narrowing the gap

it's a very frustrating morning to read from the news that the gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines keeps on widening.

according to the inquirer.net, the National Statistics Office released the result of their survey yesterday saying "that the richest 10 percent of families raking in more than a third of the country's total income. the richest 1.74 million families earned 36 percent of the total 2006 family income of just over P3 trillion."

the data placed the average family income at about P500 a day for a family of four, with few families having any savings.

it said the survey indicated "a movement towards a widening income disparity among families" as suggested by the Gini coefficient, a global standard on measuring income equality within a population.

some sectors blamed the rich for their greediness for this result. but according to Bo Sanchez in his book entitled 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich, he said that there is no one to blame but the person itself.

"ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses." - George Washington Carver

a person creates his life. he can choose his thoughts, his psychology, his behavior, the consequences of that behavior which includes wealth or poverty. in short, he creates his wealth and he creates his poverty.

he is the product of his own thoughts, choices and habits. what he is today is the result of his decisions and actions that he made in the past. he became what he repeatedly do. poverty doesn't happen overnight. he became poor because he has the poor man's money habits. he has bad debts, don't save, spend beyond his means, and don't study how money works.

"failure happens bit by bit, one negative act after another, negative act done consistently over time."

but we can create a new pattern in our life--a pattern of success. stop complaining! stop blaming others! let's change our thoughts. be positive. be optimistic. be involved. grab those opportunities. move! be creative. be innovative. diskarte, Pinoy! save, invest, create businesses, and create more jobs. eventually this will lead us in changing our psychology, our behavior and our way of life.

it's time to narrow the gap. let's help each other educate our people. let's change our perspectives. opportunities are all over the place. the market is good. the economy is good. thanks to our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)--our modern day heroes, local and foreign investors, and of course to our ever courageous entrepreneurs.

let's make this a personal mission and social responsibility. and together, we can eliminate poverty. we can uplift the social standard of our fellow men. sulong, PILIPINAS!