Ego check

Vico Sotto just appeared before the UP College of Law to deliver a commencement speech.

No, he’s not a graduate of the institution that has spawned many notable…well, spawns, but the much-admired mayor of Pasig was chosen to inspire this year’s graduating batch. Apparently, he spent a year in that Law school before deciding he didn’t want that career path, and off he went to public service.

Mayor Sotto rattled off 10 items he keeps in his integrity list, and one stood out in particular. It was item 6: Check your ego. Now, that was worth pondering over.

Not many people think about the ego. Ego has many definitions, ranging from self-consciousness, self-identity, or, as I suspect he means, pride. Self-importance. Conceit. Arrogance. Self-centeredness.

Now this aspect of ego is visibly paraded to us in many forms. There are those who supply us their daily “flex”, what they are, what they wore, what they have. Where they are, whether in the first-class airport lounge enjoying a cocktail while waiting for their flight to be called, by the pool at a luxurious resort sunning themselves, or at the hippest new restaurant about to chomp into a teaspoon of air and bubbles.

And us, the gullible public, lap it all up. We are beside ourselves with envy, idolizing them for their lifestyle, their friends, their access to worlds we could never hope to enter.

All this reminds us that they are special, and we the audience believe them. That belief, that trust, that admiration, or even hero-worship, translates to more clicks, to more likes, to admiring comments, to higher engagement, to more followers, thus feeding that flexer’s dopamine rush and revenue stream.

The ego, they say, is a construct. It is an identity forged from the job title, the social status, the wins, the accomplishments, and in today’s world, the social media adulation. If the outside world thinks you are all that, then maybe, you are all that.

This must be what those holding public positions must be imprisoned in. Our senators and congresspersons are surrounded by sycophants and petitioners, all buttering them up, delivering goop in massive quantities, ad nauseam, until their egos are so stuffed, these public servants think they are God’s gift to the masses.

Imagine, therefore, the reaction of these overstuffed turkeys when confronted by criticism. Why, the pressure is just too intense to handle. They have come to believe they are beyond scrutiny, that they are holier than thou, and they can in no instance be questioned. Every perceived slight is received with a huff and a puff, and counter-attacks are mounted immediately.

Mayor Sotto’s advice is thus crucial. One trick to understand these hyperventilating politicians is to imagine what their egos must be like. After decades of being glorified by millions of voters, media, lobbyists, social climbers, and hangers-on, their egos must already be arriving at the scene 10 minutes before their physical selves.

How else to explain why they can’t stand it when their pet projects are scrutinized by law enforcement? Why lose your temper and hyper-ventilate? Surely, a calm and dignified response like “we welcome questions and are more than willing to answer in the proper forum” would do wonders. Instead, we get tantrums and shrill lectures. Check the ego, please.

Even lawyers representing the vice president seem to have failed to do their mandatory ego-check. Imagine announcing to a room full of other lawyers, the highest elected officials, journalists with excellent credentials, and sundry other accomplished guests that the vice president passed the Bar examinations with only one try, and that she boasts a cartwheel-turning score of 80 in said exams.

Sure, passing the Bar was a great feat. Scoring pretty decent might have been amazing. But to feed that to self-identity? To employ it as a building block for the self? To use it to shame or even belittle opposing counsel? To use it as a defense to an impeachment proceeding?

Check that ego, says Mayor Sotto.