GOVERNANCE MATTERS
Former Vice President Jejomar Binay
Recently, I was able to catch a portion of a talk show on cable television where the guest showed no compunction about his reckless behavior or reined in his self-praise. It was a wanton display of arrogance at a time when we should be observing humility, the season being a reminder of God’s presence in our lives.
Humility in politics and public discourse seems to be a rare commodity these days. Civility even more so. They have become endangered values. The humble, polite, soft-spoken personality or public official who thinks before he speaks, who presents his views in well-considered, complete sentences seems to be more the exception than the rule.
Crudeness and arrogance are considered normal, accepted, and even celebrated.
We have become, it seems, a nation already inured to behavior that just a few years ago were proscribed and unheard of in public discourse. Today, politics, governance, and public forums are the stomping grounds for arrogant bullies. Whether what they say makes any sense is merely an afterthought. It is the demeanor, the crude public persona dressed up as a virtue of authenticity, that seems to matter more.
Of course, with elections just around the corner, it may be wisely inferred that the display of this kind of behavior and rhetoric is intended to position the person in the public mind as another “authentic” man of the people. Such thinking equates being uncouth with being a man who cares for the people. This twisted analogy has been disproven so many times. There are examples of public officials who were carried to office on the wings of supposed authenticity, only to espouse and impose policies that are patently anti-people.
Whether such authenticity has transformed the lives of the people is a matter for discussion. The depressing state of the economy, the rapid decline in living standards, the uncertainty, and the heavy-handed assault on democratic values and institutions speak otherwise. But even the facts are contentious, subjected to debates colored by emotions rather than sobriety, partisanship rather than objectivity. The facts do not move people who have already made up their minds.
The absence of humility and cordiality, the open partisanship driven more by anger than rationality, has driven a wedge in the body politic. On social media, it has become commonplace for insults and threats to be made against certain officials or ordinary citizens who express contrary views. Boorish behavior persists online and even in real life, mainly because it is encouraged by the actuations of some public figures whose demeanor exudes a sense of superiority, even infallibility, a direct contradiction of Christian teachings.
For Christians, humility is the doctrine’s essence. St. Thomas Aquinas declares that: “Humility removes pride, whereby a man refuses to submit himself to the truth of faith.” St. Augustine is quoted as replying to a query, “If you were to ask me, however often you might repeat the question, what are the instructions of the Christian religion, I would be disposed to answer always and only, ‘Humility’.”
A more thorough explanation is provided by Ugandan Deacon Joseph Korembwe in an article in the Catholic Spirit: “Humility is one of the virtues most characteristic of our Lord. It is a virtue that he explicitly said we should learn from him: ‘Learn of me that I am meek and humble of heart.’ Humility is also one of the most misunderstood and least appreciated of the virtues. It is not a virtue of the weak; rather, it is a virtue of the strong.”
Humility is a virtue that we need to commune and reconnect with as Christians in these uncertain times. The arrogance that has been on full display is a mask, intended to hide weakness.