As I pondered on this continued cantankerous grumbling, buzzing, squealing, griping, etc. by the opposition people, I thought maybe it is just good that they are doing it as this will even motivate our president to ever do what he needs to do to accomplish his plans and purposes for our nation and for the good of our people. This kind of unwanted chuntering reminds me of the story I read so very long ago from a quote book which title was already erased, but which is still part of my few books in the very limited shelves at home. The story was entitled “Complaints.”
This is the story:
“Would there be any real fun in life if everything was flawlessly harmonious? Do we really want a world free from all obstacles and aches and pains and disappointments? If put to the test we might be like the oxen in the story told by the engineer who was in charge of a hydroelectric project for Rio de Janiero Light and Power Company. The job called for the employment of some seven thousand natives and all the oxcarts and drivers the region afforded.
“Most of the oxcarts were heavy wooden contraptions with wheels eight or ten feet in diameter. The wheels were fastened to wooden axles that turned. Pulled by eight or ten or even twenty oxen the carts hauled the heaviest machinery over the mountains.
“An ear-splitting whine was set up as the carts moved along. Each cart has its own individual squeal. The natives from a distance of half a mile or so could tell whose cart was in movement.
“That noise got on an American Engineer’s nerves. He thought of the waste caused by friction. He couldn’t see why so much power should be allowed to go into the making of noise. One night he and his helpers applied axle grease to the axles. He thought there would be far less noise and more work.
“There was less noise, but there was no work. The oxen refused to haul the carts that did not give them the accustomed whine. The whine for them apparently indicated that their pulling was accomplishing something. For whatever reason it was, the oxen would not work and their drivers were unhappy. The axle grease had to be sandpapered off before work could be resumed.
“So, like those oxen, it may be the whine in the world that keeps us at work.” (from an unknown author of quotes book in my position for more than 30 years, pp. 20-21).
I wondered if the opposition ever thought that their demolishing wolfing tactics against President Duterte might turn into a curse that would eventually diminish or even consume their political careers. It’s likely perhaps, unless they succeeded in their relentless quest to oust the president. If they really were elected by the people, as our elections were always questioned, then they are representatives of the majority and as representatives of the people in a democratic republic they are supposed to be working with the plans and programs of the government and not for their personal retention in a public seat or their party’s existence in power. After elections their loyalty should be for the people and not for their party. Let those scoffing be just only a part during election campaign.
Common sense will tell us that their wrangling and squabbling with the present administration especially against the president who was elected by overwhelming majority, is not against the president himself but the people. And if they go against the 16 million or more avid supporters of President Duterte, they are at a losing end in the next elections, especially with the advent of the social media. They should have silenced themselves and just do what are expected of them as elective officials and assert only those accusations and criticisms that are factual and constructive. They have not learned the lessons during the presidential campaign that no matter how ear-splitting their whines against President Duterte, he still won by an unprecedented victory. Or perhaps they have already acknowledged their future defeats that they unyieldingly and obstinately wanted the sitting president out while they still have the chance, with the vice president on their side of the line.
In my humble observations I found that the harder the opposition blow their horns and trumpets of criticism and skepticism all the more that President Duterte pulled the cart of his plans and programs for the government and the Filipino people harder up the pinnacle of attainment. The ever increasing and extremely loud whining of the opposition has thus become the added force that motivate President Duterte to move farther on to his goals as did the oxen in the story. They should have instead greased their seats, as did the American engineer to the axle of the cart, to avoid continued political friction, and therefore have an equal and fair chance in the next and coming elections.
So, as the ear-splitting whine was to the oxen an indication that their pulling was accomplishing something; that is also how whining benefits President Duterte. He knows that the continued meaningless chuntering by the opposition means that he is accomplishing his plans and programs and is winning his political games, as did the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals.
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