|
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Obenieta: Are you feeling cold?
By Myke U. Obenieta
So to speak
Creating storms, a supernatural power one of the mutants in “X-Men” can unleash, is a mundane matter. Not worth crowing about, and nothing out of the weather.
Hey, isn’t it ordinary to bask in the chill of one’s contempt and bite the frost of one’s fury? It makes sense why wrinkles and ulcers are commonplace. Being nasty is no sweat, and to be authentically pleasant seems like a yeoman’s work.
Really, nothing’s harder to do than to exude warmth and make the world a little brighter with one’s sunlit outlook. That probably explains why many of us are afflicted with the affectation to be cheerful till we become phony at being cozy.
Even leaders, who are expected to glow with good examples and are supposed to be suckers at being seen in a good light, do find it difficult not to drool and bite.
About the recurrent exchange of thunder and lightning between Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Rep. Eduardo Gullas over the South Reclamation Project (SRP), Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal can only frown: “They are too old to have such an immature fight.”
Cool it, exhorts Cardinal Vidal as he hopes for an end to their controversial squabble. But the bickering newsmakers seem to stay stuck in each other’s private Siberia till hell between each other freezes over.
When official conduct is enough for people “to suffer greatly,” as Cebu’s prelate deems the feud between Osmeña and Gullas, where does that leave the rest of the community too impressionable between their ears?
How to impart the Cardinal’s gospel for sobriety to the young and restless when maturity among our so-called leaders is a notion too cloudy for their own comfort?
While the sky lately threatens to rain rhinoceros, the Cardinal and us might as well cross ourselves and summon no less than superhuman power to ward off the gooseflesh and its cold crawling deep down the bone. Drops of acid, these are redundant with the prevailing climate of enmity enough to douse anybody’s sunny disposition.
Raining on each other’s parade is something rival fraternities in the city can take their cue from the our politicians. Thus laments the Cardinal, while the Cebu Provincial Police chief is bracing to declare the warring fraternities (Tau Gamma Phi and Akhro) as criminal groups. “I am horrified when I hear another killing,” Vidal scowls, stressing youth violence may have been influenced by movies that glorify revenge, or by the need to belong. And gain superiority, yes, like what most politicians are fired up for.
Really, while the air clots with blood-curdling rumors of cloudburst, it’s scarcely surprising if the weatherman would intone what we’ve known all along: It’s signal number three for hostility.
(September 20, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
