‘Unlike other societies, such as those in Northern Europe, for example, we give our leaders special treatment so much so that it’s the public that’s the servant.’
LIFE would be drab and boring without romantic notions that are all around us. There are romantic notions related, of course, to love, but that’s just one aspect of life. There too are romantic notions related to government and democracy. And whether in relation to love or in relation to democracy, these notions sometimes have the effect of giving us goosebumps and making us feel good about ourselves.
Romantic notions, when broken, however, are also the main cause of disappointment and heartache, even suicide. And that’s because they can be the equivalent of the so-called wool being pulled over our eyes, blinding us to the real score in love or in society. We can choose to be blind for as long as we want, but if and when the time comes that our eyes are opened and we see what really is, the fall can be hard and definitely painful.
Once our eyes are opened we then face a number of choices: to totally abandon our romantic notions and become cynical; to shrug off the experience and labor on believing that the next time around the experience will be better; or to take a break from it all (love or politics!) while we sort out what we had gone through, where we could have done better, and how the next time — if there is to be a next time — we will face life with a balanced mix of romantic notions and hard-nosed realism.
But yes, love is blind. This applies to love of the romantic kind as well as to love of the ideological or philosophical kind. We have a hard time — refuse even — to see the flaws of the person (or the ideology) we love, even if the flaws are staring at us in the face. Worse, we sometimes dig our heels in the face of opinions contrary to our beliefs, and the effect of people trying to tell us what we cannot see is to make us even more blind in our “devotion.” That’s where fanaticism comes in, with disaster not so far behind.
I’ll hazard to say that almost all of us have had a romantic engagement of this kind, and many of us have had or are in a political engagement of this kind. In the recent past, you have the Marcos Loyalists followed by the Yellow Army and then Duterte’s minions; abroad you have MAGA in the US, you had the Red Guards in China of the 1960s and the Hitler Youth in the 1940s. All loyal, all rabid, and all to different extents blinded by such loyalty and rabidness.
One such romantic notion we should dispel once and for all is that under a democracy all of us are equal. This has a cousin in the “one man one vote” principle that cements that feeling of “equality.” Think about it: if the richest man has only one vote like you and me, then what more proof do you need that we are equal?
We may have one vote each, yes, but that rich man contributes millions of pesos to a campaign. So stop dreaming.
There’s the other romantic notion that those we elect into office as our representatives are public servants. Jeesas. Nothing can be further from the truth. And it’s as if we don’t see the truth with our very own eyes — from wang-wang to special lanes and special treatment.
Have you, for example, seen any of these “public servants” lined up at airport immigration and cursing the slow progress of the lines? Never, right? And that’s why there’s little improvement in the immigration procedures at our airports.
Have you seen a “public servant” take the MRT or the jeep or the bus on EDSA on a regular basis, or bike to work the way some Prime Ministers do? Never, right? And that’s why the effort to address the woes of the riding public is a “ningas cogon” effort, very valuable for publicity purposes but zero for policy proposes.
Here’s one last one — have you ever seen any of these “public servants” awaiting medical attention at a public hospital? Never, right? And that’s why our public hospitals remain ill-equipped and undermanned.
Unlike other societies, such as those in Northern Europe, for example, we give our leaders special treatment so much so that it’s the public that’s the servant.
And that’s because we remain blinded by our romantic notions.
