Many things are not as they seem, while others are worse than one can imagine. Judging a book by its cover may not always be accurate, for the contents may be the opposite or even uglier than you think.
Many of us are not exactly lacking in our ability to judge a person. If that were so, then society would be most chaotic. What most of us lack is the complete information, which then causes us to make a defective conclusion. We may end up believing more than what is true, or not believing enough.
It complicates it even more when we fall for the saying, “a person is assumed innocent until proven guilty” without understanding the context of the saying. Beyond reasonable doubt is not only a thin line, but an invisible one at that. And when what is legal becomes the foundation for what is also moral in a society that is afflicted with a corrupt value system, then crooks and killers who can buy the smartest lawyers or judges with disabled consciences can laugh all the way to the bank.
Truly, if divine justice does not exist, then unfairness would be the dominant character of life. Despite the seeming injustice that pains our lives from the different circumstances we go through, our sanity holds because we believe deep inside that a just God sees all and applies not only His love but His laws to everyone – without exception. Therefore, what we see on the surface may reveal facets of the truth but hides even more.
In our society, the level of corruption is such that our president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has much to be personally ashamed of. Nine long years at the helm of government, nine long years as the one who sets the tone and color of governance, has reaped for her the highest ratings of unpopularity and dissatisfaction in the annals of Philippine history.
If the Philippines were judged by the criteria which international agencies evaluate the level of corruption of all other countries in the world, then Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed miserably in the honesty and transparency department. Worse, she has helped drag Filipinos into a state of collective shame before the eyes of our global neighbors.
There are some who would first like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be sued and then proven guilty before they will accept that she is corrupt or has led the government in corruption. I am afraid that these few will not believe that she had gotten a fair trial if at all she were convicted. We had seen it with Joseph Estrada. Not only he but many of his supporters as well insist that he was innocent, and that he just did not get a fair trial.
In the end, therefore, it is not the courts who will convince us of the guilt or innocence of our public officials or political lords, it will be our own sense of justice and the value system we allow to dominate our lives.
When the great majority of Filipinos find Gloria Macapagal Arroyo most unpopular, what are they trying to say? The unpopularity rating of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not an overnight development - it has been there year after year. It is not an instant judgment of the Filipino people; it is a conclusion that has passed through years of continuous assessment. And for those who believe that Filipinos are not capable of judging character or performance, then they must take the pain to deliberately raise the level of information and intelligence of the people or find another race to belong to.
Because of the ill will that she has generated from millions of people, and the general conclusion that she has abused her office, looted the treasury and set up cronies to front for her and her family, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is seen as desperate to hold on to power, as a continuing president under any pretext that will allow her to do so, or as a future Speaker of Congress. That desperation is assumed to come from a fear of prosecution, and persecution. Perhaps, the fate of Joseph Estrada as a detained accused and a convicted plunderer weighs heavily in her mind, and the possible projection that her future will be worse than what Estrada experienced.
Only Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her First Gentleman know the extent of their guilt or innocence. Only they as a couple in partnership or as individuals who made distinct decisions apart from one another know just what they did or did not do, they lives they helped or the lives they snuffed out, the money they earned or the money they stole, the people they nurtured or the people they betrayed, the country they served or the country they exploited. Their confidence in their innocence or their fear from their guilt is what they carry every day of their lives. We can only see the surface, the covers of their books, while they know everything about themselves.
Divine justice works without a sense of vengeance but with an absolute sent of balance or fairness. Only a divine intelligence knows the harm or the good that each of us contributes, and only this divine power can extract the balance or fairness that is a central trait of existence.
In human life, divine justice has visible manifestations as well as more subtle ones which we may feel but can hardly prove. When Ninoy and Cory, whatever their shortcomings, stepped up to the highest invitation of heroism and patriotism, risking and giving all, human and divine justice gave them a legacy of great honor.
They must deserve much more from what they had done in their individual lives, the positive and the negative, and we will never know the totality of that. But what we do know and see is that we have Filipino heroes in them.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, too, and the First Gentleman will also receive from human and divine justice what they have earned from the good or the evil they have done. We will never know the totality of what that human and divine justice is and will be, but we are assured by existence itself, that our First Couple will be honored, or be cursed.
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Just like what title said "Be Honored or Cursed," it's up to my fellow Filipino can answer that questions. I hope our next leader will makes me a proud Filipino whose lead by a God-fearing person and committed only to his people.
