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 Children of anger and resentment
by Atty. Joel Cadiogan Obar
The kidnapping of ABS-CBN news correspondent CES Drilon and
her crew is, to me, symptomatic of a deep and endemic resentment
that contaminated humanity from the beginning of time
which is made more profound, complicated and aggravated by
a “self-righteous majority” that is incidentally more blessed with
economic and political power. I am here attempting to look at
the incident and similar incidents worldwide with a different
perspective in the hope that we are able to reconcile the weaknesses
(or strengths) of our Christian Faith with the malady of
the Islam Religion. I write this as I consider the phenomenon a test, a challenge and a temptation
to our Christian Faith. Do
not get me wrong. I am not justifying
the wrongful and criminal
acts of people. We surely must
hate the sin but, mind you, we
must love the sinner who, by the
way, must repent and undergo
a process of punishment or
atonement. But our appetite to
search for the truth should
never fade away. This writing is
addressed to our Christian and
Muslim Brothers who are both
desirous to share a life of peace
and love under the blessings of
a great and universal Fatherhood
of God.
The Ces Drilon kidnapping, the
MNLF-MILF separationist movement,
the IRAQ & AFGAN WAR,
the ABU SAYAF GROUP, the
TALIBAN TRIBE, the SEPTEMBER
11 BOMBING of the TWIN
TOWERS in mainland United
States of America are all part of a
phenomenon that is sweeping the
human race and unless we understand
it in a macro-perspective, we
may not know how to live with it, and
worse, we might only be exacerbating
the already volatile if not irreversible
situation.
ANGER and RESENTMENT
has its beginnings in the biblical
story of Cain and Abel. “Then
the Lord said to Cain, ‘WHY ARE
YOU ANGRY? Why is your face
downcast? If you do what is
right, will you not be accepted?
But if you do not do what is right,
sin is crouching at your door; it
desires to have you, but you
must master it.’ Then the Lord
said to Cain. ‘Where is your
brother Abel?’ I do not know he
replied. ‘Am I my brother’s
keeper?’ Then the Lord said to
Cain, ‘What have you done? Listen!
Your brother’s blood cries
out to me from the ground. Now
you are under a curse and
driven from the ground which
opened its mouth to receive
your brother’s blood from your
hand. When you work the
ground, it will no longer yield its
crops to you. You will be a restless
wanderer of the earth’.”
(Genesis 4:7-12). Thus, was the
repository of the principle of
CRIME and PUNISHMENT. What
follows however is the divine
guideline that is promulgated
for society to follow in dealing
with the sin and crimes of
people. “Cain said to the Lord,
‘My punishment is more than I
can bear. Today you are driving
me from the land, and I will be
hidden from your presence; I
will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds
me will kill me’. But the Lord said
to him, ‘NOT SO; if anyone kills
Cain, he will suffer vengeance
seven times over’. The Lord put
a mark on Cain so that no one
who found him would kill him.”
(Genesis 4: 13-15).
By now, I am not sure if you
know from whence and to where
I am going.
Anyhow, my mind is clear, the
culture of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
and ELITISM among the equally sinful
and undeserving democracies
has spawned GLOBAL PRIDE and
ARROGANCE and thus
marginalized the “MODERN CAIN”
and brought forth into this world the
CHILDREN OF ANGER and RESENTMENT,
the folk hero of whom
is BIN LADEN. This is now the true
challenge and the real test of both
the Christian and Islamic Faith.
Globalization of Democracy
and the establishment of a World
Religion are the best ingredients
of extremism and fundamentalism
for they attack cultures and
practices which find their origins
in antiquity. It is the same on the
local scene. A too centralized
government that is imposing its
principles on tribes that has its own peculiar kind of governance
even before the onset of the Philippine
Republic is a process of
democratization without democracy.
We have legislated institutions
that are devoid of culture.
The once peaceful co-existence
among tribes that has and would
be (if government is to be restructured)
the seed of TRUST, RESPECT,
LOVE and UNDERSTANDING
amongst people of
different color, faith and beliefs
have been withdrawn thereby receding
its place to the man eaten
up by resentment and anger, a
candidate for terrorism and insurrectional
fundamentalism.
Our problem is that we have a
leadership (local, national and international)
which has chosen, because
of the joy and convenience of their
respective comfort zones, to be ignorant
of the nature, character and
history of our present malady. Aristocracy
and arrogance will bring us
nowhere in our quest for solutions.
But rather it is cultivated knowledge
and humility; the love of Christ and
the brotherhood of prophet
Mohammad; the piercing WORD OF
GOD; the submission to the TRUE
AND ONLY SOVERIEGN POWER
OF GOD; that will finally liberate the
human heart and eventually culturally
cultivate the governments of the
world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
brother Muslims and Christians,
my Countrymen, let us go back
to our native self; find ourselves
in the shoes of Cain; face our
Creator naked and alone; and
most importantly KNOW HIM by
his WORD which surpasseth all
understanding. Then and only
then could we truly comprehend
and be able to retrace our destiny
as a people and nation. Have
a nice and pleasant day. (email:
jcobar@gmail.com)
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