Five for Fighting’s “100 Years” is one song that makes you think of life in generaL, how fleeting and how short it can be that it needs a more meaningful approach, a more positive way of doing the way of living it well.
At fifteen, the song talks about dreams and possibilities. For a Filipino teenager, this should mean dreaming of becoming a doctor, an engineer, or maybe even the next SB19. But corruption often steals those dreams. Budget on Education are not yet sustainable, classrooms remain overcrowded, and teachers always dream of higher salary and some of them are dying even in class observations. It is like being told you have “a hundred years to live,” but half of those years are spent waiting for government actions that must come yet ever delayed.
At twenty-two, the song describes being “on fire,” full of passion and ambition. This is the age when many Filipinos enter the workforce, eager to contribute to society. Yet corruption creates barriers—jobs lost to nepotism, promotions tied to bribery, and businesses crippled by unfair practices. Instead of burning with possibility, many young professionals burn out from frustration, their energy drained by a system that rewards connections over competence.
By the thirties and forties, the song shifts to family and responsibility. Here, corruption’s impact is most painful. Parents struggle to provide for their children while public funds are misused, healthcare systems remain weak, and basic services are unreliable. Families are forced to work abroad, leaving children behind, because corruption has weakened the local economy. The years that should symbolize stability and growth instead symbolize sacrifice and separation.
Finally, as the song reflects on old age, it reminds us that even a hundred years is short.
In essence, “100 Years” symbolizes the urgency of time and the importance of living meaningfully. Applied to the Philippine context, it becomes a critique of how corruption wastes not only money but also the lives and dreams of its citizens.
Every stolen peso is a stolen moment, every dishonest act a delay in progress. If life is short, then corruption makes it shorter, robbing Filipinos of the chance to fully live their hundred years with dignity and hope.
As what I have heard today, an old man said this to me, Bisan pa sobra 100 iton abotan han edad kun diri naman mahinungdanon, waray gamit an panahon!
