Why is the president always angry?

Every time I hear the president deliver an extemporaneous speech, each time I hear him speak words of anger, spite, and hatred, I see a young child who was deeply hurt by people who should have loved him. His angry words, expletives, and cursing are, to me, disguised cries of anguish of a deeply wounded childhood. I discern that he is really a sad, lonely man who is carrying a lot of sorrowful baggage from his past. His father, Don Vicente was a self-made man who was very strict and exacting. He demanded too much from his son. Manang Soling, the mother, was also a very serious disciplinarian with Maranaw blood. She also wanted her son to do well academically. The president feels that he failed his parents.

In a speech a few days ago in Bukidnon, the president said that he is very sad that his father and mother are no longer around when he has elected president. You know, each time the president expresses anger, I feel we should not just criticize him. We should understand where he is coming from. Anger, according to some human psychologists, is a visible sign of childhood woundedness. He may be feeling some anger at himself for not having lived up to the expectations of his parents. He really had the obsession to please his parents, and he felt that he was not able to fulfill his objective while they were still around.

And so, the next time, you hear the president go through those words that sound like mere bravado or braggadocio, those brave, daring and angry words, are mere defense mechanisms to hide a broken heart, to cover deeply wounded feelings, an unhappy childhood. He often extols his classmates who excelled, like Secretary Dominguez who was in the same primary, elementary, and high school with him. He always praises Secretary Tugade who was an academic performer in the same Law school in San Beda.

And he often makes fun of himself and his grades of 75 and other grades that were barely enough to pass. But actually, I feel that, by appointing them to the Cabinet, he was really trying to seek revenge against those academic superiors before, by making them his official inferiors and subordinates now.

From the lips of the president himself, he has bad words against priests because he openly declared that a priest abused him before. His anger against drugs must have been driven by an experience whereby he might have felt the heavy and serious damage that drugs could inflict on the family. He hates people who accuse him of violations of human rights and those who deride his crusade against corruption and his war against drugs. He feels that these people are just thinking of the human rights of the criminals, the bad elements in society, the bane against peace, order and safety in the community. The president is angry because the self-righteous people are all words and no action. The president must be feeling that the critics, instead of helping keep this country safe, are sabotaging his efforts to rid the nation of the bane of society.

The next time you hear the president expresses anger via national TV, hold your judgment. Pause, reflect, and remember the pains he had to go through and the burdens he is carrying right now. It is too easy for people to condemn him. The more proper thing to do is to ponder and understand where he is coming from, and realize the complexities of the challenges before him.