WE need to give due attention to this aspect of our life. Our life in public is an integral and unavoidable part of us.
In the first place, to be born we need to have parents and a family, then a community, a school, a market, a church, etc. We can never be alone. Our life is at once private, individually ours, and public, always with others, if not physically then at least intentionally.
Thus we need to know the purpose of our life in public, what it involves, what it requires, what benefits it can give us and what dangers it can pose.
I think that as we develop fast because of our technologies, we have to know how to pull the many levers at hand to reach our proper goal.
For example, how do we handle the many inter-generational and inter-cultural demands of our times? Our public and social life now has certain complexities unknown before. It now is much more diverse. And we need to master them, and not be their slaves or pawns.
It’s a pity to see many people, especially the young, getting lost in the dizzying swirl of our life in public. Many of us are left badly equipped to tackle the intricacies involved. There’s the pressure of the peers and “barkada,” the pull of the mob, the lure of the entertainment world, the tricks and ambitions of business and politics, etc.
We often get stuck in the externals and appearances without getting into the essence of things. Our reactions are mainly knee-jerk and Pavlovian. We hardly think, we barely reflect and study things.
We generate a lifestyle based mainly on feelings and impressions, often fleeting and unstable, rather that on one that has a solid foundation able to guide us consistently through the different phases and situations of our lives.
As a result, we enter into a spiral of a worldly way of life with barely any soul in it. We begin to treat each other merely as facades or masks, quite plastic. Pretensions and hypocrisy become salient features of our society, begetting the other forms of deceit and conceit.
Instead of being persons, we become simply as actors and performers. Our heart is slowly turned from flesh to stone. We become users, manipulators and exploiters of others. The others become mere objects, products, statistics.
Subjectivity, where respect for everyone’s spiritual character and personhood should be enhanced, ebbs away. Instead, objectification of persons takes place, drying us up to make us things instead of persons.
The dynamics created by this set-up allows people to swing from self-absorption to self-assertion, from self-seeking to self-promotion. Thus, the truly human ways to link us into communion with others start to disappear. It’s all about the ego. The “we/us” vanishes.
The field gets littered with the remains of envy, greed, lust, sloth and other capital sins. And, sad to say, there are many exploiters and predators in this field who take advantage of the situation and the vulnerability of the weak and the gullible. We need to expose them and their tactics.
We have to put a stop to this vicious cycle, and reverse it to become a virtuous cycle. This will depend on whether we first establish and strengthen our personal relationship with God.
Without God, we wouldn’t have the energy and the North Star to guide us in our public life. It’s as simple as that. This is no psychobabble nor pietistic rant. A living personal relationship with God is truly the root of our proper life in public. This is the barest requirement.
From that relationship, we can immediately see how we ought to understand our life in public and how to behave there. We see our life in public as both the arena and the source of our development.
As such, our life in public has to be approached with a lot of delicacy and prudence, not wanton behavior driven only by love for money, power or fame. We would understand that we have to be overflowing with understanding, patience and compassion, given the complexity of our public life.
We would understand that we need to build it up according to God’s plan, and not just according to ours. We have to give good example to others always. We have to live all the social virtues—justice, mercy, hard work, modesty, order, etc.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Showing concern
THOUGH mainly an American issue, the Health Care plan proposed by President Obama and now hotly contested all over the US, should elicit grave concern among us in our country.
To me, the most important reason is that this plan could stealthily open wide the gates to unrestrained, universal abortion and the full complement of the freedom-of-choice ideology and praxis that is morally flawed from roots to fruits.
What so far had been blocked in Congress of the most liberal and licentious version of the pro-choice lifestyle could now be easily inserted and brought to fulfillment in this proposed Health Care plan.
What once was a mere parasite, securely contained in a certain part of our body politic, now has found a way to spread and go viral. It now seems poised to take over the mantle of what is mainstream and standard in our world today.
There’s no doubt, the proposal is a Trojan horse, an almost perfect example of treachery, whose effects would not just be limited to the American soil, but also worldwide. It can make abortion, euthanasia, etc., as ordinary, normal procedures just like circumcision.
