Needs, emotions, and X - August Column

Needs, emotions, and X

A colorful election and at least 22 padded resumes later, it is finally time for our frosh student leaders to work. But what should be expected? I’m no prophet, but this I believe will hold true nonetheless: a leadership that will focus on students’ want rather than need will achieve nothing but inherit the wind.

I use my favorite analogy, religion. (As early as now, think from the student perspective – Who is the leader? Who are the followers?) Jesus was the best leader who ever walked the planet. But He was not popular or rich. Being a carpenter’s son and living a simple life, one should wonder how He managed to completely convince twelve people to give up everything and follow Him and much later, millions of people as well.

Simple: Jesus addressed a need that no one else could address, and that is spiritual peace. The disciples may have wanted money, power or fame – Jesus had none of these – but Jesus pierced these superficial whims. Jesus offered the disciples what they needed, not what they wanted. It is not necessary that the disciples knew what they needed, it is enough that He knew.

People naturally flock around a leader who offers what they need. There is no hype, just a simple desire.

There is a fine line between need and want. The world’s economy relies on it. Does one really need an iPod? Does one need to buy a Lacoste shirt over an exact shirt sans only the brand name? Does one need a pimped-up ride a la Xzibit when the money could be given to NGOs?

Governance that addresses only want is no different from entertainment, even without media coverage or Lupita Kashiwahara. Is this probably the reason why actors could ascend to high governmental posts? The student version is only a more innocent mirror.

What do our freshman students need? Need is always very hard to distinguish, but I believe that need could be realized when you filter out the wants, the same way that political parties filter out aspiring candidates. The filtering process is extremely tedious, it involves an observant eye. It involves thinking: it should keep leaders lost in thought when others should be relaxing their minds. It involves receiving criticisms and reacting constructively. (unless you believe you’re perfect) It involves taking fire for your constituents. It involves unexpected circumstances. It involves time. Leading is more than managing.

I bet GMA’s political survival, our fledgling leaders must’ve thought of that. That’s why they seemed so energetic during the campaign.

* * *

It turned out that the initial suspect in the issue we had when we were working on our July issue (that we did a follow-up on this month) turned out to be wrong. I think this is rather normal, as police investigators normally have many suspects which they eliminate one by one.

The whole process of investigation seems pretty much a pseudo-Josephus problem to me, only this time there is no formula to solve it.

My apology to Roderick Salita for it had been made clear to me the article had made such a negative impact on him.

That “Eric” was not him. It had never been him.

* * *

It is quite saddening how innocence could easily be drowned by utters of dubious nature. It could be a beacon of light piercing the darkness, and yet now it seems to be utterly useless. Only three possible scenarios fit: the light is insufficiently bright, the darkness eats up the light, or the light is hidden under the table and not on the lamppost.

* * *

As I write this, the real “Eric” is still frolicking. I confirmed that he still used the name Eric at least once. Males need to be alert.

* * *

My mother likes reading romance pocketbooks and watching romantic movies. In one particular instance, I had nothing to do and seeing the book lying around, I thought of skimming through it. These books and movies could be full of very cheesy lines. Snippets of the infinite list would go: I won’t be able live my life normally if you do this to me… I have not slept well after you left me…

It is very interesting why people from all walks of life resort to emotion to get their point through. It could be the research topic of psychology majors.

* * *

Professor X did it again. If X had read my last column, some changes should have been effected. Maybe X’s so psyched up X hadn’t read, and so X reruns X’s students through X’s seemingly orchestrated debacle. X has been flaunting X’s inefficiency efficiently.

There is a reason why X is called X. X is the 24^th letter of the alphabet. If you add the order (in the alphabet) of the first letters of X’s first and last name(s) together you will get 24.

* * *

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the fire espoused by the DLSU community regarding the Gloria controversy is getting weaker.

Like a piece of firewood that has been exhausted, it will turn to ash and be blown away by the wind. Will we let this happen to us?