The elections are fast approaching, but we are given four days to reflect on the most significant decision we are about to make for our young democracy.
We have become a different version of ourselves since the campaign swung into full gear on Feb. 8 and Mar. 27. With an army of trolls getting every opportunity to exasperate opponents to the point of committing a crime, the values of patience, humility, and most especially, respect cannot be exemplified. Enough is enough, as some would like to say.
After years of being beaten without a single counteraction, the time has come to retaliate. To show that kindness has its own limits. Who would be meek if a troll tells you to go f*ck yourself?
This is the time to lower the temperature temporarily. It is a moment to gravitate into peacefulness and tranquility. It gives us a chance to understand the hardships of Jesus Christ and the lessons that must be extracted from His days of suffering. Maybe forgiveness should be put on the table, even just an ounce of it, to clear the mind and polish the heart.
But most importantly, Holy Week forces everyone to ponder whether the leaders we will place at the seat of the provincial capitol, city hall or Malacañang will exemplify the character of Jesus, one who has emphatically responded to the physical and spiritual needs of the people and unquestionably led the people with integrity and dignity, caring about their freedoms and opting not to enslave them.
Some say that leading with a heart does not matter anymore, but how can genuineness, an essential aspect of leadership, be exemplified if values are set aside?
It will be harrowing to see our leaders, lavishing in money and power, who foster authoritarianism by shedding fundamental basic human rights – putting justice into the hands of state forces rather than affording due process to alleged perpetrators; silencing the free press; and delegitimizing and decimating a legitimate political opposition.
In other words, we are susceptible to rewarding politicians who are the incarnation of the devil here on Earth.
That’s why as we commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let the values He wanted to instill to people be part of our guide on who to support on May 9. The battle toward long-lasting peace and liberation from the tentacles of sin is onerous. Just like Him, who was victimized by a flawed justice system and a corrupt sector of society, attaining the best result for our country requires a lot of tenacity as insults and mockery are hurled in the cruelest way possible.
Some say that leading with a heart does not matter anymore, but how can genuineness, an essential aspect of leadership, be exemplified if values are set aside? Still, the killer combination to effectively lead the people is the right amount of knowledge, competence, and empathy.
“[U]nderlying all was the steadfast force of [a leader’s] emotional intelligence: […] empathy, humility, consistency, self-awareness, self-discipline, and generosity of spirit. These qualities proved indispensable to uniting a divided nation and utterly transforming it, and they provide powerful lessons for leaders at every level,” Doris Kearns Goodwin, an American presidential historian, wrote in 2018 about Abraham Lincoln, whose election became a catalyst for the Civil War.
In the high-stakes 2022 elections, the ultimate test for the country since the 1986 snap elections, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminds us: “Ultimately, in the battle against lies and violence, truth and love have no other weapon than the witness of suffering.”
The Edj View 