We need to intensify our prayers and all the other spiritual and supernatural means so that, through God’s mysterious ways and our efforts, this issue could be resolved properly and its potential unspeakable damage avoided.
We cannot afford to be mere spectators and bystanders before this virulent drama taking place in the American theater. We need to act, and to act decisively, cutting whatever strings and threads that might still tie us to this highly deceptive plan.
And so from the spiritual and supernatural means, and never without them, let us also learn the art and skill of making the war for the minds and hearts of the people, from top to bottom.
This detail is crucial so that the battle would always be conducted within the parameters of charity and truth. We avoid bitter zeal that can spoil what otherwise is a good initiative.
We need to know and appreciate deeply the relevant doctrine of our faith and morals, actively spreading it around and undertaking a relentless campaign on all fronts to uphold and defend a clearly, not wishy-washy, pro-life culture in our society.
We are in most dangerous times, when the lines between good and evil are systematically blurred and erased. The craft of deception is continually refined and perfected. And the spread of a still benign Godless way of life, a new paganism, is gaining speed and coverage.
Worse, this dreadful expansion is issuing from one of the highest seats of power in the world today. Immensely popular so far, it uses clever rhetoric, sly and slippery, on the people who are most vulnerable because of the prevalent moral confusion around.
But in many instances, the proponents and defenders of the proposal were found to be fact-challenged, evasive and shifty, provoking a drastic drop in their political ratings.
They are now increasingly questioned, their claims closely examined and cross-checked. Their town-hall debates on this issue have become veritable ugly shouting matches. Passions explode as the conflict of views becomes sharper.
The defenders have been found wanting in a thorough understanding of their own voluminous proposal. They seem clueless as to the possible adverse effects of their position. They seem to be only one-track minded.
They appear bent in having the proposal approved fast. If possible, they want it rammed through the express, non-stop lane. The pursuit for truth and the common good is secondary, if not set aside as irrelevant. At least, many analysts and people in general get that impression.
So their credibility has suffered tremendously such that whenever they try to reassure the people by sounding moral and commonsensical, the whole shebang assumes the airs of a man-bites-dog story. Wow! Incredible! Fantastic!
This development may give us little comfort, but let’s not be complacent. There’s a lot of work to do. A comprehensive and continuing formation of the people is needed. And a whole universe of initiatives is required to convert moral theories and principles into a living reality in individual persons and societies.
This is the real challenge. And unless this challenge is tackled adequately, the world will continue to be vulnerable to the deceptive allurements of an ideology that has nothing to do with the very core of our Christian faith and morals.
Everyone has to do his part to take up the challenge. No excuses allowed!
To me, the most important reason is that this plan could stealthily open wide the gates to unrestrained, universal abortion and the full complement of the freedom-of-choice ideology and praxis that is morally flawed from roots to fruits.
What so far had been blocked in Congress of the most liberal and licentious version of the pro-choice lifestyle could now be easily inserted and brought to fulfillment in this proposed Health Care plan.
What once was a mere parasite, securely contained in a certain part of our body politic, now has found a way to spread and go viral. It now seems poised to take over the mantle of what is mainstream and standard in our world today.
There’s no doubt, the proposal is a Trojan horse, an almost perfect example of treachery, whose effects would not just be limited to the American soil, but also worldwide. It can make abortion, euthanasia, etc., as ordinary, normal procedures just like circumcision.
We need to intensify our prayers and all the other spiritual and supernatural means so that, through God’s mysterious ways and our efforts, this issue could be resolved properly and its potential unspeakable damage avoided.
We cannot afford to be mere spectators and bystanders before this virulent drama taking place in the American theater. We need to act, and to act decisively, cutting whatever strings and threads that might still tie us to this highly deceptive plan.
And so from the spiritual and supernatural means, and never without them, let us also learn the art and skill of making the war for the minds and hearts of the people, from top to bottom.
This detail is crucial so that the battle would always be conducted within the parameters of charity and truth. We avoid bitter zeal that can spoil what otherwise is a good initiative.
We need to know and appreciate deeply the relevant doctrine of our faith and morals, actively spreading it around and undertaking a relentless campaign on all fronts to uphold and defend a clearly, not wishy-washy, pro-life culture in our society.
