The Enigma that is the Philippines and its Duterte

The Enigma that is the Philippines and its Duterte

The two elements appear as whistling passed each other.  

Unable to establish a scenario of basic meeting of minds 

necessary in any conversation between adults.

 

What ensued in the face-off was befuddlement and frustration.  

All on the part of the entity collectively called the people, 

but individually divided into the electorate, 

the politicians and everybody in between.  

Why so?  Because as best as any sane person could commiserate, 

Duterte appears to be nothing but giddy with all the attention.  

Not a bit terrified by possible outcomes. 

Nor unnerved by all the hostile questions directed at him.

One wonders why. 

But in reality, the situation may be quite easy to unravel.

From the detached purview of any serious, earnest, and impartial observer, 

The Dutertes reside in their own levels of maturation and comprehension.  

Juxtaposed and judged in the prism of accepted norms of civilized society,

the family appear fiddling with the enshrined norms of logic and ethics.  

They trademark their own unique lifestyle, 

residing inside their own cocoon of beyond-the-norm  existence.  

This explains the inability to curb uncouth and vulgar language and acts, 

manifested either publicly or privately, both in informal or formal settings.  

And all this cursorily dismissed by ardent loyalists as simply, joke lang. 

And this said  punctuated  by subtle smirks.

But did the Dutertes change over time?  A definite NO.  

One recalls that they have always been like this from day one, 

no show of attempts to hide coarse behavior and attitudes.  

Still they enjoy great popular patronage all via democratic means, 

allowing them to sit as incumbent in the public realm.

  

Who gets the blame then?

Easy to ascribe under this brand of democracy 

the country so vocally honors and adores.

All fingers point inward.

But what are the possibilities that for Duterte 

all this is one protracted scene of a situation comedy.

Recalling younger years, where there those likened  to him 

in behavior, personality, and values?  

 

I can think of the early Jesuit mentors we had.  

They too appeared to have lived in worlds of their own.  

Very strict in commitment to obedience.  

Uncompromising in the many principles taught by them.  

Unapologetic in espousing difficult virtues and values.   

Unrelenting in their dogged pursuit to impart righteousness, 

regardless of the tenderness of our ages. 

With them one got what one saw.

Public demeanor as models of propriety, meekness, and conciliation. 

How diametrically different they were from this leader in question.

Their lessons anchored on time-tested sources, like Scriptures, 

the countless books from ancient learned philosophers, 

the many autobiographical tomes of countless men of old 

who excelled in their varied  fields of endeavor. 

And many more.

 

 

Beauty Skin Deep

 Beauty Skin Deep

Once, temporal beauty shone in splendor.

In sheen-like quality on her countenance.

But unrelenting age came and took it away.

Now unsightly traces of lines and furrows

litter the self-same icon of munificent beauty.

The ravages of time cannot be stowed away.

Unbidden they ooze into our very pores.

A constant reminder of forthcoming eternity.

Heads bowed we acknowledge and accept.

For surely come it will in the fullness of time.

Caution on Public Criticism

 

While clearly human actions are visible to us, 

And thus subject to our discriminating eyes,

Remember it is God alone that can discern

Hidden intentions and desires of the actor,

Unless unequivocally declared in public.

Good faith on the motives is to be assumed

To be fair and equitable in our judgments.

To rashly ascribe unkind and shallow motives 

Would no doubt clearly be unfair and unjust.

Thus best to exercise circumspection in such.

 

In another vein, the better part of discretion

Dutifully dictates to those hurt or concerned

To stay quiet about the misunderstandings

Unless keeping in quiet solitude it leads to

Much graver scandal or unnecessary offense.

Our Apostolate Amid The Frailty of Man

 My daily devotionals brought me to the Gospel of St. John, Chapter14, Verse17:

"If thou wilt know the truth, believe in Me." (Christ said.)

Deep down, we all seek peace and truth.  But how do we know where to find peace and seek the truth?  Christ always demands, to get those things from Him.  Not from men, but Him alone, for He is Truth.

Yes, because men can be mistaken or misinformed, or worse have ill-intent or inclined to spread untruth.

And this includes all men, including those held as responsible and truthful, or held reverently by people because of their position or office.

Men are still men!  And thus, still flawed.

Thus, even with the Papacy, we say the Pope is infallible only when he teaches matters of faith and morals, and ex cathedra;  but he is not impeccable, and thus could be wrong in other matters.  

Maybe like putting trust, confidence, or support in people who are purportedly upright and righteous.  In matters like those, his judgment is just as good as any, any person who has studied certain matters and has acquired expertise in such matters.  And admittedly, our reality has proved this to be so and true.

