About face!

I have learned that in many impromptu speeches delivered by John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first Catholic to be elected American president, he preferred to use a supposed Ramayana line as an opening statement. Accordingly, he would speak of three things certain in life namely God, human folly, and laughter. But since, to Kennedy, in his invariable introductory line, God and human folly are difficult to talk about, he would opt to speak about laughter. Many critics considered JFK to be among the best impromptu speakers because after riveting his audience to laughter, he would juxtapose more serious global issues. Indeed, I have not come across any Kennedy writing or speech about God or human folly. I would have wanted him to digress on his understanding of that topic and educate me what acts he considered as human folly but I could not find any.

I remember my fruitless search for a Kennedy exposition on human folly when I read two reports quoting a high government official in the monetary system expressing his opinion on the issue of expanding Kadiwa centers. I will name this official as Bruce Wayne, something like the famous Batman. In the first report Bruce focused on his concerns over the plan to expand the rollout of Kadiwa outlets nationwide, noting it is “politically easy” yet unsustainable. His criticism sounded valid because, according to him “financing such an initiative is not viable in the long run.”

The opinion of our fictional Bruce Wayne got positive response from men in the economic corridors. His view was well considered. The government should not adopt a program that would appear to be wrongly conceptualized. It would only stain the image of the administration. According to Bruce it would only be short-lived and, if it could not be sustained, the problem it sought to solve would only become exponentially bigger.

Unfortunately for Bruce, his opinion was out of the tune played by the administration. He was so quick to say it as to beat the top echelon leaders to the draw. In its entirety, the view of Bruce had the tendency to spoil the image of our national leadership. The expansion of Kadiwa Centers was apparently the brainchild of some of the president’s brilliant men and an opinion contradicting its brilliance was a slap to the face of our administrators.

So it was not difficult to surmise that the attention of Bruce was called. He should be in sync with our ruler’s. Perhaps, he was made to face a ponderous different opinion of the powers-that-be. Despite the enormous weight of his opinion, he had to yield to his superiors. What could be done?

The day following his criticizing the expansion of the Kadiwa centers, Bruce, unlike Batman, lost his balls. In complete turnaround, he said that the rollout of the government’s Kadiwa stores in the country is a "welcome" effort, especially at a time when inflation remains uncertain.

True, indeed, that all members of a team should play in accordance with the concepts designed for the team. If there is anyone who cannot do his role, it is honorable for him to exit from the group. Bruce adjusted well. He kept his position but he lost his dignity in the process.