Distorted, simply distorted

Egay Uy .

I SAW a post on Facebook where two photographs were put together. The one on the left was of a man who took a grenade to save the lives of others. His face was disfigured but he is still identifiable. We can just imagine the suffering he must have gone through while nursing the wounds and injuries he sustained after doing the heroic act.

The other photo was of another man who underwent a rehabilitation program after having been addicted to some kind of prohibited substances. The face of this man was still clearly identifiable and there were no traces of any suffering or injury.

The glaring difference between the two, aside from what are described above, is that the man who sustained wounds and injuries because he took a grenade to save the lives of others allegedly never got any attention while he was recuperating.

On the other hand, and I’d say distortedly so, the man who underwent rehab for prohibited substance abuse has attracted the attention of many and his recovery has been closely monitored and reported to the public.

I may not have fully grasped the differences as posted on social media but that is how I understood them. The heroic act was ignored while the drug addict’s rehabilitation was monitored and reported to the public. Why?

Maybe it is high time we revisit how we appreciate the good deeds of others instead of focusing on celebrities and public figures who only deliver, in most cases, lip service. Sa binisaya pa, gabolabola lang.

I have encountered posts on Facebook that report good deeds such as a taxi driver returning a package that was left by a passenger, or a policeman returning some amount of money he found that belonged to somebody else, or someone who assisted a senior citizen or a differently abled persons cross a busy street, or an elementary student returning a pad of school paper to his classmate who dropped it.

These are good deeds that if publicized and drum beaten could serve as good examples for others to emulate.  I don’t attempt to become a saint because I am far from it, but whenever I see people throw trash wantonly just anywhere — more often on the roads — I can only heave and ask myself, where have all the good teachings in school gone?

Remember, we a paternalistic nation.  Our leaders and elders should set the best – not distorted – examples.