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| Judge wisely, live spiritually -- |
The year 2016 has been one of tremendous upheaval for most people, but for me it has been a year of unremitting triumph. First (perhaps a little selfishly), I finally finished graduate school after thirteen years of bad planning and worse execution. Second, this year also quite literally saw the birth of our son, which means that for better or for worse at long last someone looks like me. Third and finally, there is that little work that I need not expound upon here.
But in the greater scheme of things, 2016 -- in unadorned words -- has made the impossible, possible. In May, in our own beloved Philippines, the long-shot candidacy of Rodrigo Duterte turned out to be a movement of the downtrodden masses, a portent that those who used to suffer for want of leadership will suffer no more. Next, in June, was Great Britain, where--contrary to all polls and betting markets--the people chose not to sacrifice freedom, but to embrace it. Brexit meant, perhaps most of all, "that the life of man may not be offered at any altar of man's own making." Third and finally, the populist movement came full circle in the United States, when the most improbable presidential candidate in history won the election. Donald Trump is the most signal repudiation of the economic and intellectual elite that long looked down on ordinary people and attacked their values and traditions. Put up a monkey (for The Donald is said to be one), and make him promise the right ideas, and he will win. That is the lesson of 2016.
All these mean that on both the personal and the political, I enjoyed all of this year's triumphs and shared none of its tragedies. I favored Brexit, and I voted for Duterte. I am not necessarily a Trump supporter, but I would have been devastated by a Clinton win. I would choose the lesser evil there.
Why is Mr Trump preferable to Mrs Clinton? Why do I count myself among those who celebrate the year as a win and rather than those who lament it as a loss? I believe that the line separating the two is defined by the value that each group attaches to words.
I find it amazing that my Facebook friends who are working full time in demanding roles both in the academe and the private sector manage to find the time to troll the words of Duterte and Trump, click their tongues, shake their heads, say "Tsk, tsk", and then proceed to share the offending utterance. Other "netizens" pounce on the link, it spreads "virally", and it becomes news. And this cycle happens for EVERY word that comes out of the presidential mouth, and EVERYwhere that foul mouth goes.
I do not presume to know the visceral feeling of playing gotcha with somebody, of tracking every word coming out of another person's mouth, mocking him when he says something dreadful and rejoicing when he says something good. There must be some interior reward, but it reminds me of Lyndon Johnson's saying (about making a speech on economics): "[It] is a bit like pissing down your leg. It seems hot to you but never to anyone else."
That is how it looks to me: words are cheap. Anybody can say them, and in this day and age, they can be spun to mean anything. And yet, everyday, some controversy erupts over something Duterte said, or something Trump tweeted. How about something they did?
Prominent conservative critics of Mrs Clinton's, those working as columnists in major newspapers in the United States such as George Will and Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post, Ross Douthat of The New York Times, and Megan McArdle of Bloomberg, would never vote for Mrs Clinton but could not bring themselves to vote for Mr Trump because of what he said about Mexicans, women, gays, blacks, or pick any minority or special-interest group. But did they once pause to think what he could do or promise to do? What was in his platform, versus his opponent's policy proposals? I've read their columns, and I can confidently say that there was nothing about policies (proposed actions) but everything about tweets, speeches or interviews.
It turns out that, to mention just three items, Mr Trump pledged to support pro-life proposals and appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices; cut taxes; and reduce climate-change regulation. Whether or not you agree with their "goodness", all of these things are the stuff of which conservative dreams are made. By contrast, what did Mrs Clinton pledge to do? According to one analyst, her campaign amounted to -- "It's my turn, damn it!"
In the U.K., quote after quote spewed out of the Remain campaign warning of the dangers of Brexit, sourced from various luminaries' eloquently phrased words. After three months, the country's economy grew so much faster than expected, driven by domestic consumption--all despite the plunge in the pound. How do those eminent words sound now?
And finally in our country, the Philippines. I suppose it is not just words that constitute the case against Duterte. His murdering of drug suspects is immoral and wrong. But in general, "critics are responding not to [his] deeds, but to his words; not to his actions, but to his appearance. They are judging not his actual achievements, but his reputation. They condemn his sense of humor, but not his cool ability in government for the past three decades. The critics are taken from the class of people who decry personality-driven politics, but they are the first to criticize Mr Duterte on the basis of his personality, not his accomplishments."
In this holiday season, we would do well to use wisely the time off our work or school. (As for me, I made this wreath using my limited artistic ability.) We spend the time with family and friends, and create the moments and share the memories that make us, in word and deed, in thought and action, species of one special community. And what we have in common is the Christmas gift of limitless love, unceasing mercy, and heedless sacrifice, to be triggered merely by our own honest repentance.
May we allow the spirit of this kind of Christmas to guide us to make the right judgment. Let us judge other people based on their deeds, not their words. Allow them to show us what they can do, not just what they can say. For freedom -- the freedom won by the man born on Christmas Day -- shows up in action, never just in words.
May 2017 be better indeed, for the losers as with the winners of 2016.
