By DR. Dencio S Acop (Ret. COL.)
As I get older, the two sides of life become unmistakably apparent. I either get happy like I was as a little child, or I get serious with all that formal education and informal experience can bring to bear. But, one thing is always certain about where I am in life now. I see life through non-secular eyes and can no longer do the same through secular ones. I see the current political leaders of the free world talk as if they really believe what they are saying or even lived it to believe. I see the current leaders of the land of my birth talk as if they knew the values of honor, humility, and honesty. I see the leaders of the communist world talk as if communism is a success when all they care about is their place in the world. I see many leaders of various faiths willing to preach falsely than mend their ways. I see many military and police commanders, past or present, obeying unlawful orders without conscience for promotion than be man enough to do the right thing. I see many organizational leaders care more about their already hefty paycheck than be honest and humble. I see many husbands pretend to be good husbands just to project a lie before relatives and society. I see many fathers and mothers fail their sons and daughters because they cannot even keep a family together much more aspire for greater things.
As a result, we see political systems and governments pretending to be the solutions to man’s problems, but in reality, creating equally more problems than they solve. We see nations and peoples, content with half-truths or even lies just to satisfy their lying ignorance and pride. We see individuals and groups believing in nothing but themselves. We see communists killing the very peoples they professed to protect and fight for. We see leaders of the faiths who caused some of their flocks to fall away because they preached with their mouths more than their deeds. We see entire police and military organizations who murdered their own peoples or enabled their abuse instead of safeguarding them which is their sworn duty. We see many who are rich while millions more remain poor. We see more homes that are broken because daddy and mommy are broken. We see millions of children grow up to be irresponsible adults because mom and dad couldn’t even stay together much more become worthy models for emulation. We see entire societies lost – materialistic, and lost.
Where did everything go wrong? I think we all go through crossroads in life. In those crossroads, we are forced to make a decision whether to go left or right. We all need to make that decision. It is not just a single decision. It is a succession of decisions made each moment of every single day. Although, one day those single decisions all add up and become just one big decision for each one of us. Through the relentless exercise of those decisions, we either strengthen or weaken our resolve to be where we really want to be. Life could be long or short. And, depending on where we choose to be, our souls adapt. If we look at the lives of the saints, we see a group of individuals who are models of how it’s like to want to become better in this life. When we listen to what these aspirants to a better life have to say, we hear the height of wisdom that truly matters. But, when we hear the words that come out of the mouths of our worldly leaders, we find only shallowness. When we have made up our minds on where we really want to be and stay there, we ultimately progress in that which we embrace; but we regress in the other we rejected. There really is no middle ground. It either becomes better or becomes worse. We either become better or worse from the choices we make.
