By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

IN two days, there will be significant changes in our national life. Significant because what we intend to replace presents a formidable obstacle, a systemic disease gone malignant over time, and it will not go without the danger of further contamination of healthy cells or incapacitating its host. What exacerbates the situation is that those who present solutions have rendered faulty analysis, having been fed with data created by spin doctors and the gullibility of public sentiment.

Whatever happens, the “doctors” in the operating table will either pronounce the body dead or alive. Dead, they can feast on what remains, fodder to research by academics, pseudo-scientists, economic pundits, and dark humor for the public who seem to have grown their own expert diagnosis, pushing and advocating for their own beliefs.  Alive, it will be walking dead for a long time.

The caregiver/s (soon to be undertaker/s) in this situation will inherit the burden of keeping hopes high, of resuscitating something gasping for breath. And so he/she plays the part. Because “All the world’s a stage”, as Jaques said, in William Shakespeare’s play, “As You Like It”.

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts . . .”

Until, the caregiver/s, transitioning into undertakers, are also carted out by a different team of embalmers. But the world regains its balance all the time, without regard for casualties, a conclusion emphasized in the book, Jurassic Park, a renowned 1990 science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton where a park collapsed into chaos. In this balancing act, we can expect people changing, not only changing, but changing for the better, after they have done their worst. We may again witness sparks of real patriotism, the love of country that rebuilds, a unity after the devastation from anarchy, corruption, and insatiable lust for power of the ruling class, and taming the predatory instincts of the hungry outliers. We may even learn to become respectful after disrespecting each other, and redeem our souls.

I will wait for the day when
you and I can look beyond
our hateful words, say “How are you?”
mean it, without leaving
before I utter the first word

I will wait for the day when
you start to listen, and listen well
to what is not being said, out of fear
or censure, or shame

Yes, I will wait for you,
listen to you, as I‘ve always done
understanding the why and the how
you welcomed, you embraced,
and lived, the hate