Healing and sealing

By Al S. Mendoza

 

HEALING wounds and sealing scars are worlds apart.

Wounds can be healed quickly, depending on the injured.

And scars can be sealed forever, depending on the scarred.

Politicians that can’t accept defeat so easily are incapable of quick healing.

They forget that dwelling on their wounds will only exacerbate matters.

A sad past, a dark experience, is like sticky dirt in your collar.  Detergent bars just can’t wash it away that easily.

And, even if politicians forget the hurt inflicted by the election setback, the wound may linger on if they can’t forgive their conquerors just as fast, including those who betrayed them in the final push for the ballot to be won.

At times, if not most times, a candidate will hate his own party mate for the loss he has suffered.

There was this congressional candidate in the last May polls that I happen to know, who now avoids a losing candidate for mayor – his own party mate – like the bubonic plague.

Reason?  The congressman-candidate allegedly gave the mayoralty candidate wads of bills for distribution to some 80 or so barangay captains at P200,000 each.

All the captains knew about the money as the incumbent congressman had it announced for distribution days before the election.

Unfortunately, only a few received the promised bounty.

Result:  The congressman lost badly in that town.  And because that town was vote-rich, the congressman – he comes from a prominent family of consistent winners – eventually lost his seat in Congress.

And the mayoralty bet?  He also lost.

“Yes, the former mayor also lost but in the end, he still won, pocket-wise,” said a friend of mine from that charming town by the sea.  “Easily, that enterprising mayor could have easily stashed away a minimum of five million bucks.”

The losing mayor has disappeared into the asphalt jungle of Manila, reportedly holed up now in his plush condo maybe somewhere in the Global City that is Taguig.

It is stories like this that jars no end a losing candidate like the congressman I cite here – that is, if he doesn’t know how to cope up with a debacle.

Most candidates win with their money, but several lose a lot of money – if not all of their money because of, well, being too trusting.

If the losing congressman doesn’t watch it, he may lose his mind, hunt down the scumbag mayor and make him grist for tabloid headline stuff in cold blood.

For, lest one has forgotten, politics in this country is the dirtiest game ever; sometimes, it can even be bloody.  As of last count, 54 were listed killed in election-related violence.

So, the trick is, a losing candidate must heal his wound quickly and next, like enamel paint, seal the scar as soon as it dries.

There is always the next fight to look forward to.  Dirty fight, if I may make a reminder once more.

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