“THIS is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1,15) These words are from the gospel of the Mass on the First Sunday of Lent that remind us of the need for repentance and conversion especially as we enter the season of Lent.

They remind us first of all to recover and sharpen our sense of sin, especially these days when that sense of sin is continually and aggressively eroded by all sorts of elements that tend to desensitize us of our tendency to sin. Not only that. There is a strong movement to justify all sorts of evils and sins, even regarding them as part of our human rights.

Besides, with all this talk and general thrust of the Church today on mercy and compassion, a very commendable campaign, I must say, we just have to make sure that we do not lose our sense of sin as a consequence or unintended side-effect.

We always have to be wary of the possible bad effects that our good plans and initiatives can have. The world is not perfect. Loopholes, hidden traps, mistakes, etc., can always spoil what otherwise is thought of as a very good strategy.

We might get too easy and presumptuous about God’s omnipotent and gratuitous mercy that we may not be able anymore to acknowledge sins, ours and those of others, that need to be forgiven.

In other words, we might get too intoxicated with divine mercy that initially would lead us to think it would just be ok to commit sin since it will be forgiven anyway. But later on as in a slippery slope, as we get used to committing sin that can get forgiven anyway, we would find ourselves not anymore considering anything as sin.

Our conscience would be distorted and would become lax. Little by little, we lose our capacity to hear God’s voice in our conscience. In its place, we would just hear our own corrupted voice.

This can happen because our capacity to identify what is good and evil depends on our relationship with God. If that relationship is not good, or is not healthy and working, then obviously we would have a bad or wrong notion of sin, or even lose the very sense of sin.
It is for this reason that we all have the need to base ourselves on the very foundation of reality, the very source of what is moral and immoral. This is none other than God, the author and creator of the universe.

Grounding our capacity to distinguish between right and wrong on another basis would set us on the offside. Sadly, this is what is happening these days. There seems to be a systematic distancing from God and a growing dependence on our own ideas, ideologies, philosophies, and other methods that practically ignore or are even hostile to God.
We need to remind ourselves strongly these days that we need God for us to know and judge properly. We just cannot depend entirely on our legal and technological systems, for example, no matter how sophisticated they have been developed.

For this to happen, we need faith to give substance and direction to our reason. Reason cannot stand on its own. It is incomplete without faith. In practical terms, this means we need to overcome our tendency to make ourselves the standard, the ultimate lawgiver.

The Netflix Series Squid Game is making its presence felt in pay for movies content. Hailed as one of the top selling content this year its draw its story on Choi. the website imdb.com describes its plot very briefly yet interestingly; A survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake. A story of people who fail at life for various reasons, but suddenly receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game to win more than 38 million US dollars. The conversation.com said that Squid Game is anything but your typical, saccharine, soft-glow Korean television drama. In this biting commentary on life in South Korea today, viewers are presented with a twisting, technicolor story of violence, betrayal and desperation. All of this is set around a series of macabre games in which players literally fight to the death. Despite its brutal content, the show has captivated audiences globally, becoming Netflix’s top show in at least 90 countries.

But as per the article published on the theconversation .com, the Squid Saga is a reflection of the hidden picture, debts. Household debt in South Korea has risen sharply in recent years to over 100% of its GDP – the highest in Asia. The top 20% of earners in the country have a net worth 166 times that of the bottom 20%, a disparity which has increased by half since 2017.

There has been rising debt relative to income and a recent hike in interest rates. This has left those who lack the resources to deal with unplanned events, such as a sudden redundancy or a family illness, in an even more precarious position.

In the Philippines, the online debt traps perpetuated by Facebook and social media platforms bleed our people dry with staggering interest rates and a 7 day repayment period. To this author it is the real Squid Game as it is the culprit o four people’s stress . Take the case of one lending applications called Coco Peso its loan amount is Php. 5,500 its Loan Length is 7 days, the released or disbursed amount is 3,300, the total fee is Php.2,200 . In effect the application yields 75 % profit in 7 days or at the very least 10 % per day . In bigger calculations if you invest 3.3 Million in 7 days you will earn 2.2 Million. For this company Coco Peso on the 7th day you will get a call who would describe you as a taong walang kwenta (good for nothing dude!). Worst they may expose you as a scammer and thief before you knew it you are the center of people’s convo just because you miss a day or two of paying the 7 day loan.

In the Squid Game Series Choi was forced to get into the childhood game because he was looking at the possibility that the windfall will cure all his debts and get back his life . In the Philippines, the online debt trap has a higher interest, formidable and evil talking call centers who accessed your contacts and demean your character by virtue of not being able to meet the 7 day deadline . As the Pandemic continues to wreck havoc millions of Filipinos take the hard route kumakapit sa patalim . This realities are never part of the menu of our candidates for President . The people can be blamed for taking the hard pill but when medical expenses and survival on the line, the Online Debt Trap is a certain avenue for survival , a lesser evil than doing illegal activities like conducting hold-up or swindling people . This is the real Squid Game happening now to our people and hope is out of sight.