Election is Over, Now, What?

Last Monday, May 9, 2016, we heard almost everyone, candidates and electorates alike both national and local, talking us into doing what they believe we should be doing or should have. They all expressed what they think are best for us. They all engaged in different strategies and styles to convince us that they are the best people to lead us, that they are the leaders with the best platforms, that they are the leaders with the best intentions. They all wanted one thing from us, our sacred votes.

Election campaigns brought out the best and the worst in anyone of them, in anyone of us. Sometimes the best became the worst and the worst became the best. The whole campaign stunk with money, and reeked in for some as well. Depending on which side of the table one was: the spender or the spent for. Business was brisk during the campaign period. Underspending was not the order of the day. Candidates had to be visible, very visible at that. His or her message had to be ultra-loud and clear.

Short funds were no deterrent. One just engages in ingenious or wily ways and means. We saw some hitchhikers riding on the popularity of others: whatever it was, whether true or false, fair or not. The important thing was, I win no matter the cost…to me or to others.

We saw them. We heard them…maybe not all that we need to see or hear. Others were just brave enough to spill all out while others were cautious enough to keep secrets secret. We were left to guess or read between the lines. Everyone had spoken: the poor and the rich, the meek and the proud, the sinners and the saints.

On the eve of the Election Day, which was Ascension Sunday, we implored our God to spare us from the folly of our ways. It was the only one way open for us that we may be able to disentangle ourselves from the tricky political web. It was a day to listen to the Lord and not to last minute operations for indeed there were a few. It was a day to be attentive to His voice and directions there in the silence of our hearts.

Election Day came. We braved the anxieties of the occasion, shielded by the armor of our faith. We prayed that the person we put into office is the one anointed by God. We hoped that we did not exercise our right to vote through the subtle and even overt manipulations of politics. We knew that none of the candidates is perfect and that we will surely live with the consequences of our choices. We really do not know how they will turn out. Yet, our courage comes from the Lord. We entrust to him all our decisions for it is only Him who can make straight our crooked ways. Through the political exercise we showed what we have but it is the Lord who can guide and empower us on how to do it and perfectly at that including whoever won. Election Day was generally peaceful. Prayer power was evident.

Election Day is over. Now, what? Today is the tomorrow we cast our votes for. Today is the day we start to live the consequences of our choices. Whether right or wrong, it is not the most important thing now. Today we need to commit ourselves to reconnect bridges, open doors, welcome back old friends and families on the other side, make opponents friends. Whether I win or you win, the consequence of winning is both ours to work on. After all, we are all Filipinos and we live and subsist on the same land: the Philippines.

The fierce battle to the first place is over. Let us move on. Let us build new bridges and deliver services especially to the most needy in our society. Let us open doors and provide a home for the lost. Let us go out to the peripheries and bring Christ to them. After all, we are Christians. We may not be perfect. We may fight at times. But we are empowered by Christ to become another Christ.

You and I still have one more choice to make: remain in the past and let our frustrations rule us or live in the present, forgive and bring peace to everyone.

You and I still have work to do. Entrust the persons we vote for and those who won in the hands of God. We ask the Lord to fill them with grace and wisdom to lead us and for those who lost not only to accept defeat but help in rebuilding. Likewise, we implore Him to give us the strength and the courage to work hand in hand in making this world a better place to live in not only for the present generation but also for those who will come after us. The stance is not “Now, let us see what this leader can do but what I can do to help him help us and our country.”

Yesterday is over. Today is here. Tomorrow is yet to come. Whichever day you choose to live is maybe yours to make but its consequence can either be everyone else’s struggle or triumph. Let us help each other to a better life from here forward.