Social Affability
NOWADAYS the centrality of power has drastically shifted. Social and political influence no longer emanates from the common good but from those who can guarantee the intransience of power in vital positions of government. The recent PHARMALLY and PS-DBMSCANDAL is a perfect case at point.
Not even the immense number of concerned citizens can sway a change in public policy unless it directly translates to votes (within an electoral exercise) in a highly organized manner over and above mere statistics. Moreover, the process of technological advancement and globalization is like a flood streaming around the world and our country pulling each and every individual into a whirlpool of competition, disregarding the gap in economic capability, welfare and resilience — all at the expense of the poor, which are most often left behind in the cold.
A new set Public Ethics must characterize the way citizenship is viewed in our country so that we can safely sail through the storm of our political, financial and societal concerns. To eradicate evil, we should start by pinpointing its source, and by asking ourselves how could we be “instruments of change” within these contexts. The following will give us goose bumps when we learn of the current large-scale moral violations, namely:
POLITICS WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY. Because we have entrusted to our government leaders not just our trust and confidence but our welfare as well as citizens of this country when we elected them to public office, we deserve to make them liable for whatever debacles they have done in the discharge of their office. They have to clean up their own mess, and be properly dealt with according to the laws of the land. They should honorably face their own mistakes, and allow the people to seek justice for the abuse they have inflicted upon the well-being of the country.
WEALTH WITHOUT MORALITY. To acquire the richness and resources of our country at the expense of a compatriot’s misery and suffering will never store richness in heaven. The best things in life are for free (e.g. Money can buy a house but not a home, Money can buy a comfortable bed but not a good night’s sleep, Money can hire house helps and workers but not good friends, and Money can buy expensive clothes and apparels but not Character), and to live one’s life solely on the materialism the world has to offer is simply a path towards the wrong direction.
BUSINESS WITHOUT SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Good profit is good business. But corporate responsibility echoes the need to balance not just the ledgers of debit and credit but the interest of the community and country as well. To invest on the welfare of the people and the community they (businessmen) belong to isn’t just good for tax deduction purposes but for business too in the long run. For when consumer spending is vibrant under a socially stable environment then business will likewise prosper with it. It wouldn’t hurt big business to share a little of its resources to help someone in need.
LEISURE WITHOUT CONSCIENCE. To indulge in leisure is to pamper oneself with something pleasurable, and every now-and-then a little R&R won’t hurt. We need to relax and take things easy from time to time unless we want to be “burnt out”. But to overly indulge oneself at the cost of one’s work (or studies), family (or loved ones) and obligations is hedonistic and unproductive. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy, but all play and no work makes Jack worthless.
KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT CHARACTER. What is the point of going to school in order to learn and be called a “professional” if everything is just a matter of having a diploma? Over and above the skills, knowledge, conduct and the idea of promoting human lives and dignity, the “professional” (imbued with knowledge) must embody a Character that will positively impact on his professional image. An action of a learned man must always be characterized with a spectrum of the IDEAL and the ADMIRABLE.
RELIGION WITHOUT SACRIFICE. Faith without work is dead. To engage in church liturgies and bible studies without community outreach is simply LIP SERVICE. Faith and Work must go hand-in-hand. We must be living witnesses to the love and generosity we preach and listen to at church, and we must be a community of disciplescollectively working together to dispel the structures of sins embedded in our socio-political domains.
In conclusion, let’s think about this: “A hundred years from now; it will not matter what our banking account was, the sort of houses we lived in, or the kind of car we drove … but the world and humanity may be different because we have touched the lives of those we vowed to serve (or met each day). Sharing generously our time and efforts to our neighbors, especially the poor and unwanted, is the key to our immortality.”
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