BY JAMES RAZEL B. TANGUAN
ONE SCHOOL of thought is always in conflict with another; a tenet is always contested with the ones expressed by a serious critic or any individual committed to expressing oneself. Questioning policies, examining ways of living, and unlearning unhealthy paradigms are the marks of a rich, intelligent, and solid democracy.
Deplorably, we are living in communities guilty of carrying out otherwise. This begs the question, in a world peppered with ideas (brilliant or trashy), where shall balance be found?
It is simple nowadays to dismiss someone on account of his/her religious position or political stand. It is convenient to appear to agree to steer clear of potential conflicts. But what is the wrong here? It is not the mere opinion, nor is it the keeping at bay of disagreements. It is the culture of jeopardizing nuances.
When an adult is talking with a child, there is a preconceived notion that the adult is credible; when a teacher is in a heated debate with a student, there is an assumption that the former is correct and the latter wrong; when a resident questions a policy, it is construed as a personal attack on the policymaker.
This way of thinking disrupts not only the flow of our free discourse but also the nuances that surround the idea in question. Did it not occur to us that the experience of a child is also credible, that the student could be presenting an interesting angle of the discussion, or that the resident’s critique is aimed at society’s progress?
It is incumbent upon us to recognize that the human condition is bursting with contradictions, that the beauty of a discussion does not lie in the curse words uttered, and that a question is not necessarily an attack. Ideas make or break a civilization; our job is to sharpen them, to free them from the themes of violence and corruption, to challenge them in variously distinct ways, and to finally separate the gold from that which is not. The world is loaded with the shades of black, white, and in-betweens. Let us strike a balance, and the balance is in the nuance.
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The author is an educator who graduated from the University of Mindanao. He has been teaching English for five years now and is a steadfast advocate of the transformative role of literature to humankind.