We are in most dangerous times, when the lines between good and evil are systematically blurred and erased. The craft of deception is continually refined and perfected. And the spread of a still benign Godless way of life, a new paganism, is gaining speed and coverage.
Worse, this dreadful expansion is issuing from one of the highest seats of power in the world today. Immensely popular so far, it uses clever rhetoric, sly and slippery, on the people who are most vulnerable because of the prevalent moral confusion around.
But in many instances, the proponents and defenders of the proposal were found to be fact-challenged, evasive and shifty, provoking a drastic drop in their political ratings.
They are now increasingly questioned, their claims closely examined and cross-checked. Their town-hall debates on this issue have become veritable ugly shouting matches. Passions explode as the conflict of views becomes sharper.
The defenders have been found wanting in a thorough understanding of their own voluminous proposal. They seem clueless as to the possible adverse effects of their position. They seem to be only one-track minded.
They appear bent in having the proposal approved fast. If possible, they want it rammed through the express, non-stop lane. The pursuit for truth and the common good is secondary, if not set aside as irrelevant. At least, many analysts and people in general get that impression.
So their credibility has suffered tremendously such that whenever they try to reassure the people by sounding moral and commonsensical, the whole shebang assumes the airs of a man-bites-dog story. Wow! Incredible! Fantastic!
This development may give us little comfort, but let’s not be complacent. There’s a lot of work to do. A comprehensive and continuing formation of the people is needed. And a whole universe of initiatives is required to convert moral theories and principles into a living reality in individual persons and societies.
This is the real challenge. And unless this challenge is tackled adequately, the world will continue to be vulnerable to the deceptive allurements of an ideology that has nothing to do with the very core of our Christian faith and morals.
Everyone has to do his part to take up the challenge. No excuses allowed!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Playing God
I WAS dismayed recently when I gathered a number of newspaper columns and started to read and study them in preparation for the talk I had to give to a school club of aspiring journalists. I was trying to get ideas on style and content, but I think I got something else, something dreadful.
I have been noticing this disturbing trend in the local scene, but it’s much worse in other places like the US. There many writers and columnists play God, completely lost in their own world. When I look for examples of a holier-than-thou person, they instantly come to mind.
It seems that they make their own law of what is good and evil, proper and improper, fair and unfair. Their sense of balance and perspective, to be charitable about it, resembles an abstract painting. You have to be especially motivated to discern beauty in the bizarre twists and turns and tears.
I know that I have to be open to any writing style, and I should not be surprised if there are things in others that are diametrically opposed to mine. But this is no excuse to go wild into pure malice and poor taste.
When an article is simply dripping with sarcasm, insults, exaggerated one-sided arguments, etc., all articulated in livid eloquence, I can’t help but wonder what’s inside the heart of the writer.
Writers, being creative persons, are vulnerable to get completely unhinged from the basic norms of courtesy and human goodness. When they don’t make deliberate effort to be in God’s presence while writing, they can tend to run amok with their views and ideas, pitiable slaves to their own passions.
When they are not careful, writers can miss the crucial distinction between persons and issues. They can easily fall to the addictive world of creative intemperance and verbal incontinence. They end up already with a poisoned mind and attitude, sometimes at a level that is invincibly incurable.
This ugly state of affairs is most true among political opinion-makers. I suppose the nature of politics itself lends itself easily to this kind of predicament. There, propelled by the will to dominate others, shameless dogmatizing of issues subject to opinion is often made.
One writer can claim to have all the reasons, while the others don’t have any. He can project the image of omniscience, while the others are simply dumber than dumb. Rash judgments, leaky argumentations are spewed out, and they fail to notice it.
Restraint and respect for the persons involved strangely do not make it to their vocabulary. But they can have the latest version in their armory of irony, hyperboles, and other instruments of attack and abuse, etc., and are proud to flaunt them. It’s really heart-rending to see them sink helplessly in this hole.
Writers can be highly selective and biased. There are times when they can claim privileged vision of a most mysterious phenomenon, and yet they can also choose to be indifferent to the most obvious and palpable development.
