Watch your words and demeanor

By Alex P. Vidal

“Don’t flatter yourselves that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. On the contrary, the nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

In less than two weeks, candidates in the May 9 Philippine election can’t afford to make a major blunder as horrific as the one recently committed by presidential candidate Franciso “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.

This applies also to local candidates, who may now be also losing their patience as the situations turn tension-filled and are now incalculable in many aspects.

Both the national and local candidates must now watch out for their demeanor and carefully choose their words especially then lambasting their rivals without any apparent provocation, or they will lose major party leaders and key supporters in a hemorrhage or heavy defections.

Even if they are being provoked, the best option is still to maintain a calm mind and continue to soldier on like a professional team player.

Bawal ang pikon, or as what some neighborhood buddies tell each other, “relaks lang ‘tsong!”

Although easier said than done, they must learn to control their emotions as the homestretch is still the most critical stage in any race.

Emotions are running high undoubtedly, especially for those who are lagging behind in the surveys; but whatever pint up outburst and angry snipes may only exacerbate any candidate’s downfall and won’t contribute in any damage control.

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It’s good that in our culture in the Philippines, we don’t mistreat our elderly and parents in the name of “discipline” or anything that is associated to a lockdown related to pandemic like what the Chinese government is doing to its people.

Authorities in Shanghai have been tightening the enforcement of lockdown measures, as a Covid-19 surge continued in China’s financial capital and some of the scenes weren’t good in our eyes.

We saw on CNN, BBC, and other mainstream media how the seniors were being dragged forcibly and physically assaulted when they put up a resistance in the lockdown measures.

New measures included placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving, as well as evacuating people to disinfect their homes.

Hundreds have been forcibly evacuated from their homes, including the seniors, to allow for buildings to be disinfected.

The restrictions took Shanghai’s lockdown into its fifth week now as infected patients and close contacts were transferred to government-run centralized quarantine.

Disinfection measures were further escalated in some of the city’s worst-hit areas. This would likely mean some residents were forced to move out temporarily including those who have tested negative.

Let’s hope and pray the grim scenarios in Shanghai won’t happen in the streets of Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros, and Davao.

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I had the privilege to visit the Roosevelt House, the former double townhouse of former U.S President Franklin, Eleanor and Sara Delano Roosevelt on Upper East 65^th in Manhattan April 21.

Now owned by Hunter College, the house now offers visitors a chance to get closer to a family as unique as the city they inhabited, and to explore the private spaces where some of the most iconic public policy of the 20th century was shaped.

Roosevelt House is an integral part of Hunter College since 1943, re-opened in 2010 as a public policy institute honoring the distinguished legacy of the Roosevelt couple.

Its mission is three-fold: to educate students in public policy and human rights, to support faculty research, and to foster creative dialogue.

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The institute actually provides opportunities for students to analyze public policy and experience meaningful civic engagement; for faculty to research, teach, and write about important issues of the day; and for scholarly and public audiences to participate in high-profile lectures, seminars and conferences.

We could learn about President Franklin Roosevelt’s rise to the White House after his struggle with polio, Eleanor’s activism for civil rights and human rights, and Sara’s philanthropy.

It’s in the rooms inside where Eleanor gained the leadership skills to become America’s ambassador to the world and where Franklin created the New Deal to bring America out of the Great Depression.  We could also hear the voices of the Roosevelts and their friends and view Roosevelt memorabilia, photographs, and period documents.

The Roosevelt House still maintains the Neo-Georgian landmark designed by architect Charles A. Platt and learn how Hunter College carries on the Roosevelts’ legacies in the 21st century through research, teaching and public programs.

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