Plain inability to get it

Whoever started that rumor about Noynoy Aquino having collapsed sometime in the night of last Friday -- that was a very bad thing to do. The culprit probably did not grow up in a good and proper home environment where children are admonished early never to wish ill of others. But then there it is, and we are saddened by the fact that there are among us who clearly did not have a good foundation from which to stand and face life's great challenges.

Unfortunately for Noynoy, he just never can get it. Since he was, according to Malacañang, apparently in the pink of health, Noynoy should just have shrugged off the rumor and good-naturedly laughed about it. The best proof against the integrity of the rumor was his own healthy self. There he was, caught on camera having a good time inaugurating a project in Quezon with one of his favorite buddies, Proceso Alcala, another controversial crony that he just could not fire.

He was so happy during the inauguration that those who saw him on tv were reminded of the same jolly mood he had while inaugurating a foreign-owned car plant in Laguna just as the bodies of the slain SAF 44 heroes were brought home to Villamor Air Base. Also, those who saw him on tv were convinced that any chance for Alcala to be axed in face of swirling allegations against him were as good as dead.

So there, nothing could have made the rumor about his health more dead than it was by simply being in such high spirits on tv. Noynoy should have stopped there. But as I said, he just cannot seem to get it. He just cannot let things be. And so he had to take a swipe at his critics, accusing them of starting the rumor, and then linking the rumor to political machinations in preparation for 2016.

And in one fell swoop, Noynoy converted what was clearly his gain in the pocket to something that was up in the air. Had Noynoy let the rumor be, it would have died of its own accord, unable to gain a life in face of the best proof that was his live and healthy and laughing self. And he could have gained the sympathy of the many who grew up properly educated on what is right and wrong, and how bad it was to wish ill on others.

But Noynoy just had to pick a fight regardless of whether he actually sees an enemy or not. And choosing to dwell on it instead of ignoring it, Noynoy opened up the rumor to all possibilities there now are. By choosing to impute motives instead of dismissing the rumor as plain and simple bad breeding, he can no longer refuse the off chance that it might in fact have been started by his own camp that is not without its own motives and interests in 2016.

Now that he has chosen to fight, let it then be asked of Noynoy -- what does it profit the critics to spread rumors about his health? Noynoy was already imploding of his own free will. Noynoy was already on a tailspin. Never has his numbers dropped like that in all the five years that he has been in office. And the numbers represented the general public, whom he loves to call his bosses. They did not represent his critics. His critics no longer have to do anything.

In fact, the best example is this episode about the collapsing rumor. Had Noynoy just laughed it off -- after all the people who saw him having a good time with Alcala on tv can best judge for themselves whether he was healthy or not -- he could have walked away with a few tokens in the bag. But because he chose to impute motives to the rumors, then what is to stop any motive from being imputed to his own camp. After all, fair is fair. Bright boys are everywhere, ill-bred or otherwise.

There is absolutely no reason for his critics to spread rumors about Noynoy's health. For one thing, and as already said, there is no longer any need for the critics to do anything new because Noynoy himself is already doing that to himself, unwittingly as a favor to them. For another, there is no need for critics to spread rumors about Noynoy's health because he himself is creating those rumors or giving new ones a life of their own.

Noynoy is a heavy smoker. What he is doing to himself through smoking creates its own rumor mill. He does not need any critic to do that. And there is even no ill will or motive in that. If Noynoy actually collapses, heaven forbid, he only has himself to blame and it is not fair, even to his most bitter critics, to blame them for what Noynoy is effectively and efficiently doing to his own self.

His health issues aside, Noynoy is also to blame for the great failure his leadership has suffered. It is not that he leads a country full of critics. Or has he forgotten that he enjoyed a tremendous groundswell of support in 2010. The truth is, it was Noynoy who made this a country of critics, as the numbers now suggest. And that is because he thinks only of himself. It is not he who must plead for understanding. A good leader is the one who must understand the people he leads.

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