What is this, another word war?

It’s bad enough that Malacañang is advising former overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso to write directly to the President instead of posting her concerns on social media, we also have SAGIP Party-list Rep. Paolo Marcoleta provoking the veteran Senator Ping Lacson in flagrant posts where “disrespect” is an understatement compared to what seems to be a real wish to throw the whole country to the dogs.

And who can forget the suspended caterwauler who loves to post inflammatory statements, throwing irresponsible punches that only weaken an already frail foundation of leadership?

If these two young guns are serious about making change happen, is this the best they can do? Is trading barbs productive? Does it get the issue of the flood control controversy moving? Does it prepare the Filipino people for the year ahead, where China may become more aggressive and typhoons will once again flatten parts of our country and sink towns in floodwaters?

The world has gone bonkers, for sure, and maybe some will blame Donald Trump for using his X to ruffle feathers on a global scale. But the Philippines is always on the cusp, don’t you agree, and maybe the reason is because we keep pulling ourselves down.

I met a designer recently whose work centers on what he sees as the beautiful in our culture. For many of us, even for those who are in industries promoting the best of us, recent events in the country have brought us face to face with what is ugly and unkind in a world spiraling out of control.

Among other things, he opened up about his journey into healing, and his words could not have come at a better time. Our world — our country of cheerful, smiling Filipinos who will do anything to keep the peace — is in dire need of healing.

Joseph Aloysius Montelibano, fashion, textile savant and all-around polymath, shared with us something he wrote in 2025 as he was recovering from a bone marrow disease and finding his way back home. Something he said struck me: “Discord slips quietly into the seams of anything that is beautiful in the world.”

He began: “We have entered an age of chaos. We are standing at a unique crossroads in the human story. With a single swipe of a finger, we possess the god-like power to summon sublime beauty or unleash sheer devastation. The very tools that promised to stitch the world together and unite us are now too often weaponized to separate, radicalize and dehumanize.”

I could only clip some of what he observed and wrote about in a moment of clarity. These were words that resonated as I reflected on the headlines staring me in the face. Words and chaos, all wrapped up in a thin veil of civility. If people had their way, they would probably be raging like cavemen or pointing pitchforks at each other.

Indeed, as Aloysius said, “We are at the precipice of a new world order, if you’d like to call it that --- one that is not merely defined by treaties or trade, but by the very fabric of our human interaction, cultural and deeply human.

“A moment that asks simple questions with probably difficult answers.

What do we value?

Whose stories do we amplify?

What are we willing to defend and what are we willing to challenge?

What is appropriate?

And what is normal?”