POLITICIANS’ DRAMA – LEADING BY EXAMPLE by Diogo Lazarus Pereira (dlp)

Sometimes I find it difficult to understand God. He creates human beings, some handsome or beautiful and some not so handsome or not so beautiful. Then God decides to make some humans intelligent and some not so intelligent. The surprising part is that He turns the not so intelligent into Politicians.

Then the devil comes onto the scene, takes control and corrupt the politicians’ minds to make hay while the sun shines. And gradually these politicians become trained overnight and get so smart that they don’t need God or the devil anymore because by now they have become smart asses and they start making hay even when the sun doesn’t shine.

God makes some people rich and some are left poor, some very poor. Why does He leave some in poverty? I know why. Because if God made everybody rich, there would be nobody left for these politicians to bribe and buy votes. There would be no drama. Honest and real God fearing humans could sit for the elections on their own by spending their own money and win. These corrupt politicians who buy the poor would have nowhere to go. Some of them claim to be God fearing and devout Catholics and that brings me to an incident that took place last Wednesday in the church.

To be frank, I am a catholic brought up to be a devout Catholic through my early years of education and being a boarder in Don Bosco’s, Pangim. After leaving school and as I started growing into an adult, met some other soon-to-be adults. Bad company, good company, whatever. So I cannot say I am an ‘outstanding’ Catholic. I am more or less an ‘out standing’ Catholic. But there was one devotion instilled in me at a very young age by my mother, and that was the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. From a very young age and till today at almost a ripe age, I never miss, under any circumstances, to attend the Mass and Novenas on every Wednesday.

It so happened that last Wednesday I was totally engrossed in the first readings of the Mass, and then came the time for the Priest to read the Gospel. That day’s gospel was on hypocrites. As the priest went on, he read “And Jesus said to the hypocrites gathered near the temple, **You all are like freshly white washed tombs. You look beautiful, pure and so fresh from outside. But inside you are full of rotten bones, worms, filth and stench**” My concentration went hay-wire. My immediate reaction and thoughts were of our Goan politicians who claim to be God fearing. If anyone of the God fearing politicians were attending the mass that day, I am sure the moment they heard those words, they would be glancing left and right to see if any of the congregation was watching them, because they are guilty.

They go to the church cleanly shaven, neatly dressed, nice perfume, but after all they are like those freshly white washed tombs. No conscience, full of rotten filth deep inside. They just want publicity, and our media will support them when they get little pocket money. If you look at these two photographs, they speak for themselves. These heroes from the top lead by example for our own politicos to follow. In another gospel, the previous day, Jesus said, “the first will be last and the last will be first.” Our politicians are always first anytime and any place, be it football match finals, laying foundation stones, inauguration ceremonies, birthday parties, will be the last in God’s Kingdom, even if they are God fearing. The poor, who they are bribing on the pretext of giving them a new lease of life, and then neglecting them to fend on their own, will be first in God’s Kingdom. God bless the poor and also give them good sense not to fall prey to these politicians’ gimmicks in the forthcoming elections.