Thus, it is incumbent upon each one of us to search for truth in all places, even in unlikely places, since during these times, truth has become harder to discover and discern.

We cannot anymore be satisfied with getting our dose of truth from our familiar and comfortable places, but to stretch our search beyond that.  And to get tired and dirty searching for it.

And as familiarly intoned, get out of your comfort zones!

 But we of course know that truth is one and indivisible. There are no sides to truth, but there are other sides other than truth.

  As we can see, all this contributes to the confusion, dread, and fears that we witness in the world today. Adding the many dreadful manifestations that we somehow find commonality with everybody else in the world today.

In the early days of our Church, the devout exercises of our Faith to pursue our personal sanctification were considered more than sufficient and we then expected God to do the rest. Thus, in the Church there was a proliferation of monasteries, religious orders, and other institutions promoting monastic life. All geared at very ascetic practices to purify the soul.

But in imitation of Christ, we are also tasked with apostolic duties, to preach the gospels and spread the truth to all. More than just a passive exercise of our Faith, we need to actively pursue this apostolate.

The search for truth is simply a leg of our journey. Having acquired it, there is the need to spread it to the rest of the world. We cannot stand idly by when we see untruth spread like wildfire in the world.

If we are privileged to have learned it, it behooves then for us to pass it around.

The Paris Olympic Games

 

Agonizingly being reminded of the raucous ceremonies and the various games of the current  Olympic games In Paris.   One may sense that maybe it is about time to revisit and restudy the traditionally noble purposes of the Games.  Because even the typically celebratory opening ceremonies have come under heavy fire from many sources.

The Games were supposed to promote inspiration and emulation  but may now be instead rearing the ugly heads of division and derision.  And sadly this attitude prevails even among the medal winners, and not just among the many losers who are all going home empty-handed. 

 

Now it appears that getting medals other than gold is actually losing, most especially if the competitors are "expected" to grab the highest trophy.

What happened to giving air and venue to man's passionate drives for excellence and the innate nobility of fair competition that formed part of the ethos of the Games?  That one's mere membership and participation are honors enough to value throughout one's life, earning the time-honored title of Olympian?

Now, one has to always land at the top of the heap to maintain fame and status.  Once you get older and thus made less perfect, out goes all the laurels. And worse, the next phase for the participants leads them to the money trails, for which  many are off and running in pursuit.  It even starts with the melt value of the medals themselves.

We appear to have lost our collective marbles as a species.

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So instead of the traditional mandate to: "Let the games begin", let us instead utter: 

Let us try something else.  This is getting boring. And crass.

And on another note.  This time the awarding of medals for the winners.

 It is customary to witness the gold medal recipient to immediately bite into it, ostensibly to seek affirmation that the medal is indeed made of the precious metal.

No such luck, and but we cannot say that it has been so  over all those years.  Though we can surmise that the medals are most probably made of the same stuff as they were years ago.  Just realized there may be written standards set even on the metal composition and weight of Olympic medals.

Anyway as it stands, this is what we witnessed  from the last Olympics, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics medals that were handed out to exultant winners. This data we gathered because the Japanese authorities made particular attention to the creation of their medals.

From some rough estimates made by me here are the lowdowns.

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The three medals, gold, silver, and bronze weigh from 450grams to maybe 556grams, or about half a kilo on average, with gold weighing the most.  

The gold medal is essentially made of silver with maybe 6 grams of gold, good enough to be used for plating.  The silver medal true to its name is made up of pure silver.  And bronze of brass and zinc, so not much intrinsic value.  Based on this and the prevailing prices of precious metals, a gold medal might now command a price of a thousand dollars, selling the gold and silver content in it, and silver maybe about a little above 500 dollars.  Never mind the bronze medal.

Getting any idea where this is going?

The revered and time-seasoned Olympic Games idolized by the world have always been about excellence in sport and symbolism.  Rank the best performers with their shown performances in competition and award them medals for their sterling  accomplishments, the ranking and composition of the medals clearly symbolism for us to revere and behold.  Nothing denoting the awarding of financial awards to winners.

How things have changed though the Games have steadfastly remained the same.  Immediately upon winning financial windfalls are factored in like these too could compete in another contest, this time in value and size. 

Winning athletes are expected to start following the money trails, in hot pursuit of their "just rewards".  The world would appear disappointed if the winners lose out in this other contest.

And we fear that the world is more concerned and interested in this other contest.