Many of us are not exactly lacking in our ability to judge a person. If that were so, then society would be most chaotic. What most of us lack is the complete information, which then causes us to make a defective conclusion. We may end up believing more than what is true, or not believing enough.
It complicates it even more when we fall for the saying, “a person is assumed innocent until proven guilty” without understanding the context of the saying. Beyond reasonable doubt is not only a thin line, but an invisible one at that. And when what is legal becomes the foundation for what is also moral in a society that is afflicted with a corrupt value system, then crooks and killers who can buy the smartest lawyers or judges with disabled consciences can laugh all the way to the bank.
Truly, if divine justice does not exist, then unfairness would be the dominant character of life. Despite the seeming injustice that pains our lives from the different circumstances we go through, our sanity holds because we believe deep inside that a just God sees all and applies not only His love but His laws to everyone – without exception. Therefore, what we see on the surface may reveal facets of the truth but hides even more.
In our society, the level of corruption is such that our president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has much to be personally ashamed of. Nine long years at the helm of government, nine long years as the one who sets the tone and color of governance, has reaped for her the highest ratings of unpopularity and dissatisfaction in the annals of Philippine history.
If the Philippines were judged by the criteria which international agencies evaluate the level of corruption of all other countries in the world, then Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed miserably in the honesty and transparency department. Worse, she has helped drag Filipinos into a state of collective shame before the eyes of our global neighbors.
There are some who would first like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be sued and then proven guilty before they will accept that she is corrupt or has led the government in corruption. I am afraid that these few will not believe that she had gotten a fair trial if at all she were convicted. We had seen it with Joseph Estrada. Not only he but many of his supporters as well insist that he was innocent, and that he just did not get a fair trial.
In the end, therefore, it is not the courts who will convince us of the guilt or innocence of our public officials or political lords, it will be our own sense of justice and the value system we allow to dominate our lives.
When the great majority of Filipinos find Gloria Macapagal Arroyo most unpopular, what are they trying to say? The unpopularity rating of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not an overnight development - it has been there year after year. It is not an instant judgment of the Filipino people; it is a conclusion that has passed through years of continuous assessment. And for those who believe that Filipinos are not capable of judging character or performance, then they must take the pain to deliberately raise the level of information and intelligence of the people or find another race to belong to.
Because of the ill will that she has generated from millions of people, and the general conclusion that she has abused her office, looted the treasury and set up cronies to front for her and her family, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is seen as desperate to hold on to power, as a continuing president under any pretext that will allow her to do so, or as a future Speaker of Congress. That desperation is assumed to come from a fear of prosecution, and persecution. Perhaps, the fate of Joseph Estrada as a detained accused and a convicted plunderer weighs heavily in her mind, and the possible projection that her future will be worse than what Estrada experienced.
Only Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her First Gentleman know the extent of their guilt or innocence. Only they as a couple in partnership or as individuals who made distinct decisions apart from one another know just what they did or did not do, they lives they helped or the lives they snuffed out, the money they earned or the money they stole, the people they nurtured or the people they betrayed, the country they served or the country they exploited. Their confidence in their innocence or their fear from their guilt is what they carry every day of their lives. We can only see the surface, the covers of their books, while they know everything about themselves.
Divine justice works without a sense of vengeance but with an absolute sent of balance or fairness. Only a divine intelligence knows the harm or the good that each of us contributes, and only this divine power can extract the balance or fairness that is a central trait of existence.
In human life, divine justice has visible manifestations as well as more subtle ones which we may feel but can hardly prove. When Ninoy and Cory, whatever their shortcomings, stepped up to the highest invitation of heroism and patriotism, risking and giving all, human and divine justice gave them a legacy of great honor.
They must deserve much more from what they had done in their individual lives, the positive and the negative, and we will never know the totality of that. But what we do know and see is that we have Filipino heroes in them.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, too, and the First Gentleman will also receive from human and divine justice what they have earned from the good or the evil they have done. We will never know the totality of what that human and divine justice is and will be, but we are assured by existence itself, that our First Couple will be honored, or be cursed.
Source
=====================
Just like what title said "Be Honored or Cursed," it's up to my fellow Filipino can answer that questions. I hope our next leader will makes me a proud Filipino whose lead by a God-fearing person and committed only to his people.
