PERSEF REFLECTIVE ESSAY: What is my role in my community?

When a question is asked about what is the most disturbing social problem in our society today, the most often thing that would come to the mind of Filipinos would be poverty. But when we start to trace poverty back into its root causes, it is there that we find confusion. Poverty in society is a very complex thing. It is caused, altered and affected by many different elements in society. The most often thing you would hear Filipinos blame for this, is corruption. There could also be some people who wouldn't be so selfish as to blame it all on the government, thus taking a share of the blame themselves, by saying, perhaps, that lack of discipline is one of the major root causes. And I must say, I have to agree. I would like to generalize these problems, corruption and lack of discipline, because they are very related. So for me, the problem would be the low moral standards of Filipinos.
In my local community, the low moral standards of people are exhibited anywhere from plastic bags blocking the canals, to hushed graft and corruption in the local government. With years of exposure to our country's problems, one would be truly compelled to try and make a difference for the better of the people of our country. The big question now makes itself clear, how exactly could we do it?
You know, when I was young and people have asked me the question old people usually ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, I have never given a truly honest answer to it. I would just say that I wanted to be a doctor because that's what everybody says. Then I shifted to wanting to become a teacher because I realized that too many people wanted to become a doctor already. Then after that, I wanted to become a lawyer because my grandpa said I would make a good one after I answered impressively back to my yaya. But when the time came that I had to decide on what college course to take, I was forced to rethink that same question a bit more seriously. Like a good girl, I took into consideration my strengths and weaknesses, and that's how it came down to math. So now I'm a BS Statistics student in De La Salle University. But an even more puzzling question presents itself, what the heck can a statistician do to alleviate corruption and poverty?
Directly, as a statistician, I don't think I would be able to contribute much except determine the percentage of illiterate Filipino women aged under 60, and stuff like that. Computing how many people are suffering due to poverty is, after all, not the same as actually doing something about it. But then again, you can't do anything about something you don't know about. So in a way, being a statistician, or an actuary, does some good. But I think that I could be able to contribute more through something else – influence. As of now, I wouldn't really describe myself as a very influential person (a leader), quite the contrary, actually. But I am determined that in the future, I could be more influential than I am today because I am working on it. And I am relying on my desire to make a difference, to motivate me towards this goal. I’m not saying I’m planning to be a politician. I think that effective leaders exist not only in politics, but also in business, showbiz, the academe, in everything! And it is definitely not the case that a significant difference can be made only when you hold a position in government. I can be a statistician, work in an office behind a desk, and be a leader in the corporate world. I can put up a business that would be fair, and would give utmost importance on the welfare of its employees. I can be a donor for a scholarship grant to deserving students in La Salle. I can live in a place other than the Malacañang Palace and still be able to influence the people in my community to vote wisely, to detest corrupt officials, to be against vote buying, to create jobs, and to be charitable.
Anthony Pangilinan, in one of his leadership seminars, said, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” He had quoted it from one of the international seminars he had attended, and it was the very first thing he said on that talk. It was also during that talk when I realized that the people who are doing things to try and make a difference, those who try to change things, or to transform rather than to conform, are the people we call leaders. So here I was, dreaming to make a difference in the world, not realizing that I have to have courage to be able to challenge the status quo, and that means that I have to be a leader to do it. I honestly think that leadership is something I am not very good at, at the moment. So as of now, what I can think of doing that would help me make a difference would be to try and lead. I am usually a conformist. My temperament test results say that I am phlegmatic, and I have a very hard time making decisions. So if I want to be a leader, and an influencer in the future, I would have to start making myself into one now. I am an officer in two organizations at school, but I would always prefer to take orders from the seniors, rather than give new ideas and encompass the leadership part in being an officer. So hopefully, I can gain the right courage to take the lead. This means that I should not be afraid to voice out to others what I think, to help give decisions on important matters, to make suggestions and to not stop there, but continue to grow, from college school organizations to bigger things in the future.