Accentuate the positive

I GOT the inspiration for this column's title from the revived Paul McCartney's song bearing the same title and it is timely, relevant and effective especially in these stressful, trying times.

In all our everyday dealings, duties and activities, it is all right to view them at their proper perspective, address every issue emanating therefrom with the right, straightforward and, yes, proper attitude.

Things do not always turn out right the way we wanted them to be and so we become frustrated and then disgusted. And then, what? We brood at great length and get depressed and everything thereafter seems to get blurred and dark. Despairing? You bet.

There are positive sides to things, if we only know how to be on that side. And then there is positive mental attitude, that stance which keeps us sane and going, despite obstacles and moving on to achieve our pre-set goals and objectives. The question is: can we have it and if we do, can we keep it?

Of course, we have our own peculiar set-up, physically and mentally, so our level of anticipation in accepting the concept of positive mental attitude varies. We also differ in interpreting it and adopting it, if ever we do believe in it.

We have our idiosyncrasies although we grudgingly admit their presence in us. In accentuating the positive, we downplay the negative and emerge from the skirmishes reinvigorated and, at times, reinvented.

Easier said than done, some skeptics would say of one wearing a positive mental attitude or of one aiming to get one.

We live in a circle of life, within an enclave of relatives, superiors, friends and hasty acquaintances. We live by rules, as civilized people would, and as by tradition and custom, and it pays to have and maintain that positive mental attitude in our dealings and relationship with them, especially the overbearing relatives and very patronizing "friends".

In sum, we live by the day cheerful and hopeful. Whether we are awash with cash or dirt poor, it pays to have our heads held high and propped up firmly on their places by positive mental attitude. Remember, I prefaced this piece with accentuating the positive and ignoring the negative, our not-so-acceptable looks included.

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While at this topic, I think I could share a writer's story on her impressions between a public servant and a public official. Blanche David-Gallardo wrote: In Hong Kong where I lived and worked for over 30 years, public servants were never referred to as "officials." They were called public servants and it was reflected in their work. As proof, even today, you need only walk into any government office to see the difference in the quality of service rendered by these "public servants." And then she asks: Where do we, the Filipino public, get off calling our public servants "officials?" Is not public office public service? By referring to our public servants as "officials", we subvert our own role as "boss" and become complicit in their failure to deliver genuine public service. Aruy!

Yes, why are our elected superiors called public officials or officials when they are supposed to be public servants? Rarely do we find people who really act as so, since most of them behave as if they own the offices and the money they have access to! They want to control everything: the funds, personnel and all of the LGU's operations. Remember the Tears for Fears song Everybody Wants to Rule the World? Aha.

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In Mabalacat City, at least two want to rule everything. They dictate on what they want to be done and hate being told on what they are supposed to be doing themselves. One, from a mere helper cook, he rose to become a powerful subaltern of the Mayor with an added function of controlling the disbursement and use of the city's funds. He feels and behaves like a demigod and wants everybody to genuflect before him! He does not do what he preaches, he shouts and goes ballistic on anyone who does not agree with him or toe his line. This fellow does not add points to the mayor's credit; on the contrary, he diminishes the political stock of the popular and charismatic reelectionist mayor. Proof? Ask the City Government's irate creditors whose receivables have mounted and have remained unpaid for a long time.

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There will be a job fair on September 21 (my birthday, incidentally and Deng Pangilinan's), at the covered court of Barangay Lakandula, Mabalacat City and several local employers and overseas recruitment agencies were sent invitation letters to attend the activity. So, interested applicants are well advised to go to the venue early.