A peace only justice can bring

Trust the Filipinos and their optimism.

Despite all the bad things that have happened this year, nearly nine of 10 Filipinos are hopeful the coming year will be better, according to a survey by pollster Pulse Asia.

Even more Filipinos say they will face the year ahead with hope, and they expect a more prosperous Christmas.

Of course, when the survey was conducted, there was yet no Maguindanao massacre and Mrs. Arroyo had not announced her decision to run for Congress, but I doubt if those two events, as horrible as tragedies can come, would have sunk the Filipinos’ spirits.

A peace only justice can bring

We are just a happy, Christmassy people. We are not given to bouts of deadly, debilitating despair. The unsinkable Pinoy, as one newspaper headline said.

We dare to be optimists even in these trying times. It is not that we see less than our despairing brothers and sisters in other countries. It is rather that we see more. We see more hope in times of despair. We see more redemption when we’re down and out. Such is the message of Christmas after all, isn’t it? Hope. Redemption.

So there is really nothing I can wish for our fellow Filipinos that they don’t already have within themselves. Maybe except for peace.

I wish for peace, as we do all, but not the peace that is the absence of conflict and disturbance, although such is good. But I wish for a more Godly peace, borne out of justice, where the sanctity of human life is honored.

Isaias the prophet wrote: “Justice will bring about peace” (32:17). Pope John Paul II, once said, “Where there is no justice, there can be no peace, because injustice is itself a disorder. Where there is no respect for human rights—I mean those inalienable rights which are inherent in every man by his nature—there can be no peace. Where there is no moral formation to favor the growth of good, there can be no peace, because it is always necessary to keep watch and contain the destructive tendencies which nestle in the heart of man.”

In the past few weeks we have felt fear, anger, confusion and grief because of what happened in Maguindanao. We have held protests, vigils, memorial services. Spouses have been robbed of their partners, children of their parents and parents of their children. It is all the more tragic, horrible and sinful that this happened amidst the Christmas season, which Filipinos hold so dearly.

So yes, even as we try not to allow hate and revenge to poison us, to diminish us, in the same way they have diminished the likes of those who can kill, who can lie, cheat and steal, we wish for peace.

The peace that only true justice can bring.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

ernestboyherrera@yahoo.com  –ERNESTO F. HERRERA, Manila Times