editor red-pencils your article and leaves only the first paragraph, the story is still complete. That made sense. But I’ve always felt that “Why” deserved its own paragraph. What good are the basic facts, if you don’t know why they happened? Even in Harvard, students are taught that asking the right question can be more valuable than the answer itself.

The question has served me well in my career. I’ve asked: Why is brand X failing? Why is the target market indifferent to this product benefit? Why did the client react in this manner? Why is the business thriving? Why not try a maverick approach? “Why” satisfied curiosity, induced critical thinking and inspired deeper and clearer understanding of logos, ethos and pathos. Often the answer was a worthy lesson learned or another chance to probe WHY.

In the text capital of the world, “Why” has contracted to “Y”? That’s alright. My sons are both Gen Y [1980-1995]. As children of Baby Boomers, they’re nicknamed Echo Boomers or New Boomers. Their familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies also dubbed them Generation Net/Next. Y’s prefer the tag “Millennials” to differentiate from Gen X [1974-1980]. Although liberal minded, they dislike the ambiguity of their predecessors. They hold strong family values and live with their parents longer, having been born in less affluent times.

Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe who labeled the American Generations wrote a new book entitled Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. They believe the Y’s will inherit the earth. Citizen Y resolves to bequeath a better place than when we found it. It won’t be easy.

Last Monday, Aug 23, the world watched in horror as a former decorated policeman shot eight hostages who were here as tourists. To make sense of the butchery, the gut reaction is a series of whys? Why was there no central command? Why didn’t SWAT handle it better? Why did the negotiation go south? Why weren’t Media and the “Usis” (nosey watchers) controlled better? Why did Rolando Mendoza turn from hero to villain? The whys are endless.

Plainly, the operation blundered from lack of crisis training, experience and good judgment. The police and S.W.A.T. were ill-equipped. The raucous Media and masses were unrestrained. Taking in the brother triggered the murderous rage. Shame and anger has turned to finger pointing. Strident critics are on their high horses playing the blame game on their enemies. It’s a knee jerk, useless reaction that exacerbates rather than heals. Senate and House investigations should be prescriptive, not just diagnostic.

The national flagellation and self-bashing should now evolve into proactive recovery. Mayor Giuliani learned from the first attack of the World Trade Center. He instituted a Crisis Preparedness Plan that made rescue possible in 15 minutes. The turf wars between intelligence agencies ended. Security was tightened. The only way to atone for a debacle is to make sure it never happens again.

Interestingly, on Aug 23, Newsweek published a first-time list of the best countries in the world. The question asked was: if you were born today, which country would provide you the best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous and upwardly mobile life? Five metrics of national wellbeing — education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness and political environment— were weighted to rank 100 countries.

As usual, the best countries were rich, small, safe, cold and Nordic. Seven out of ten fit the bill (Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland). USA ranked No. 11, falling out of the magic circle of 10. It’s different from the time Warren Buffett said that anything good that’s ever happened to him could be traced back to the fact that he was born in the right country at the right time.

How did Philippines fare out? Number 63 — behind countries like Slovenia (24) Croatia (28) Slovakia (31) Estonia (32) Lithuania (34) Latvia (36) Ukraine (49) Belarus (56) and Kazakhstan (61). Ahead of Saudi Arabia (64) Venezuela (71) Indonesia (73) India (78) Vietnam (81) and South Africa (82). Who cares?

This is our motherland, our one and only country. Even if we landed last in the list, it doesn’t change the fact that as citizens, we shape and share in the best and worst destiny. Only the leader working closely with his constituents can make the “the best Philippines ever” happen. The dream will come true only if the best breed of Filipinos demand the best governance we’ve never had. 

That’s why Citizen Y will continue to ask why, write the truth, take a stand and occasionally prescribe a solution. Not everyone will agree, but there can be no contradiction in fact.

What about Citizen U?

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