WE ARE very strict and meticulous in setting standards and expectations for aspiring leaders who wish to run for election in the student council. Yet, what surprises me is how our standards in the school set-up do not match the standards we set for our leaders of our country. Sadly, the one in school setting is more bearable than the one in the national and local arena.

I am profoundly amazed that raising of the hand of a candidate by the president has become a trend in this year’s election. We see a ping-pong of social media posts claiming that their hand was raised. The more bizarre thing for me is to learn that people wait in anticipation whose hand will the president raise. For these people, when the president raises a hand of the candidate, it’s done. This is dangerous and even detrimental to a healthy democratic life of our country.

For one, we are diminishing our intellectual capacity to weigh the potentials of our candidates by a mere raising of a candidate’s hand. In agreeing to vote for the person whoever the president endorsed, we seemingly agree to the idea that we cannot make a sound decision for our country. I, thus, firmly believe that we are more than this.

Second, the convenience of waiting for whoever is endorsed by any personality is actually an indicator of deteriorating sense of responsibility, accountability and even care for the results of the election. Convenience most of the time kills discipline. There is more meaning and glory in studying and carefully scrutinizing each candidate through research and well-informed data. We should be keen in evaluating our leaders because it is not just our life that is at stake here but also the lives of our children’s children.

Third, we should not disregard our inherent capacity to choose according to the issues that we have. Endorsements may be available at our disposal. But it catches us off from really examining our personal values and concerns. As a result, we fail to credibly choose a leader that would respond to our deepest and more apparent needs. Thus putting our concern in jeopardy and leaving it by chance hoping that the one other people endorsed would have the same concern as yours.

Likewise, for candidates who are hungry of endorsements coming from the president or otherwise, you will never have my vote. It only shows that you do not have the backbone to stand by the principles, which inspired you to run in the first place. Moreover, running by endorsement proves that you do not have my interest or the people’s concerns in mind, but yours alone.