What's normal to some nowadays should never really be "normal."

It's not normal to wave away the wastage of medical supplies worth P7.43 billion because "wastage really happens in the health industry."

It's not normal to forget about car license plates costing P400 each that millions of motorists had already paid for but never received.

It's not normal to include ease of doing business in government contracts because it should cost nothing.

And whatever happened to the voter and national IDs that have yet to be released years after people registered for them?

It's not normal, most of all, that people are allowing these aberrations to happen.

Then again, is it a matter of letting or leaving things alone? Or is there really not much leeway now to question or oppose anything?

On the proposals for certain fund allotments for offices in the Executive branch, for instance, some quarters have raised alarms over the "unchecked panel deliberations," as reported in a broadsheet recently.

That is not to say that those allocations are unjustifiable; of course not. In light of Commission on Audit reports of fund wastage in different departments, however, these matters deserve a closer look.

In these times of economic recovery and environmental repair, waste and neglect have no place at all. Not one iota of temperance should coat matters affecting people's health and security.

In other words, our esteemed leaders cannot go on as before. Never again, shall we say.

And those heady days of gambling with the country's future through ill-thought-out and hasty decisions and mismanagement of what seemed like endless resources? They are over. Or at least if we want to survive the world today.

Sometimes, we go through life thinking we are doing the right thing, but it turns out we are not. Do we ignore something because we are afraid to get into trouble, or do we put our foot down and face the consequences of our actions?

For one reason or another, we do things that we decide are on a path of good — but it turns out we do not see beyond our own ego to justify it.

It takes the pointed words of others to jog us out of our cocoon. Usually, however, we refuse to accept that we could be wrong, let alone hear why others would think so.

Accepting the truth is painful, after all. We would all rather not have to feel that pain.

This is probably why some of the great minds in history have said that humility is the greatest quality of a true leader.

To be humble means admitting your faults, or believing you are not the only voice worth listening to. To be humble requires a strong core. To be humble means accepting failure, knowing that failure is only another step toward success.

Leaders who are both strong and humble can create change and chart a course through history because they can move hordes into acting toward the same goals.

It's not enough to command attention or inspire fear, as so many others have done. There must be that quality that would make people stay loyal —a connection, one born out of relatability.

In an age when people hardly need a revolutionary leader to arrive at their own truths, we are all better off making use of our time being mindful of what we see as "normal."