Beautiful article by the lovely Audrey Tan Zubiri. Just an excerpt:
Defending the good in these troubled times | INQUIRER.net Mobile

Once upon a time, cultural differences were celebrated and preserved. Now, we see a world where people are intolerant of anything and anyone different, that they resort to extreme actions, including sacrificing innocent lives, to get their point across.

And the world, on its way to being truly globalized and borderless, is likewise regressing to a planet of countries bordered by fear and antipathy.

Will this world turn on itself, suppressing the very thing that makes it beautiful and unique? What will become of our children? Will they be forced to cut back their curiosity and openness and live a life in constant suspicion of their neighbors?

These are questions that bother me. But just when it seems that there is no hope, we see silver linings, such as the story of Muslim employers protecting their Christian employees, or strangers helping one another escape from a burning casino.

To paraphrase the philosopher Albert Camus, in the midst of evil, I found there was within the world, an invincible goodness.

No matter how hard we are pushed, there will always be those who will rise to defend human dignity.

And here lies the challenge to all parents: to make sure we raise children who will continue to defend what is good and right, and create a world that is kinder and better than what we are leaving them with.

We must teach our children to care, and raise human beings who will not become callous to atrocities, just because they are comfortable in their own lives.
They must strive to uplift not just their own lives, but also those of others, so that nobody is left behind.

Our actions may not matter much, but we will never know how much our children can affect this world. Their generation, raised in hope and love and respect for others, may just be the one to renew the battle-scarred face of the earth.