A Dichotomy

It's one of those things that you don't intend to do but you are forced out of familial pressure. Me, visiting a shrine in Manaoag, Pangasinan. I've been here before but this time it's different. I no longer belief in anything supernatural for it is an insult to the scientific training I've received and the medical training I'm currently undergoing. Well, I just sucked up my disgust and walked around. It has improved. Before there was no canteen, the rest rooms sucked and the big statue of the Virgin Mary was hidden away. Currently, it's now at the center of a grandiose structure with candles placed around it. I can imagine at night the big statue being illuminated by candlelight.

How I hated it.

Contrast that with the Philippine General Hospital. I can honestly say it has not improved. You have diagnostic laboratories just across PGH and you have the Faculty Medical Arts Building just inside the premises of PGH. For those unaware, FMAB is a private hospital. Anyway, what do these two points imply? Simple, the Philippine General Hospital currently sucks. Well, to put it more substantially: a) why would you have private diagnostic laboratories across a hospital that is mandated to provide the health needs of the the common public and finally, b) why would you have a private hospital, FMAB, inside a public hospital, PGH?

And I hesitate in going to the provincial hospital in Pangasinan. It might even be in worse condition than the Philippine General Hospital.

But somehow, I'm not surprised at this strange dichotomy. The religious when sick ascribe their healing to the intervention of a supernatural deity despite the clear evidence that it was the medical intervention that saved them. And let's not forget the placebo effect.

It is time to move forward. I am not saying that all Filipinos should be atheists/agnostics although it would warm my heart if we were to become a purely atheistic country. Rather, it is time to prioritize rational actions over divine interventions. Gods will not save us from our wretched conditions. Humans are the ones responsible for these conditions and it will be humans who will solve them.

When we were done with the visit; I noticed something else. There were fewer people. I mean during the 1990s, the time when we visited the shrine, there were lines just to get inside the basilica. And the area where you put candles was crowded. Of course, I can't conclusively say the number of visitors to Manaoag decreased. But you can't help but wonder.