Put A Condom On Greed - 2nd of 2 parts

GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano

2nd of 2 parts

continued from yesterday....

Pro choice advocates who appear so tough against the Church's stand on population control claim so much concern for the quality of life of poor families with many children but so muted and meek against the purveyors of corruption which caused poverty in the first place and continues to deepen the suffering of the poor today. Their deafening silence against the agents of corruption make their claim of concern for the poor almost comical.

I do not know whether to laugh or to cry at the hypocrisy being foisted on us. They are all leaders of Filipinos, officers of the State, shepherds of the Church. How can they be so blind, or so deceptive? How can they be less than courageous, less than honest, even when they each try to call our attention and ask for our support for their respective positions? Why can they not break an ugly pattern of centuries, confess to their victims how their corruption brought a rich land and a gifted people to their knees to wallow in poverty?

The poor are not animals in a breeding program, but they end up as such because they are treated as though they are. Their choices, pro or anti, are uninformed because of their level of awareness and understanding. Worse, though, is their level of freedom - which is just slightly better than the carabaos being tested in breding programs. Carabaos, at least, are ensured that their masters will look for the land, the food and the bath they need.

On the other hand, the poor are driven to where they cannot be seen, heard or smelled. The poor are sacrificed to the altar calamities which lessen their numbers more effectively in proportion versus natural family planning of artificial contraceptives. Those who want to engage in population control should just hope that more disasters like floods, typhoons, landslides, earthquakes, fire, sinking ships, and bloody conflicts visit the Philippines.

This is a time for courage, not debate. This is a time when the poor must be attended to and relieved of their fears and hunger. This is a time when conflict among the rich and powerful, including the Catholic Church, directly hurts the poor in their most vulnerable moment. We gripe about the effects of fuel and rice prices, but the poor actually cringe from hunger and fear at a deeper level.

Let us not quibble about what they do in bed; rather, let us give them a bedroom. Let us not quibble about contraceptives or family planning methods to lessen their number of children, rather, let us put condoms over greed and the exploitation of the more powerful and wealthy. And for us who are neither the poorest of the poor or powerful like the Congress or the Church, let us overcome our own reluctance, our attachment to comfort, cross over to the wrong side of the fence, embrace the poor as our own brothers and sisters, and walk with them to freedom and well-being. ***

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GLIMPSES
"In bayanihan, we will be our brother's keeper and forever shut the door to hunger among ourselves."