It is the measure of how low we have come in the political discourse when would-be leaders declare how bad they are and then accuse everyone else, especially their opponents, of being hypocrites. It would seem innocuous. This would not be the first time this devise has been used to further political ambitions. And yet, in the context of the times, it paints a rather fearful picture of governance and what we must expect as our collective futures unfold. Imagine how bad things will be if those who lead us leave no room anymore for even the slightest pretensions of integrity and goodness.
And then, one must ask: Are we better off with a bad leader who pretends to be good? Or would we rather have a bad leader who does not pretend at all? In other words, a non-hypocrite. To be sure, the best option is to have a good leader who only pretends to be bad. But then that leader would be a hypocrite no less than bishops, their flocks, and the whole institution of the Catholic Church itself.
A good Catholic may deny many possible accusations, but not hypocrisy. Even on the fundamental issue of faith, no Catholic can claim a perfectly steadfast faith. The greatest saints admit to periods of doubt and self-doubt. The good Catholic resolves this doubt by going off alone. He does not resolve it by announcing to everyone how he is laden with doubt. The good Catholic pretends faith. He is a hypocrite. But perhaps no less so than other believers, including priests, bishops, and even the beloved Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Unless, he is god, and therefore not prone to the hypocrisies of mere mortals.
The institution of the Catholic Church is inescapably hypocritical. It carries a historical cross: that of being the religion of our colonizers. And surely it cannot deny the heavy sins of its past. But all living institutions of man are that way without exception. They all have a dark past. And yet, human institutions mature inside historical cycles of time. And if they do not grow better, then they will die. It goes to follow that any religion that survives to this time should enjoy its constitutional right to exist: the Catholic Church no less than other religions, including the religion of Pastor Quiboloy.
And if hypocrisy means to pretend what you are not, then we are all hypocrites. Any person who writes anything at all may be accused of pretending to be an intellectual even when he is not. He may be accused of pretending to be a good writer even when he is not. We all fall under the inexorable constraints of real life. Before we can be good at doing anything at all, we must first pretend to know what we are doing when we do the thing we want to be good at doing. The mastery of anything comes with practice. It comes only after years of pretending to be good at something. And one must learn early how to pretend in good faith and with the innocence of a little child. The little child is also a hypocrite, but perhaps no less so than Pastor Quiboloy.
And perhaps if the president-elect would now pretend to be a good president instead of accusing of hypocrisy, everyone who has ever criticized or opposed him, might all be better off. We are all imperfect. We all pretend to be better than what we truly are. We all have secrets. Neither six months nor six years is enough time to reveal all of them.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