That is to say, they can weave very sophisticated, solipsistic rationalizations, but they can fail to simply put two and two together to make four in an issue so clear in everybody else’s mind.
Some of them, usually women, get so irritably bitchy in their comments that they seem to validate the saying, “Hell has no fury than a woman spurned.” Of course, the men can also create their own kind of hell. Hell can indeed be gender-specific.
When this state of affairs involves men of the cloth—and sadly there are some of them—the situation approaches apocalyptic dimensions. Only God knows what to do with them.
Compounding this lamentable status quo is a certain aspect of the current journalistic culture that fosters this kind of anomaly. The other day, I read some tips on how to be effective in writing letters to the editor.
I was horrified to learn that people were encouraged just to let their emotions loose and lead them practically wherever. It was said that this style would make them strong and effective writers. Eloquence would just incarnate itself spontaneously.
The worst part of this mess is that many of these writers seem never to feel the duty to examine themselves and make regular contrition and atonement for damages, intended or unintended, made.
What can we do about this widespread predicament?
I have been noticing this disturbing trend in the local scene, but it’s much worse in other places like the US. There many writers and columnists play God, completely lost in their own world. When I look for examples of a holier-than-thou person, they instantly come to mind.
It seems that they make their own law of what is good and evil, proper and improper, fair and unfair. Their sense of balance and perspective, to be charitable about it, resembles an abstract painting. You have to be especially motivated to discern beauty in the bizarre twists and turns and tears.
I know that I have to be open to any writing style, and I should not be surprised if there are things in others that are diametrically opposed to mine. But this is no excuse to go wild into pure malice and poor taste.
When an article is simply dripping with sarcasm, insults, exaggerated one-sided arguments, etc., all articulated in livid eloquence, I can’t help but wonder what’s inside the heart of the writer.
Writers, being creative persons, are vulnerable to get completely unhinged from the basic norms of courtesy and human goodness. When they don’t make deliberate effort to be in God’s presence while writing, they can tend to run amok with their views and ideas, pitiable slaves to their own passions.
When they are not careful, writers can miss the crucial distinction between persons and issues. They can easily fall to the addictive world of creative intemperance and verbal incontinence. They end up already with a poisoned mind and attitude, sometimes at a level that is invincibly incurable.
This ugly state of affairs is most true among political opinion-makers. I suppose the nature of politics itself lends itself easily to this kind of predicament. There, propelled by the will to dominate others, shameless dogmatizing of issues subject to opinion is often made.
One writer can claim to have all the reasons, while the others don’t have any. He can project the image of omniscience, while the others are simply dumber than dumb. Rash judgments, leaky argumentations are spewed out, and they fail to notice it.
Restraint and respect for the persons involved strangely do not make it to their vocabulary. But they can have the latest version in their armory of irony, hyperboles, and other instruments of attack and abuse, etc., and are proud to flaunt them. It’s really heart-rending to see them sink helplessly in this hole.
Writers can be highly selective and biased. There are times when they can claim privileged vision of a most mysterious phenomenon, and yet they can also choose to be indifferent to the most obvious and palpable development.
That is to say, they can weave very sophisticated, solipsistic rationalizations, but they can fail to simply put two and two together to make four in an issue so clear in everybody else’s mind.
Some of them, usually women, get so irritably bitchy in their comments that they seem to validate the saying, “Hell has no fury than a woman spurned.” Of course, the men can also create their own kind of hell. Hell can indeed be gender-specific.
When this state of affairs involves men of the cloth—and sadly there are some of them—the situation approaches apocalyptic dimensions. Only God knows what to do with them.
Compounding this lamentable status quo is a certain aspect of the current journalistic culture that fosters this kind of anomaly. The other day, I read some tips on how to be effective in writing letters to the editor.
I was horrified to learn that people were encouraged just to let their emotions loose and lead them practically wherever. It was said that this style would make them strong and effective writers. Eloquence would just incarnate itself spontaneously.
The worst part of this mess is that many of these writers seem never to feel the duty to examine themselves and make regular contrition and atonement for damages, intended or unintended, made.
What can we do about this widespread predicament?
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