Avoiding scandal

THIS should be an ongoing concern of ours, considering that scandal, as Christ himself said, is unavoidable. “It is necessary that scandals come.” (Mt 18,7) But he continued, “Nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal comes.”

            Whether we like it or not, we cannot help but give scandal to others or be scandalized ourselves. Just the same, with God’s grace, with a good dose of hope and generosity, with our effort, we just have to try to avoid scandal, that is, to cause it or to be scandalized.

            Scandal is when we lead others to sin. This can start with our attitude itself and can worsen with our behavior. We have to see to it that even in our internal forum, in the way we think, judge, assess, reason, conclude, etc., the good things like charity, compassion, understanding should be deliberately pursued.

            Then we can expect good actions to follow, for our thoughts, desires and intentions are the mother of our actions. How important therefore it is to keep our thoughts clean, our desires pure, and our intentions full of love and compassion toward others! Our actions are just expressions of our thoughts, desires and intentions.

            Let’s not wait for some good inspiration to come to us. We have to be proactive in pursuing the good and the demands of love, starting with the small things, since the big things in life always start with the small ones.

            It’s very timely now to be reminded about the need to avoid scandals, since the world, even in our own relatively small corner, is filling up with scandals, and one scandal can lead to another.

            Scandals have a very notorious multiplier effect especially when played out in the media or in the social networking. It quickly generates a snowball effect that can create a monster of a lynch mob in no time at all.

            We have to be most wary of what we say, whether directly to a person or to the public, especially when it has something to do with a negative thing. Not everything negative that we see around ought to be expressed.

            Many of them do not deserve to be brought out in the open, especially when we think that by doing so, we produce more harm than good. We have to learn prudence and discretion.

           

            And if we have to say something negative, let’s make sure that we do it in such a way that we minimize or better eliminate scandals and that we don’t lead others even to think badly of another.

            Thus, in the current controversy of the pork barrel, let’s make sure that our comments are driven with good intentions and are expressed with the appropriate language, tone and timing. They just cannot be explosions of our anger and frustration, or idle speculations incited by blind or fanatical partisan politics.

            Let’s remember that even in the worst scenario, we are never excused from practicing charity with one another. Rather, precisely in the worst scenario are we most obliged to live charity, which never means we just gloss over the demands of justice.

            We have to make sure that our quest for justice is always inspired by charity. True justice can never be without charity. If ever penalties have to meted out, it must be because we have to redress the disorder and damage caused by a wrongdoing, and also to defend public order and people’s safety, and contribute to the correction of the guilty party. (cfr Catechism 468)

            Penalties just cannot be a function of revenge and vindictiveness. They have to be meted out in proportion to the offense committed and to the status of the person involved. The same offense committed by an adult and by a child would not have the same penalty.

            Another source of scandal that we should try to dominate are the gossip shows on TV. They are cleverly planned and scripted to arouse the idle curiosity of the people, with no intention to resolve issues properly. Private lives of celebrities are pried into, often with the cooperation of these celebrities who also have their ulterior motives in washing their dirty linen in public.

            These shows practically are feeding the public with what we may call as sweet poison. They promote nothing less than sheer nosiness into the affairs of others. Sad to say, big networks are involved here. This is not anymore at the level of fishwives. This is now big-time gossiping. And the stars and celebrities involved like it because they want to sell their shows and projects, if not feed their vanity.