TENDERNESS AND KINDNESS IN POLITICAL LIFE

By Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM

Nagsasawa na ako sa puro lakas at yabang, pagmumura at kabalbalan, pagsasamantala at kasinungalingan, corruption at patayan. Nakakaumay na rin.

Tapang daw ang kailangan pero duwag din naman pala. Puro porma pero walang laman. Puro salita pero walang gawa. Hindi ba kayo nagsasawa?

May mga nais sumunod pero parang ganon din naman! Magkakampi, pareho lang ang mukha at pinanggalingan.

Baka matulungan tayo ni Pope Francis sa kanyang pangarap kung ano ang lipunang kaaya-aya na may pagkalinga sa isa't-isa.

Nais mo ng "matapang" na lider? Subukan mo ang kahinahunan — yan ang tunay na katapangan.

Ang tapang ay hindi nakikita sa yabang. May kasabihan: "Ang ilog kapag maingay, mababaw. Ang lata kapag kinalog mo't maingay, konti ang laman."

Tenderness and kindness can only come from the strongest and the truly courageous, sabi nga ni Pope Francis.

"Politics too must make room for a tender love of others. “What is tenderness? It is love that draws near and becomes real. A movement that starts from our heart and reaches the eyes, the ears and the hands… Tenderness is the path of choice for the strongest, most courageous men and women” (Fratelli Tutti, 194)

"Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from the frantic flurry of activity that forgets that others also have a right to be happy.

"Often nowadays we find neither the time nor the energy to stop and be kind to others, to say “excuse me”, “pardon me”, “thank you”.

"Yet every now and then, miraculously, a kind person appears and is willing to set everything else aside in order to show interest, to give the gift of a smile, to speak a word of encouragement, to listen amid general indifference.

"If we make a daily effort to do exactly this, we can create a healthy social atmosphere in which misunderstandings can be overcome and conflict forestalled.

"Kindness ought to be cultivated; it is no superficial bourgeois virtue. Precisely because it entails esteem and respect for others, once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the ways ideas are discussed and compared.

"Kindness facilitates the quest for consensus; it opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges." (Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, 224)



Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, CM
St. John's University
New York
danielfranklinpilario@yahoo.com
10.29.2021