HERE is one thing that our friends who are hooked to social media to the point of almost taking everything posted therein hook, line and sinker must be wary about. That is, if they still have little leeway for caution left.
This is shared to us by a classmate way back years ago whom we have reunited with, ironically, in this time of the boon of social media. Here is her warning, if we may call it that way.
“A donkey was tied to a tree. One night a ghost cut the rope and released the donkey free. The donkey went and destroyed the crops in an adjacent farmer’s land. Infuriated, the farmer’s wife shot the donkey and killed it.
“The donkey’s owner was devastated at the loss. In reply, he shot dead the farmer’s wife. Angered by his wife’s death, the farmer took a sickle and killed the donkey’s owner.
“The wife of the donkey’s owner got so angry that she and her sons set the farmer’s house on fire. The farmer, looking at his house turned into ashes, killed the wife and children of the donkey’s owner.
“Finally, when the farmer was full of regret, he asked the ghost as to why it killed them all? The ghost replied, ‘I killed nobody. I just released a donkey that was tied to a rope.
It is all of you who released the devils within you which resulted into everything bad that occurred thereafter.’ “Today’s social media is like a ghost. It keeps releasing donkeys on a daily basis. And people react and argue with each other, hurt each other, without having second thought.
“In the end the media dodges all responsibilities. So, it’s our responsibility to not react to every donkey released by the media and preserve our relationship with our friends, relatives and community.”
Wow, what more can be closer to truth than that? Today those who keep themselves glued to social media, or even to the mainstream media without being discerning, will surely end up making enemies or becoming very judgmental to other persons and even to people running the government or making society functional.
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This one is for the books or if not insulting, is something for posterity to serve as a lesson to policemen who are supposed to be peace-keepers or guardians for ensuring peace and safety of the community.
In Cagayan de Oro City, the house of a policeman was robbed of belongings like cellphones, money and, hold it, the policeman’s firearm. Most probably it was his service gun. The policeman and members of his household must be sound asleep that no one was able to wake up when the burglars entered the law enforcer’s residence.
Or, it could be that the robbers are so adept with their trade that they had gained entry to the policeman’s house so stealthily that no single noise was created to warn the sleeping policeman and others inside the household.
And yes, these days when the pandemic is snatching a lot of opportunities for people to earn a living, habitual burglars, and those forced by circumstance, may have become so bold that they do not care if their would-be victims are agents of the law.
We just hope that the incident would be the last that involves a policeman as the victim of burglary. Otherwise, we might suspect that the robbers may be thinking that it’s their way of getting back at some law enforcers who are themselves taking a piece of the burglars’ pie.
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The police could not really be totally faulted if some of their men will be looking into the background of those organizing the so-called community pantry the objective of which is to help our hungry fellow Filipinos in this time of the pandemic.
Why? Who would not be suspicious when some placards with inscriptions bearing the names of some activist organizations coming out or displayed in some conspicuous places within the vicinity of the community pantry? And look, who are the lawyers who first come to offer their services to protect the organizers from possible legal implications of the operation of the community pantry?
We do not agree with whatever move of the police or military that will redound to red tagging the community pantry operation. But we also believe that the organizers have nothing to fear from any police or military inquiry or even profiling if their activity is not connected with any subversive organizations or inspired by anti-government efforts.
What is there to be afraid of if deep in their hearts they know they are clean and devoid of any wrong doings?
As they say, it is the “ghosts” in us that make ourselves paranoid.
