Commentary on Happenings!

Hi y'all,
I thought I'd do some commentary on happenings around the country and world.

Let's begin with Obama vs McCain.
Come November 2008, the world will see the 1st black, or colored American elected to the highest executive office in the United States. For me, the conclusion of the current presidential campaign, is inevitable. Obama's "Change we can believe in" defines him. What defines McCain? He's already lost the branding battle. And it will be a branding war. The current generation is post baby-boomer and comprises generations X. Y and Z, for whom life is all about experiences, and truth, substance, principles, or matters deemed too "philosophical" can go hang. We are in a milieu where it's all about having someone else interpret, or translate life for us. Because its too complex to think on our own. Because life largely doesn't make sense, at least most of the time. And this current mix of generations are sick and tired of the incongruencies of their elders, McCain's generation. Only what feels good matters. And Obama has resonance with this generation. I predict a sweeping victory for Obama.

Let's move on next to the ex-Minister caught literally with his pants down. It finally boils down to private versus public dominions doesn't it? Echoes of Clintonesque moments in the house of power? What one does in private should not encroach on what one does in public. Or does it? Especially when one is looked upon as a public figure, to be emulated as a role model? Or does leadership exclude this factor? Or is leadership only about results? That its all about what one accomplishes in terms of tasks and projects? Or that the moral fibre of the one entrusted with leadership responsibilities is irrelevant in the equation?
Let's get it straight okay? This guy cheated on his spouse. Period. He was unfaithful. If he could be unfaithful to his closest life companion, what chance has the mere "rakyat" at his mercy? Plus, he obviously felt his spouse was unable to fulfil his sexual needs. Therefore, he had to go to an outside party for his fulfilment. Faithfulness to his marriage vows got trounced by lust. And we are to trust this man for sound thinking and self-control in affairs which may touch our lives?

The 3rd point for commentary is one which is long over-due. And it regards a certain politician running for election in the forthcoming by election somewhere in the north. My only worry about the situation is how much this one individual has captured the imagination of the nation. It seems many quarters in the opposition political scene in Parliament have already given their total allegiance to this man, rather than to sound principles. I worry! When so much of emotional attachment is made to a man, rather than to principles, truth and wisdom usually end up being battered. Human beings change; they are forever relativized. And therefore the need to attach ourselves to principles which don't. Principles which stand the test of time, and is applicable to all people, for all ages, whichever spot on this earth they may find themselves in.
Raping babies, and murdering elderly people is despicable and heinous, regardless of who commits them, where they are commited, whether then, or in the future.

So I urge my fellow country-men; retain sound mindedness, refuse to ride the band-wagon of the star of the moment, contemplate every event, and then, think some more. Then be courageous to make a decision which though it goes against the grain of public and popular opinion, will yet be lauded as wise and commendable by all.

As I end this piece, I bring to your attention the demise of a great man who paid the price for truth, courage, justice and sound thinking in the face of an oppressive government - the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He passed away on Aug 3rd at age 89. He embodied all of what I have been speaking about. I end with a quotation from him ...
"It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones".