Today, 133 electors will convene for the much anticipated conclave in the Vatican, following days of speculation as to who will end up taking the mantle of the late Pope Francis. In this liminal space has arisen endless conjecture, debates and even fake news; but what else may be expected in a world that is, most may agree, going up in smoke?
Ariel Beramendi, who has worked in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication for 18 years, writes in The Guardian that people are mostly wondering whether the Church’s elected head will take up the “disruptive and reformist momentum” left by the beloved pontiff or if it will return to the conservative ways of old.
But, he notes, we seem to be forgetting that there are the in-betweens — the ones who may end up diminishing any sort of divisiveness marring one of the world’s most influential religious organizations. One thing is sure: we will wait for the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel to tell us all is well again in the Catholic world.
In the interim, we could send up a barrage of prayers for a better world — one where parents do not have to leave their children, and where children do not leave their parents in horrific ways.
We can pray fervently for streets that are safe, where our daughters will not be grabbed on their way home from school, where our sons can get high on accomplishments, not drugs, where people can actually believe what their leaders say.
The series of tragic, horrific accidents we have had lately is there for a reason. For there must be a reason we are here right now — with cardinals from all over the world electing a new pope starting today, the Philippine midterm elections happening on Monday, and Mother’s Day in between.
You don’t have to be working in the news to know that it’s been terrible — planes and helicopters crashing, buses ramming into cars, cars ramming into people. These have been happening not just here, but seemingly everywhere. Credit goes to social media for the daily dose of man-made disasters.
That little girl was just saying goodbye to her dad, an overseas worker on his way to a job in Europe that would give his family a better life. He told reporters later that all she wished for was for him to someday be able to take her to school every day like other dads. He thought he had time to be that kind of parent after he had earned enough money to stay here, in the flesh, for her.
Yet a freak accident — the driver of the killer SUV taking his daughter’s life — negated all that. No more “someday,” and no more airport farewells with hope as the only strength to draw from.
And those kids in the toll gate accident before that? For them there will be no more school activities to get excited about, no more future to dream about. In an instant, a public utility vehicle crashed all these into oblivion. A father heaves with grief, heartbroken, recalling the way his daughter had promised to take care of him all his life.
Transportation chief Vince Dizon, still quite new in the position though not at all inexperienced in government work, has made a flurry of visits to personally see to the problems not only of the metro’s transport system, but to the tragic aftermath of problems rooted in either negligence or carelessness.
There are accidents and there are accidents — the world is full of them. Some freak force of nature or undetermined reason can cause them to happen. But the pain from this series of woes coming at this point in time should have us thinking deeper about it.
Can we forgive a bus driver who was “too sleepy” and the other driver who handled his vehicle like he did not know how to drive? Can we look past the negligence or greed that led to bypassed procedures, shortcuts and life-saving bollards that we learned too late were substandard?
The world is on edge. Artificial intelligence is set to transform the human world. Wars are real once more, and every day carries the threat of another. We got to this point for a reason, way before that certain politician promised to speed on the ocean to fight for our rights.
We have carried the rope that is now ensnaring us in endless tragedies with the specter of more to come.
We raise our hopes and despair to the heavens, but at the same time we must choose the next batch of leaders come Monday. Think well, and think of your family. Tomorrow may never come, but I, for one, don’t want substandard politicians. And neither should you.