With apologies to Charles Dickens . . .
These are the best of times, the worst of times—the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness; the epoch of belief, the epoch of incredulity; the season of light, the season of darkness; the spring of hope, the winter of despair.
Using two leaders instead of two cities, I am illustrating polar opposites in leadership values. 
Leader A is young, a newbie in politics. Since day one of the virus lockdown, he has been hailed for looking after his constituents’ needs. Although with good intentions, he almost got into hot water when he allowed some tricycles to transport frontliners.
On his 31st birthday, he prohibited any kind of celebration. Instead of birthday gifts, he urged his well-wishers to buy grocery food packs and give them to the needy. His tweets:
Leader B is five years short of being a senior citizen. He is a major general and the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO). On his 55th birthday, he was surprised by his men and some high-ranking police officers with a party, complete with a Voltes 5 cake, a scrumptious array of food with matching alcoholic beverages, tables and chairs, and balloons.
Photos of the party were then uploaded online by the NCRPO’s Public Information Office.
A ruckus on social media trended. Ordinary citizens screamed of violations of government’s ban on mass gathering, alcoholic beverages, and social distancing, which the honorable general was supposed to implement.
To his credit, leader B apologized but insisted in an interview, "Wala pong mali doon...It would be ungentlemanly kung 'di ko sila hinarap at pinauwi ko sila [There was nothing wrong there...It would be ungentlemanly if I did not face them and if I told them to go home].”
Here are two of our leaders (A and B) in a time of pandemic, the season of light and the season of darkness. We rejoice, we grieve.
But beyond all those, we are grateful that it is still (and always will be) the season of grace for all.
Photo credit: W and Rappler
2 comments:
Kindly edit label on Mayor Vico's picture
Mayor, Pasig City (not Pasay)
Thank you.
Thank you so much for pointing out my error, whoever you are. NO excuses. My apologies to Mayor Vico Sotto. The caption has been revised accordingly.
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