OpinionsThe Way It IsFlirting with heartbreak

Flirting with heartbreak

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We do not like being heartbroken, yet we’ve all experienced it at one time or another. We could get heartbroken in love, in our aspirations to become somebody in our community, in our efforts to succeed in our studies, in our hopes for our children, in how our life turned out.

Yet, in all our heartbreaks, we have chosen to cope and turn those experiences into potent lessons to turn things around for us in the future.

The experience strengthens our resolve not to make the same mistakes ever again because of the bitterness we have felt.

It is something we hear in songs and poems–hearts broken and mended–and we dismiss it simply as an artful rendering–of a most devastating feeling.

We have found a way to romanticize heartbreak in songs and literature, maybe to lessen its destructive impact on us. And I think it has worked because we throw around the phrase “broken hearted” like we say, “good morning.”

We are so used to it that we often forget that when we are heartbroken, we are experiencing intense emotional pain that could even hurt our physical being. I wonder sometimes if a broken heart has some mystic to it that goads people enough not to mind the experience of it.

In this beloved City of ours, people are behaving in ways that could end in nothing but heartbreak, and they do not seem to care anymore.

The imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine has perhaps brought more questions than answers.

And in still more instances than we care to admit, it has created new problems in addition to the one it was meant to eradicate.

Today, April 16, is the 14th day of ECQ and yet, it seems, nothing has changed. There is still so much confusion about it that started when the City decided it would contradict its own Executive Order, and stop giving out Quarantine Passes.

The EO had stipulated that all households in the City would get one pass each. They even went as far as making color-coded passes to enable the government to stagger the influx of people into the City for a more positive control of their movement.

If looked at in this manner, it is a sound plan, albeit in need of some polishing along the way, except that it never panned out that way.

In mid-stream, the City stopped making passes, and decided to be mum about it. The people, meanwhile, kept waiting for their passes, later to be vaguely informed that they should share passes with neighbors. This created an uproar that to this day has not subsided yet and, in fact, has gotten worse.

It may be true that most areas of the City are devoid of people, and may look like they were abandoned, but it is only because there is nothing there of any consequence to anyone. Non-essential establishments are closed. The famous boulevard finds its restaurants and bars closed. Even the barber shops and beauty salons are closed.

The only places that are open are the public markets, grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, public utility offices, banks, some lending institutions, and all others that are considered to provide essential goods and services. It is at these locations that the intent of the ECQ breaks down in failure.

An example is the NORECO 2 office. Outside, you will find people huddled as they stand in line, waiting to pay their bills. Except for the varied face masks, it is a scene that looks worse than before the coronavirus crisis. It is totally in defiance to the call for physical distancing. Were these people simply too driven by necessity that they left their fears at home?

It could also be that they really do not know any better. And this, maybe because they have not been educated enough about the consequences of disregarding the ECQ, physical distancing, and the advice of the medical authorities.

I would not discount the possibility they have become desensitized by the City government’s insincerity and deception to the point that they no longer heed their warnings, thinking they are all lies.

Add to this the City’s timidity to enforce the law, and you have a horde of uninformed, scared, and angry residents who are not afraid to breach ECQ protocol.

Are they afraid for their own health? Maybe not, because they have not seen enough truth in what they have been told. They cannot be blamed for their behavior because they are simply reacting to the actions, or inaction, of their City government.

The public and some notable organizations in Dumaguete have pleaded for the City to heed its own mandate, but there has not been any meaningful reply, almost like the City never heard their pleas.

This is the kind of disregard that has played a role in the seeming-disobedience displayed by the public.

But if the City itself cannot follow its own EO, how can the public be blamed for doing the same?

Friday, April 17. Today, there was news that the City will scrap the previous quarantine passes in favor of new ones, colored red for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; and colored purple for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

If this is really better, why wasn’t this their first choice?

This is the kind of wishy-washy leadership that throws people off. Instead of instilling trust in the people, the City has fueled the flames of doubt.

Have our leaders burned enough candles before coming up with their decisions? Are they attuned to the pulse of the people?

There are those out there who would criticize opinions like mine, but what they fail to realize is the simplicity of the solution to stopping it–transparency.

If they tried to share their plans with the people, and solicit as much input from them as they could, then maybe their policies would be more popular.

Staying with the status quo would only serve to infuriate the people, and without knowing it, they would be breaking protocol even more.

What they need is the knowledge they are being guided by a sure hand–one that does not grope in the dark. Without that steady, knowing hand, they will surely be flirting with nothing but heartbreak.

Most know that the way it is now does not make for a smooth transition to normalcy, after we’ve defeated CoViD-19, of course.

But what is amazing is that the leadership does not seem to mind the rough ride, oblivious that others are retching from it already.

Maybe someone in their ranks has heard of the old sailor’s phrase, “If they call you an asshole, you’re doing your job.” Unfortunately for them, the phrase is just for sailors.

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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