DAVAO CITY — These days I confess I find myself a little less kind. I don’t smile as often and, despite the season, I am less inclined to exercise charity to begging hands. And for this, I have to say — I am sorry — I am affected by the prevailing mood of the country.
It is a truism that the leader the country chooses is who the country wishes to be. And I am not happy with the choice.
Recent events have shown that my gut feelings have been right all along.
And so I am a little less kind because I now view most people with suspicion and resentment. When I see those stickers with the stupid fist symbol, I am positively incensed. This is the kind of stupidity and surrender of judgment that is plunging us headlong into disaster.
Don’t expect me to look askance, to put on a merry smile. This has gone beyond simple politics, it is now in the domain of morality.
I cannot be friends with people who shrug at extrajudicial killing as inevitable necessity, and so much more who support it outright.
I cannot be friends with people who accept the message to “move on” from Martial Law despite the clear record of history.
I cannot be friends with people who jeer at a woman for her infidelities, yet cheer a man for his.
And I am a little less kind, too, because I am beginning to question the whole question of goodness.
Yes, I know, the sun shines on the good and the evil, and let the weeds grow with the grain, and we shall separate them at the harvest, and yet, deep down, I am angry and I am discontented. It offends my sense of justice. I am looking for a sign.
If you’re on the other side of this cultural divide, we can be civil with each other for so long as you don’t talk about your politics with me.
On my part, I have learned to be discreet to whom I open up with.
But make no mistake: if you are on the other side of this cultural divide, I cannot be your friend.
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Author’s email: dominique.cimafranca@gmail.com
