EDITORIAL - Wasted opportunities

There were talks last week about the mayor getting angry at somebody who attended a big rally of his party because that somebody was wearing a T-shirt of the rival party. If the rumors are true, it was a mistake for the mayor to get angry.

To get angry is to approach a situation in a negative way, and in such cases, you lose invariably. Instead of getting angry, the mayor should have seen the situation in a positive way. He should have seized the moment as an opportunity.

One example of turning that situation into an opportunity was for the mayor to point out that somebody from among the crowd and announce that the campaign must be turning in his favor because even the "enemy" found time to attend his rally.

It is not clear what came of that incident, but if the rumors are true, then count that incident in the lost bracket for the mayor. Of course, that incident is too minor to affect the conduct of his campaign. But a lost opportunity is a lost opportunity.

Besides, had the mayor seized the moment as some people would have seized it, it would have turned the overall campaign into something more refreshing, and thus conducive to learning, instead of the dirty and stuffy air it has chosen to breathe in.

By overall campaign is meant not just that of the mayor and his party but of their opponents as well. In fact, it is stuffier and dirtier from where the opponents stand because the big put-down is the overall theme of their campaign.

There is none of the high-brow stuff, that kind that educates the voters about qualities, qualifications, achievements and plans. What pervades the air is the obnoxious stench of what gross inhumanity man can do to his fellows.

And to think the campaign is about giving the people the chance and the opportunity to choose their leaders. One of the saddest commentaries of our day is that instead of choosing the right leaders the right way, those who want to be elected are the ones obscuring the way.