The topic at the Tuesday breakfast was hot. The feisty and intensely professional journalist Ellen Tordesillas was there. If anyone had the juice on the latest, it was she, and that day it was the rift between Andy Bautista, the election-commission chair, and his wife, Tisha.
Having gathered a political storm around it, the marital issue has been proving a hopeful break for those who’d wish chairman Bautista impeached. Stranger things have been stretched to fit political schemes before.
Resident historian
Ellen certainly had my attention, but, for some reason, not Nelson Navarro’s. A journalist himself, one with a long history of antimartial law activism, he seemed busy with his iPhone.
Nelson has somehow mellowed since he suffered a stroke. Although finding some difficulty moving around, he continues to travel, and his wit and dry humor seem unaffected at all. If Ellen is on top of the news, Nelson is our resident historian, with a “major” in the ins and outs, including backdoor maneuverings, of our national political history, and a “minor” in British royal scandals. But I’ve always suspected him to be a frustrated opera singer.
I asked Nelson why he seemed disinterested in news, as hot as it comes. He shrugged his shoulders and continued singing, this time a little louder, and looking me in the eye as if inviting me to sing along with an aria playing on his phone.
He finally answered, “Ay, Chit, any news can kill me now.”
He left me wondering whether distancing from negative and agitating news might be good for my own health. I can’t honestly say I’m not affected; it’s no coincidence, for instance, that I’ve been having more than my share of upset stomach lately, a sure sign of stress.
Man’s responsibility
But how can I protect myself from upsetting news, as in the case of the inhumane killing of 17-year-old Kian Lloyd de los Santos, and after him, another execution-style killing of 19-year-old Carl Arnaiz? I don’t think I could bury my head in the sand, even if these killings triggered yet another episode of bad stomach.
After all, these things are in the papers, on TV and all over Facebook. And, if that’s not enough, I happen to be married to a journalist whose mind, body and soul live news. As a result, I may be deluged by information, but I also have a live-in distiller of it. Indeed, I do consider myself lucky, upset stomach and all, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Isn’t it man’s nature, man’s responsibility, to try to stay informed and educated for his own improvement? But, again, how to do that without endangering one’s health?
Me—I try to put things in perspective and focus on the big picture. Worrying is itself a clear sign that I’ve lost sight of the big picture, that I’ve forgotten about The Grand Planner. In His plan, good triumphs and the greater good is served—in the long run. But to get there, we have to go through hard times, and that seems where we are at the moment.
This attitude requires an acceptance and trust in a higher will. When I’m able somehow to put myself in that mode, worry flies out the window and my diarrhea stops.
Dark plans
But I’d be less than honest to say I understand the workings of that plan—to understand, for instance, why so many innocent people have to die, or why Sen. Leila de Lima is in jail. Or how the breakdown of Comelec Chair Bautista’s marriage could lead to his impeachment—a purely political trial, by the way. Or how a similar fate could await the Chief Justice herself, Ma. Lourdes Sereno, for her office’s acquisition of a well-built, bulletproof Japanese car for her.
And why the great rush to get rid—again, by the threat of impeachment—of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, a very rare pure breath of air in public service? For all the gutsy work she has done, I’d fund-raise to bulletproof her car, too!
These characters are not being left alone because they don’t fit certain people’s dark plans.
A wise advice comes from one of my favorite Beatles’ songs: “Let It Be.” To me, it means to keep the faith and let things be, knowing everything is in God’s hands. And what better place for anything to be, indeed! But neither does it mean let wrongdoing be as well; battling wrongdoing is, in fact, the human part in God’s plan.
Sometimes, even the clergy, like the one in Iloilo, miss the point. They scrapped the Paul McCartney song from the original program of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, judging it unsuitable for the concert at Molo Church, much to the disappointment of my friend and music connoisseur Pablo Tariman, who vented on Facebook.
Pity, it would have been an appropriate prayerful appeal to those who would present any danger to Iloilo. I myself find solace and ease from worries in its lyrics. In these times, when it feels like the world has been turned upside down, “There will be an answer: Let it be!”
