Number our days

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has her heart in the right place or has done the politically correct act by giving priority and assistance to the “poorest of the poor” due to the high prices of rice.

The question is how does the President expect to reach the poorest of the poor who are not legal or registered residents of barangays since they don’t own homes or can’t afford to rent rooms?

How can her act of benevolence reach the unemployed and the displaced when they can only be found under bridges, park benches or far flung areas like the foot hills of Laguna, Batangas, etc?

Can we even expect to get past the vultures called unscrupulous Congressmen and Mayors who are more interested in their photo-ops with the President and plastering their egos and names on billboards, banners and school buildings? If taxes paid for the school buildings, why does Congress allow their names to be placed on buildings they didn’t pay for?

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has been given what I believe is an overly idealistic and impossible assignment. The Local Government Act has seriously diminished effective communication and supervision by the DSWD of their local counterparts. Now if governors, mayors and barangay officials are helpless or useless in caring for “the poorest of the poor” in their own backyard, how can we expect and burden a poorly funded body such as the DSWD to do the job?

If the President is serious about her plan she might want to consider some suggestions that would also improve her relations and performance: reach out to various religious groups, student bodies or churches to assist the DSWD in the enlistment of real “poorest of the poor” people.

Help these volunteer groups to set up soup kitchens or “Rice” lines; list and provide identification cards to prioritize them for housing or livelihood assistance. Identify their areas of concentration and publicly audit the local officials beginning with their Congressman, governor, mayor and barangay captain to determine how government money has been used.

Audit how much money actually goes to improving the quality of life via hospitals, schools, water works, housing and livelihood as against beautification and construction of non priority roads, plazas, parks and basketball courts.

And my favorite: audit all idle lands particularly agricultural lands that are not agriculturally productive and/or belonging to absentee owners leaving abroad. The poverty we know is not from lack but results from idleness or greed. This is the poverty that comes from a corrupt soul.

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The news about President Cory Aquino having cancer certainly jolted many of us into realizing that even heroes or presidents are vulnerable.

Somehow I can’t help thinking that God in his infinite wisdom has decided to use Cory Aquino yet again to wake us up from our stupor and force us to rethink the way we live, the way we think, as well as to evaluate our relationship with God and others.

The timing of Cory’s medical bulletin certainly shocked us all. No one can deny that most of us are still busy reconciling the relevance of Lent and Easter with our daily lives, somehow hoping to come up with a commitment or a resolution to mimic our Lord Jesus Christ. But even before we could soothe our sunburned skin or aching muscles, God confronts us with the non-negotiable message about our mortality.

God has always been perfect about timing and he always uses those we least expect to be cast in a particular role or situation. Was it a coincidence that the previously quiet and withdrawn former President had been in the limelight in the past two months? Why give Cory cancer? Why not give it to others more deserving? Or was God simply setting the stage so that his messenger and his message would have full impact as it did?

I would not impute any political forecast into this scenario. I guess it’s simply a case of…“Now that I have your attention this Holy week, can we discuss how you have prioritized your ‘lifestyle’, your ambitions, etc.”

I can only guess that maybe God is telling us to number our days. Although he may have set eternity in our hearts, he set a limit to the days of our lives. I often tell people that anyone who lives beyond 70 is essentially living on bonus time. Unfortunately, it is not about the length of years you live, but how you live and who you live for.

President Cory has certainly lived a remarkable life. She has suffered and sacrificed, she has served. But more than all of her public accomplishments, she has been best at being a mother.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not writing an obituary nor hinting at one. But Cory unlike many of us, has already written her colorful story while living her life. It is as writers often say: The life well lived.

How then should we view the situation or accept the message, if any?

First of all, “bad things” happen to everyone. If God applied our view of right and wrong or good and bad, this planet would be a very empty space. Then there is the issue of priorities and the right perspective.

A very ill person quickly realizes that good health, maximizing “time” and family becomes most important. The right perspective tells us that not all things are within our control, or influence, or can be achieved within our time frame. In most cases it is the people with little time left who begin to spend more of it with God so they can spend the next “eternity” with God.                                                       

Another lesson that so many…as in most of us…take for granted is the importance of prayer. Isn’t it strange that many people who devalue the power and importance of prayer in their daily lives end up with nothing else and doing nothing else but pray at the end of their lives?!

I remember the statement of Carl Jung: “That which you resist will persist”. 

Clearly there is a lesson, especially in the tragedy that befalls our nation or on others. In the end all we can do is pray for our enemies and as well as our friends, because that is what sets us apart from “animals” — our God-given compassion.