Bloody, Love?
MANILA: These are the times that dry men's souls, and they feel the burn. Some feel burned out. I'm a Roman Catholic; OUTRAGE is what some Catholic bishops and others have been calling for as the Catholic answer to extrajudicial killings that started even before the beginning of the term of Rodrigo Duterte as President of the Philippines. I wonder how some people can stand looking at the blood on their hands, literally or figuratively. Or can stomach calling for more blood. Isn't the Manila Pieta above enough to chill their hearts? I hope chill, not burn.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, issued a statement, read in churches on Sunday in his northern district, expressing deep concerns over the killings of drugs suspects and lamenting a lack of widespread outrage over the deaths.
Villegas' "northern district" is actually in Central Luzon, in Pangasinan, my home province. Villegas has been the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan since 2013 (Wikipedia). Associated with the much-loved Jaime Cardinal Sin, I have held him in high regard before this.
As if not to be outdone, Vice President Leni Robredo said, as quoted by Rose-An Jessica Dioquino (11 August 2016, GMA News Online, gmanetwork.com):
I've been very vocal about it... But you know, I'm just one voice. Even if I'm Vice President, I'm just one voice. ¶ There have been a few voices already out there against extrajudicial killings, but I think the public outcry is just not there yet. I think all of us should do our share in making sure... this has to stop.
Calling for outrage, outcry.
On 23 September 2016, Friday, Manuel Alim shared a link on Facebook, with this message:
CBCP official to Duterte: You said you'd resign after six months if (the) drug war (was) ineffective. ¶ Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo blasted Duterte for (his) six-month extension on drug war. He reminded (the) President of his vow...
I click the Facebook link and I'm on the webpage of Kicker Daily News, and I quote (Marcus V, 20 September 2016, kickerdaily.com):
Not a man of one word. ¶ Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo had this to say about President Rodrigo Duterte even as he blasted the President for extending the government’s ongoing campaign against illegal drugs for another six months. ¶ According to Pabillo, Duterte’s call for an extension basically amounted to an admission that his strategy against drugs was ineffective. He also said it was Duterte’s way of reneging on his vow to resign after six months if his campaign did not succeed.
Those are fighting words, verbiage that are taut and taunting.
If you didn't know, taunting is a very dangerous sport. I quote Howard Taylor here from Goodreads, from his Tub of Happiness (goodreads.com):
"Right now I've got just two rules to live by.
Rule one: don't taunt elephants.
Rule two: don't stand next to anybody who taunts elephants."
– Sergeant Schlock.
Rule one: don't taunt elephants.
Rule two: don't stand next to anybody who taunts elephants."
– Sergeant Schlock.
There is an elephant in the room, and nobody sees it?
Sunday, at 0345 hours, I saw this Facebook post of Jay Esar, The Silent Majority that I reproduce here unedited:
It saddens me when people who claim to be followers of Jesus, are not bothered that our govt is killing the same people He died for. ¶ Drug pushers should be put in jail so they do not harm others. No need to kill them right away. Work on rehab and legal system. ¶ The short cut of just killing people is putting our country outside the will and protection of God. And I think that is very dangerous!!!!!
Today, Monday, I see the Facebook post of Vicky Valdez of The Silent Majority, "Who Will Stand By Me?" The image shows Senator Leila De Lima raising her right hand, and Vicky says above it, "Yes, Senador De Lima, I am with you and will..."
No, I am not with her.
About senatorial belligerent behavior, I have already written an essay, "Peace-Making Rules Of Engagement. Man Of The Hour? Mag Of The Hour" (23 September 2016, blogspot.com), where I said Senator De Lima was fighting President Rodrigo Duterte tooth and nail and, having been warned, she still chose to fight, and she lost. I said:
She was warned... For being bullheaded, she became her own worst enemy. You become your own worst enemy when you hate.
For hate, you get hate, you get hit. And it can be worse than being ousted as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Justice & Human Rights.
Earlier than that, I already issued my double plea, "Let Us Grieve, Then Let Us Pray!" (07 August 2016, Primate Change, blogspot.co.id), showing the above photo by Raffy Lerma of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (newsinfo.inquirer.net). If you don't know how to pray, go read what I have written! I have a different way of interpreting how to pray, learning from Pope Francis' statement on how prayer works.
If you believe in God, why don't you believe that Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, is in God's hands? You say you don't understand. Well, God works in mysterious ways that we don't understand.
Ignorance of the ways of God is not an excuse for hate. In the midst of violence, you do have a choice: Bloody, or Love? Mixed metaphor that, I know; the first one is an adjective and the second is a verb as well as a noun. Actually, there is a silent word before each: Go Bloody, Go Love?
So, as my response to OUTRAGE, I say: RAGEOUT. Rage, out! In search of beauty, I do not find beauty in outrage. There I find only ugliness, so much ugliness. So much violence, so many lives to lose. The anger you plant is multiplied in the anger you harvest. If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. I don't want to multiply the image captured by Raffy Lerma a hundred thousand times or more.
Archbishop Villegas lamenting a lack of widespread outrage over the extrajudicial deaths – a man of God and he is calling for a civil war? If some people want to have blood in their hands, I don't want any of it.
After Rage, Out! I see the need for Courage, Out! Courage with faith to do the right thing despite everything, like ministering to your flock, not angering them, not arousing anger among them. Like caring for a few more of the farmers, the poor, the jobless, the homeless, the devastated, the sick, the beggars, the sidewalk vendors, the elderly. Like teaching a few more of the children in a few more schools mercy and compassion – and practicing those virtues at home with the members of your family, not to mention with your neighbors, or with the ones you hate. Bloody, Love? I shout to you:
"Love, like you have never loved before!" @
26 September 2016. Essay word count, excluding this line: 1151
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