My son, Juan, filling in for papa today.
I came in for a cleaning. I left with a root canal. And that’s why I’m smiling.
When I entered the Dr. Aileen J. Ansaldo’s dental clinic, I was feeling rather good about myself. Whereas most of my friends actively avoided trips to the dentist, I actually looked forward to them. In retrospect, these dental appointments were less about healthy teeth and more about my unhealthy sense of self-worth. In a very real way, I thought that the relatively excellent condition of my teeth, which manifests beautifully into the incandescent wonder that is my smile, was incontrovertible proof that indeed, “God loves me!” and that “I’m special!”
As the gap where my second lower bi-cuspid attests, I was wrong. Two years of attentive flossing could not overcome three decades worth of improper dental hygiene. Worse, because the fracture in my second lower bi-cuspid was masked by an ill-advised filling, the problem had deteriorated rapidly, and in relative anonymity. I would have lost more than a tooth.
Recently, much was made about how the current administration treated the travel request of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in the end, argued that national interest should take precedence over individual constitutional rights.
I won’t even bother to discuss the ramifications of upholding national interest to the detriment of our constitutional rights. Teddy Boy Locsin has a wonderfully erudite entry on that in his Teditorial. But I would like to suggest a course of action for President Noynoy Aquino.
Why not have a root canal?
One of the reasons why I ended up voting for then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino was because I agreed that “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” I believe that President Noynoy Aquino is sincere about wanting to stamp out corruption. I believe that President Noynoy Aquino is sincere about holding people accountable for past actions. But I also believe that President Noynoy Aquino is sincerely misled, perhaps by a passionate moral outrage that, unhindered by an even fiercer compassion for the redemptive qualities of justice founded in truth, was all too quickly fanned into an ill-advised foray into the morass that is retribution.
I don’t know. I may be mistaken. I am not privy to the workings of power, or what really happens in the hallowed halls of Malacanan. But I can’t help reflect on what I had, inadvertently, inflicted on myself today. I came in for a cleaning. I left with a root canal. And now, I’m smiling.
Tags: Noynoy
