IT IS quite notable to find our people being praised and praising themselves for being resilient. Be it corruption, natural disasters and death, we find ourselves “bouncing back” from tragedy but hardly learning the lesson nor taking steps to address the cause. We even find humor in the most appalling conditions and expected to be grateful, that at least some of us survived. We seem to be culturally-chained to be content to accept what disaster or fortune come our way. Post a complaint about the traffic and one is told to just stay home. Cry rape and a Senator, bless his soul, advised us to simply lay back and enjoy it.
Resilience or to be resilient is a positive thing. It is defined as the ability to rise up or recover from a difficult situation. But coming across Lenore E. Walker who in 1969 developed a social theory called “cycle of abuse,” made me wonder and think. Maybe we are a people so abused, grown accustomed to oppressive situations, that we can describe our history as a cycle of abuse. For how do we explain the pardon of a convicted plunderer and eventually back in a political office. I suppose the value of forgiveness has been twisted to the extent that we no longer hold the guilty to account for their transgressions, and our prosecutorial and justice system has become a farce but not as scandalous as the Senate and House hearings rating and reeking of drama as much as the telenovelas.
We often hear of the reply “mao gihapon” in response to “how are you?” “Mao gihapon,” among Cebuanos is similar to “as usual” in English. And we all know that in real life, the natural order of things is we are either better or worse. The response reflects the sad state of our lives. Our lives are as bad as usual while corruption and the incompetence is business as usual. We hardly learn the lessons of the past and keep repeating the same mistakes. Of tolerating politicians who end up experimenting on our economy, culture and environment with the same formula, over and over again. Which was described by one as insanity, of doing the same thing and expecting a different result. We do not even bother about continuity. Just like our drainage which do not connect to each other nor end up in our rivers. But wait, there is a political exception to continuity, of family dynasties feeling like they have a monopoly of public good.
So for decades, majority of our voters, who mostly survive because of loan sharks, see their political heroes are those who provide them their KBL or “Kasal-Bunyag-Lubong,” not to mention the “ulan’ulan” during elections in the guise of “elections watchers” who are basically flying voters, out to pad the precinct of votes. And the height of cruelty would be to place the blame on the voters. Just like an economic Secretary placing the burden of poverty on the poor. And I do not think that it is because the man was born with a silver spoon. Such a remark can only come from a stained and rusting brain.
There is only one way to break that cycle of abuse. And the burden is not upon the victim. That millstone is to be tied around the neck of the abuser.