Give Life on Christmas Day

Today is yet another Christmas when I thought I succeeded at having only joy and gratitude fill my heart, only to be thrown a curve ball by Facebook this morning, which reminded me of a very funny video of my Lolo I uploaded to the social media site at about this time 6 years ago. It also showed at the top of my timeline my sister’s post, paying a heartfelt tribute full of longing for our Lolo and Mamu, who passed within a year of each other, in 2012 and 2013. Yes, no matter how hard they tried to keep up appearances when they were still alive, it was an undeniable fact that they could not, for the life of them, live without each other. When Lolo died, I could almost see the light go out of my Mamu’s eyes, the fire in her warrior heart extinguished by his death. I can still hear in my head her anguished cries when she saw my Lolo gone in his deathbed, something none of us who bore witness will likely forget anytime soon.

People Failure

We could have done more. But we simply did not do enough.

Today, more than ever, this rings true: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Sure. Many people did many things, first to fight the dictator, and then, to oust him. Many people have made it their lives’ crusades to make sure Marcos is remembered as the plundering, murderous dictator that he was; and his family, the beneficiaries. But as is our curse as a people, what we have in initiative, we lack in follow through.

We are a people who are clueless about sustaining our efforts at something worthwhile and seeing them through to fruition. It is as if we dread closure of any kind. We have the fire to start a war, but no stamina to end it.

Justice

(Video courtesy of Rappler, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3I2jD_0Exo)

“…Do justice to every man…"

Not a few people noticed how the president seemed to have placed emphasis on this phrase more than on any other part of his oath last June 30, 2016. Indeed, there seemed to be a deliberate slowing down in the delivery of the phrase starting at 2:07 of the video. He sounded like he was sending a subliminal message to his constituents: a promise, and a stern warning at the same time.