Bato’s ‘good life’

By Alex P. Vidal

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

“SARAP ng buhay, sarap ng buhay, ganto na lang tayo palagi ha?”

(Life is good, life is good, I hope we’re like this all the time)

Thus was the controversial statement recently made by Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa after the Senate shifted to “hybrid” sessions and plenary meetings while we observed the social distancing owing to coronavirus’ murderous binge.

If Bato wants to desire a “good life” it’s none of our business.

Who wants to have a “bad life” in the first place?

Only hypocrites will deny they wouldn’t fight tooth and nail to have a good life, or to enjoy a satisfying and stress-free life.

Only the charlatans will admit they would choose a miserable life if asked to make a choice.

There’s nothing earthshaking actually about his words even if we view them from the perspective of politics.

They can’t be associated either with the dreary “political correctness” or a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.

 

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Expressing ecstasy in that “hybrid” senate session, Bato desired only happiness in life, not hedonism.

When applied to a person, the word “hedonist” has slightly negative connotations as it suggests that they are devoted to what some have called the “lower” pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general.

The question whether we want a good or a bad life actually isn’t as simple as it sounds.

We don’t specialize in unpacking hidden complexities in sentences, but most of us will probably agree that the concept of the good life is one of those that needs quite a bit of unpacking.

The good life we all desire is different from pleasure, bluntly declared by Epicurus thousands of years ago as what makes “life worth living.” “Pleasure is enjoyable, it’s fun, it’s…well…pleasant! The view that pleasure is the good, or, to put I another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism,” according to Dr. Emrys Westacott of University of Texas at Austin.

 

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The problem with most people is their tendency to be sanctimonious when passing a judgment to what they hear and see in the political jungle.

Bato may not be our ideal senator (critics even call him as “clown”), but he deserves “to be happy” or to express what he wants and what to desire for his own life; the neophyte senator is entitled to his right to freedom of expression just like any other ordinary citizens, and his critics are also entitled to rib him; anyway they were the ones who placed him there.

I never voted for Bato but I won’t belittle him. I didn’t believe he should be in the senate, in the first place. But the people have spoken and he is now a duly elected senator; he deserves our support.

In fairness, this was what the former PNP chief-turn-solon texted to reporters to justify his “happiness”: “Kaya nasabi kong ang sarap nang buhay kasi mas mabilis ang talakayan ng bills kapag naka-(WebEx) kami at mas maaga matapos ang session.” (The reason I said that was because our discussions on the bills were faster as we used WebEx and the session was suspended early).

 

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Speaking of desiring a good life, here are the 10 golden rules on living the good life, according to Forbes’ Panos Mourdoukoutas:

1. Examine life, engage life with vengeance; always search for new pleasures and new destines to reach with your mind.
2. Worry only about the things that are in your control, the things that can be influenced and changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond your capacity to direct or alter.
3. Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for affiliation. Friendship cannot be acquired in the market place, but must be nurtured and treasured in relations imbued with trust and amity.
4. Experience True Pleasure. Avoid shallow and transient pleasures. Keep your life simple. Seek calming pleasures that contribute to peace of mind. True pleasure is disciplined and restrained.
5. Master Yourself. Resist any external force that might delimit thought and action; stop deceiving yourself, believing only what is personally useful and convenient; complete liberty necessitates a struggle within, a battle to subdue negative psychological and spiritual forces that preclude a healthy existence; self mastery requires ruthless cador.
6. Avoid Excess. Live life in harmony and balance. Avoid excesses. Even good things, pursued or attained without moderation, can become a source of misery and suffering.
7. Be a Responsible Human Being. Approach yourself with honesty and thoroughness; maintain a kind of spiritual hygiene; stop the blame-shifting for your errors and shortcomings.
8. Don’t Be a Prosperous Fool. Prosperity by itself, is not a cure-all against an ill-led life, and may be a source of dangerous foolishness. Money is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the good life, for happiness and wisdom.
9. Don’t Do Evil to Others. Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a kind of reflex too quickly resorted to and too easily justified that has a lasting and damaging effect upon the quest for the good life. Harming others claims two victims—the receiver of the harm, and the victimizer, the one who does harm.
10. Kindness towards others tends to be rewarded. Kindness to others is a good habit that supports and reinforces the quest for the good life. Helping others bestows a sense of satisfaction that has two beneficiaries—the beneficiary, the receiver of the help, and the benefactor, the one who provides the help.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)