The Company We Keep14.04.10
Aired on April 14, 2010
Narration by Ptr. RG Foncardas
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Program Transcript – MP3 Audio
THE COMPANY WE KEEP
The Philippines has a group-centered culture. All of us are part of one or more groups. We cannot survive without a little help from our friends or family. This can often be a source of strength, but sometimes a cause for concern.
The reason is simple: in order to be in the good graces of the company we keep, especially in public life, we may feel obligated to do favors for them. This may mean using our influence in helping them get projects or contracts. Because kinship is very important to us, we may be pressured to do things that would ultimately benefit those closest to us. In other words, to keep the company we keep, we bend over backwards for them.
A former president, for example, proclaimed that he would not privilege either family or friends during his term. Just two years later, one of his former advisers confessed that he did both. It proved to be disastrous, because he was found to have a ‘midnight cabinet’ of cronies who fronted for him in various shady dealings that led to his ouster.
No matter how competent or incorruptible candidates may be, we must look at the company they keep. What kinds of people are backing up their candidacies ? Do they rely on a party machinery that has a history of cheating and corruption ? Do they have a shadowy circle of financiers who have too much influence or power behind the scenes? What interests do their families have? When they make a policy pronouncement, is it going to benefit the interests of their family connections?
Some may say that the interests of family and friends may very well be the interest of the country. This may be true if the connection is an appropriate one.
However, we have a warning from the history of Israel about the dangers of keeping company with the wrong people.
When Rehoboam, son of King Solomon, took the throne of Israel, the people of the northern tribes asked him to treat them fairly. Indeed, that was the counsel of the older and wiser men who used to advise his father Solomon. But Rehoboam chose to listen to the bad company he kept from his younger days. For personal gain, his bad advisers told him to be even harsher to the people of the north. This caused bitterness and rebellion and the eventual collapse of the kingdom of Israel.
This election, we should be wary of the kind of company our candidates keep. Are the candidates connected to people who are known to be corrupt ? Are the candidates themselves the kind who could stand up to their family and friends and those they are indebted to?
It is a good thing that we are a people who cherish our families and friends. But we should also go beyond family and friends and look to the country as the company we keep. We must expand our sense of sakop, and feel responsible and accountable to the whole country.
As John Wesley once said, “The world is my parish.”
May we, and the leaders we choose, have the same breadth of vision and loyalty beyond our immediate connections.
[...] reposted from: TransformNation.ph [...]