Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on email
Email

How do you rate your leaders?

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on email
Email
Twinkling with Ninfa R. Leonardia

They said it, not us or any other nationals. I heard on TV someone commenting that they are no longer the “United” States of America, but the “Un “Divided” one. This was shortly after the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joseph “Joe” Biden. I like to call him “Joseph”  after learning that he is a Catholic, like any, or even most of us Pinoys are. I liked him more when I saw on TV that right after his inauguration he proceeded to the St. Matthew Cathedral. It is always heartwarming to know that the leader is a prayerful man, no matter what his faith is.

***

I think some other Pinoys, like me, are wondering about the law in the United States that still calls for a trial although one has already been impeached. Or did I misinterpret the report, and it was the impeached one himself who is seeking the trial? Well, we have no experience with impeachment in our country, so far, so we have no basis for comparison. But I would suppose that being tried, after you have already been booted out is some sort of double jeopardy. I wonder what our own laws say about cases like that. Moments like this, I regret I did not follow my father’s wish that I would take up law.

***

Anyway, even now, I don’t think I would make a good lawyer, anyway. They say you have to be a good “liar” when you become one. I’m sure my nose would twitch while presenting an alibi, so what kind of a lawyer would that be? But we do have many very smart women lawyers right here in our province and city. The first to come to my mind is Attorney Rowena Guanzon, who is one of the best in the lot. Not that she happens to be a friend, but I think it is in her blood, her parents being lawyers, too. And  very competent and well-known at that. It must be in their blood.

***

How can we get away from the subject of COVID 19? Yesterday, it was reported that the United Kingdom had recorded 30,000 cases and vaccinations are ongoing. They must have adequate sources for the vaccines because, it was noted that they are ready to administer six million vaccinations! They must also have a very reliable and inexhaustible source. By the way, where does our country get the vaccines for our people? And do we already have vaccinations going on in our provinces, towns and cities?

***

I regret that we are not so updated on the ravages of the COVID in our country, and I hope it means that we are not as badly stricken as other s. For that matter, I think the international media does not take much interest in poor little Asian countries like ours. Also, local media does not seem to have much interest in concentrating on such frightening reports, so we have to find out what we can from whatever sources are available. It is so sad when the news often centers on mortalities rather than on more encouraging stories like those about newly discovered cures, or recoveries topping the mortalities, and things like that.

***   

Isn’t it ironic that people from third world countries long to go to the United States that they believe to be the land of milk and honey? President Biden himself may not publicize it but many people there are, even now suffering  from unemployment, hunger and eviction, especially after the COVID hit the country. Shouldn’t we think we are better off than those? To be evicted, driven out of the home you can no longer afford to pay rent for, what does a family affected do, especially if it happens during winter? That is why some foreigners say we people in the tropics are lucky, the sun is always there, waiting for the clouds to blow away!

***

Is there discrimination in vaccinations? A CNN report said that more white people than colored ones were vaccinated. But, no, it didn’t mention if it had inquired into the reason why that was so. Me, I will not be surprised if those colored ones were not willing to undergo the process, because even in countries like ours we still have some superstitious people who will not submit to the needle for all kinds of reason. It is hard to believe that that sort of discrimination still happens “in the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

***

I think I like the way this new American president phrases his words. The other day I heard him quoted on TV as saying that,  he is pushing for “an independent, but not divided United States of America”. When a leader has  a poetic turn of mind like that, I think his people can trust him to be a sensitive, caring, and trustworthy leader. How do you rate our own leadership now?*

ARCHIVES

Read Article by date

March 2024
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Get your copy of the Visayan Daily Star everyday!

Avail of the FREE 30-day trial.