Back in August 2020, when I was still working at a local bank here in the Philippines, I got COVID. This was the time when the virus was still new, a dangerous air over the world, and no one really understood it yet. It was terrifying. People talks about it like an invisible curse, something that could slip into your lungs without warning. My symptoms weren’t severe, I lost my sense of taste and smell, had a mild flu, and felt short of breath when walking and climbing stairs. But in my mind, there was a silver lining: I had extra leave days. More time to rest, to relax. More time to read and watch TV shows.

For three weeks, I am quarantined, I stayed home, watching my symptoms, reading books and watching different series. One of them was watching anime series Death Note. I had heard about it before, but never got around to watching it. Now, with nowhere to go and nothing to do, I finally sat down and let myself be consumed by the story.

That was my first time. Since then, between 2020 and 2025, I think I’ve rewatched Death Note 3 to 5 times already. And each time, it gets better.

The premise is deceptively simple, a high school genius named Light Yagami stumbles upon a mysterious notebook. The Death Note. Whoever owns it has the power to kill anyone, as long as they write the person’s name in the notebook and visualize their face. A godlike power, handed to a teenage boy. Light doesn’t hesitate and he embraces his newfound ability, believing he can rid the world of criminals and create a new world order. A world without thieves, without bullies, without rapists, without corruptions, without killers. A perfect world.

At first, it makes sense. Wouldn’t the world be better if all the evil people were gone? No crime. No injustice. No suffering. Light sees himself as the savior of mankind, an unseen hand delivering justice where the system has failed. It’s easy to nod along, to think, maybe he’s right.

But as the story unfolds, the truth emerges. The weight of that power is too much for any one person. Light becomes judge, jury, and executioner, believing himself capable and worthy of this power. He starts killing not just criminals, but anyone who stands in his way. He justifies it, over and over, until the line between righteousness and tyranny blurs. And in the end, the Death Note does what it was always meant to do, it consumes him.

I found myself thinking, If I had that power, would I use it? It’s an unsettling question, one that lingers long after the screen fades to black. Because history has already answered it. Give a person unchecked power, and they will use it. Again and again. History is full of those who believed they were right, who thought they were fixing the world, only to become the very thing they swore to destroy.

And yet, people still cheer for them. Dictators never rise alone. There are always those who believe in them, who defend them. The world is always divided in two, those who resist, and those who say, it’s fine, he’s doing a good job. Injustice happens in broad daylight, and still, people turn away, convinced that everything is as it should be. The justice system may be flawed, but it exists for a reason. Without it, anyone can decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die. That kind of power will always be abused. It always is.

I don’t claim to understand politics or law. I don’t know what it takes to run a country, heck! I’m not even sure I know how to run my own house. But I do know that power should always be questioned, always be kept in check. If not, we risk repeating the same mistakes, over and over, trapped in an endless loop of history.

I got this from one of my colleague turned friend, there’s an old Japanese saying, “Always do the right thing, because a child may be watching.” It’s a simple test. If a child saw what you were doing, would you be able to look them in the eye and say, this is right? If not, then maybe, just maybe, it isn’t.

These days, I don’t know who to believe anymore. The news is a battleground, truth buried under layers of deception. Everyone has an agenda. Facts are twisted, rewritten, reshaped to fit whatever narrative they are selling. And in the end, people left with noise.

Sometimes, all you can do is laugh at the absurdity of it all. Other times, you just sit there, wondering how it got this bad.

And then you realize, it’s always been this way…