OpinionsThe Way It IsGoing for the feign

Going for the feign

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During the last world war, both the Allied and Axis forces often lost battles because they almost always called each other’s bluffs.

When they believed an offensive was going to be launched at one point on the map, they concentrated their forces there on the strength of vague information.

In all cases, unaware that intelligence was questionable at best, they ended up guarding the wrong front, leaving the enemy marching unopposed somewhere else. When that happened, defeat was inevitable, and they might as well have given up.

Most of the blunder could be attributed to commanders who were too inflexible for their own good. In almost all such instances, there were always lower-ranked officers who saw the flaw in their commander’s decisions but whose opinions were not welcome.

Besides them, there were also other indications that could have saved the day for them, but commanders, because of hubris and arrogance, put on their blinders and took huge chances–if they were right, accolades for them. If not, their version of the battle must prevail, they thought, just by virtue of their rank and position. To some of them, casualties did not matter.

Ironically, they always knew, in themselves, that largely, they never had a 50/50 chance of success. The odds were always heavily-stacked against them.

The same went for the other side. But pride drove both sides on, losses less important. The high they got from their power over men was such that it always prevailed.

In our daily lives in the City, we don’t engage in battles. We don’t have to worry about guarding battle fronts or struggle to discover what our enemy’s next action might be.

No, we only need to learn from our own mistakes, and try our best to imagine the best way to approach situations, as if we were spectators, watching it done.

We visualize ourselves in shoes so different from ours, and explore the things we might do while in them. We could listen to the majority to learn what they think is best for all. We could act decisively and timely, even if our good deed remains unseen for the most part.

Receiving accolades or rewards should be the last things on our minds.

I couldn’t help myself when I decided to write this column this way. I feel like I am transcribing. I am reflecting here on the things I have heard, and would have wanted to see become of my beloved city, Dumaguete.

In fact, before I came home in retirement, I thought that most of these things were already reality–livable, hasway ang traffic, walay krimen, with fresh air, the streets are clean, and the garbage, well-kept.

Seeing everything else that the City has become, I really expected that these things had already become the norm, and that everywhere I went, they’d be what I would see.

After all, I’ve been away a little shy of four decades–more than enough time, I think, to come to expect such changes to have come about already.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be the case. Still, I opted to retire here because this is where I was born. I have satisfied my wanderlust, and it was simply time to come home, to continue where I left off, so to say.

To anyone returning home after such a long time, a decision must be made–you take in the state of your beloved Dumaguete, and be satisfied, or share what you really think, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, and impertinent to others.

You don’t have to engage in a battle that is, assuredly, not a guarantee to winning the war.

Whatever tactics you may have, you will never find an audience for it. Those managing the war seem to continue to lose its battles. To those not privy to their plans, it seems they’re always hitting the wrong targets, never checking their aim.

But how can we say otherwise when we don’t know what the plan is? Even if we did know what it was, how many like it were there before? How much of the previous plans came to fruition?

It may be unfortunate but the best we can do is to see it the way it is, and express what we think would have been to our liking.

When we take aim at some target, there’s always a 50/50 chance we’d hit it. With inherently good aim and concentration, the chance increases. About the only way our aim could be way off, even going in the opposite direction, is if we lose our concentration and went for the feign.

There are those among our kababayans who would rather feign hardships, illnesses, or other social maladies to avoid proposed changes because it may harm their particular livelihood.

They do not care about the majority who have endured the stresses and inconveniences of waiting for those proposed changes to happen.

Surprisingly somehow, their feigned actions have always been effective.

The Administration’s aim has mostly been disrupted. But then again, maybe those aiming chose to go for the feign each time.

I am sure that what I want is the same thing everyone else wants. I just want conveniences commensurate to our state of modernity.

I cannot appreciate progress without the convenience and ease of mobility within the City. Will there ever be a culmination to our aspirations for a more orderly City where we don’t fear the real possibility of figuring in an accident every few meters or so? Could our fellow citizens ever develop their own sense of orderliness without the reminders from those offended by their disorderliness?

Often from where we stand, all we see is the way it is. With a little courage, we could cross into the opponent’s lines, and learn that what we’ve been seeing was never the way we always thought it to be. But only if we went into their territory.

We could yet learn to identify those who would feign anything to block progress.

The rest of us shouldn’t call such feigns lest we stifle our own move forward.

Dumaguete’s land area cannot be increased, true, but we can always manage how we grow inside it.

If you like it the way it is, leave it be.

_____________________________

Author’s email: [email protected]

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