Bravery in the face of uncertainty

Uncertainty shows up everywhere. Just look at the weather – sunny one minute, rainy the next. In everyday life, uncertainty is that uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what the future holds. I hate that feeling; I’m sure most of us do. In science, uncertainty doesn’t mean a scientist is clueless but rather, he or she is more likely to be calculating their limits brought about by their tools or the environment.

Science always asks the question: “How does this work and how can I prove it?” On the other hand, when we look at uncertainty from the perspective of faith, we learn to embrace it in order to find meaning. The question that faith asks is why we are here and how we should live in the face of what we cannot see.

Approaching uncertainty through our faith is different. Lately, I’ve been thinking about EDSA and the days that led us to it. After much thought and pondering, mulling over whether all our efforts have been for naught, remembering EDSA always brings me back to one man – my Tito Chino Roces. While my father and his (Chino’s) son were the best of friends, their friendship also led to my father (Jose Morato) meeting and marrying my mother (Pee-Wee Roces), hence explaining my existence due to what some people call a marriage by intersection because of the two streets in our Quezon City area.

Tito Chino was a man I will never forget. Even if most of my memories were focused on our horseback riding days in Baguio and our family gatherings at Inn Rocio, I witnessed, young as I may have been, the courage and grit of one of our family heroes. My Tita Chit Santos describes in her latest book entitled “Not Quite There” how Tito Chino never bothered whether he was protesting alone simply because he believed it had to be done. It didn’t matter if he was with people or if he was on his own – he was simply there even in the middle of uncertainty.

To stand up to do what is right when the ground is shaking beneath you is the ultimate test of human character. To be brave in the midst of uncertainty is what happens when your values matter to you more than your anxiety. Many people, especially the youth, often find themselves anxious about what is going on in their lives so much so that, when faced with adversity, they are easily overwhelmed and discouraged.

But when we look at the world today, we need to be able to separate our challenges. We need to learn how to treat our existential anxiety with internal trust, build community connection and focus on our deeper purpose – one that is found in Christ alone. It is imperative to hold our purpose close to our hearts, especially when we are faced with deep social, professional and personal trials where the consequences of doing the right thing is entirely unpredictable; but faith keeps us in line as a stabilizing force.

The example of Timothy in scripture is one of the most moving examples of mentoring through chaos found in ancient history. When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, that being his last before his execution, the world was a terrifying place for the early church and Christians were facing brutal persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero. Timothy was a young and reserved  man who was prone to anxiety but was left in charge of the church in Ephesus in highly volatile times. One can only imagine the feeling! Yet the Apostle Paul did not offer a magic formula for Timothy to solve his problems and instead, he taught him how to motivate immovable moral courage right in the middle of the storm.

Paul’s most famous piece of advice directly addresses Timothy’s internal panic by calling out the difference between healthy caution and paralyzing anxiety. As he says in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” When we know that our power comes from God, we develop spiritual resistance that helps us endure hardship. When we understand that love focuses on serving others, we move our attention away from personal suffering and, instead of spiraling away into endless “what-if” scenarios, we develop mental clarity and remain calm.

When I remember Tito Chino, I remember his response to the chaos in those days and how it beautifully demonstrated the objective calculation of a newsman with the immovable moral courage of deep faith.

Before martial law, Chino Roces focused heavily on the “knowns” and what he could practically control to help the public, but when his newspapers and stations were shut down overnight in 1972 and he was arrested, the external structures he relied on vanished. My dad witnessed that day with his best friend, Chino’s son, and let’s just say they grew up overnight with a sudden task to hold fort like Timothy.

Chino Roces refused to let the ash suffocate him. Even after being imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio, he realized the ember of truth wasn’t gone; it was just buried. A wealthy elderly brave man could have just stayed inside his clean house but instead, just like Paul, he used his moral stamina to endure the physical blasts of the water cannons. Again, and just like Paul to Timothy, Tito Chino showed us that you cannot fight a battle if you are too worried about protecting your everyday comforts. Bravery in the midst of uncertainty is a very rare characteristic. In the case of Tito Chino, instead of freezing in despair, he leaned into his commitment to a free press and the Filipino people.

The lesson from “Tatang” – as Tito Chino was fondly called – reminds us that uncertain times are the exact canvas where character is tested. In the quiet, predictable seasons of our lives, it is easy to mistake our comfort for conviction. It is only when uncertainty hits and when the path becomes foggy that the stakes get high, and the outcomes are entirely out of our hands. It is here where the true quality of our character and our faith is revealed.

We are celebrating our 128th Independence Day and though the way forward for our country may seem foggy, we need to focus on our values, our faith and our moral conviction. Science indeed enables us to map out the fog but faith gives us the courage to step into it anyway and, when it comes to Tito Chino, he proved that even when the fog is blinding, you can choose to march forward. We often mistake certainty for a prerequisite for action while we wait for the fog to clear. But history does not remember those who waited for a clear day. It remembers the ones who walked into the mist.

Decades ago, Chino Roces only had an anchor. He did not wait for the world to become safe; he chose to be brave. Bravery is not the absence of fear but rather, the quiet stubborn defiance that looks at our future and says even if I am misunderstood, even if the cost is high, I will do what is right. After all, we were never given a spirit of fear. We were given power, love and a sound mind.

Happy Independence Day and Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!