The president should rest and reflect before the SONA

In today's gospel, Mark 6:30 to 34, Jesus admonished his tired disciples to go to a deserted place by themselves and rest. I believe President Rodrigo Duterte, in his seventies, is a tired man. He has been working too hard, traveling a lot and talking to so many groups here and abroad. He should go to a deserted place, rest, and reflect on the things that happened and did not happen. Before delivering the SONA, he should go into a deeper introspection, pray to his God and ask for guidance and wisdom.

Duterte, by not reading prepared speeches and choosing to be spontaneous and unrehearsed, had said many unpleasant things. Perhaps without intending to do so, he has hurt so many individuals and groups who could have been his allies and alienated many former friends. He refused to listen to his closest advisers. He cannot be manipulated, but he created a lot of enemies, thus unwittingly hindering his own goals to create a meaningful and lasting legacy.

So it will be good for him and the country if he rests today in some secluded beach house in Davao, eating only honey and locusts like Christ in the desert. He needs to assess his life and examine his conscience. He should pour out all his pains and hurt feelings against those who did him wrong in the past. He should ask for healing of past memories and forgive those who wronged him. He should also reflect on the people he appointed, included those in his inner circle. He should reexamine his values and revisit his core beliefs.

I have always believed Duterte, in his inner and truer essence, is really a good man pretending to be bad. He projects an ''astig'' image, talking tough and dirty, which is just a defense mechanism to hide a badly hurt childhood, feelings of being abused and taken advantage of. He is a hurt and angry man with a lot of stored-up anger inside which makes him say shocking things, words never uttered by other heads of states. He has angered the Church and challenged the Pharisees of the CBCP. But when he kissed the hands of Archbishop Romulo Valles, I saw humility and innate goodness in him. He is not a hopeless man.

After his brief retreat, he should deliver his SONA much refreshed, recharged, with renewed vigor. When he talks to the nation, he should be gentler, less angry, and more reflective. He cannot stay longer in that far and deserted place all alone. The nation is like a flock of sheep waiting for a kinder and happier shepherd.