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BY OSCAR CRUZ
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Monday, January 30, 2017
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THERE IS the well-known saying that as everyone is born bringing nothing in his hands, so it is that everybody passes without taking anything with him in death.
If someone has nothing upon birth and also brings nothing with him upon his burial – neither the clothes he/she are buried with, nor the coffin itself he/she is buried in – how then could anyone think and believe that anything could be absolutely and unconditionally his/hers while still counted among the living?
Place one centavo in the hand of the dead. After his/her complete corruption, the centavo remains in the coffin.
When some individuals practically have everything while other people actually have nothing; when some families corner, hoard, and keep so much wealth while others are in fact empty-handed, when certain characters live in classy houses, wear fine clothes, costly jewelries and indulge in fine dining when many people live in the streets, have tattered clothes to wear and barely have food to eat, something must be wrong, very wrong with the society they are members of – the Philippine society well-included.
Temporal goods – precisely such as food, shelter and clothing – are for the benefit of all and not but for a chosen few. The gross violation of the elementary principle of the “Universal Destination of Temporal Goods” i.e., temporalities are intended for the common good, for the benefit and the well-being of all, equals likewise gross injustice which brings about social disorder which in turn can be anything but objective truth, societal peace, and human development.
This is not merely a speculative theory but a concrete reality as both past and present human history amply testify to – the future human plight included if such an errant thinking and erratic situation were not corrected. It is basically the violation of the said “Destination” that ultimately brings about social disorder, human misery, wars included.
That some people have more temporal goods than others, that certain families have more economic resources than others, that there are individuals who hold more material possessions than others – this is acceptable based on the reality that different people, families, and individuals have different abilities and/or differ in their industry and possibilities.
But it is unacceptable – wrong, improper, unjust – when there are those who have practically everything while others have practically nothing. And as above already said, such an adverse phenomenon is precisely the cause of social dissent and unrest – violence included.
It is the dictate of reason based on the Universal Destiny of Temporal Goods that everybody should have something to eat, to wear, to sleep in. And as a matter of fact, such an elementary truth is verified even among irrational animals such as something but instinctive.
In the event of the social liability of human want and misery, it is eventually human dignity that is defiled as it is also basic human rights that are violated./PN
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