A house divided against itself…
THIS is not a good way to begin the year. But the world is so unevenly divided. In a small community of a little more than 400 homes, there are two sides – and neither would budge. A microcosm of what possibly ails the la-la land of our 7,107 isles.
*** FLASHBACK. For those who missed the 20 October account of the storm-in-a-teacup saga of the village Tarry Awhile, a brief recap: The village elects prominent men and women to serve without compensation as village aldermen (and alderwomen). The 11 elected in turn unanimously voted Julia Caesar as their primus inter pares village chief and the other officers were given specific turfs (for waterworks, construction, environment, finance, legal, sports, security, and social).
But nobody’s perfect. Village Chief Julia Caesar took care of the pennies, but wasn’t always judicious with the pounds. Some decisions were made over the heads of committees; regularly scheduled meetings were postponed if she was not available (instead of allowing the vice village chief to preside). Was she making too much a career out of the vocation?
Enter Brutus, one of the aldermen, with the brutish idea to reorganize the village council, even if it meant replacing the village chief. But before the vote could be taken, the piqued Julia Caesar resigned her office as village chief and as alderman. Following this motion, Tarry Awhile proceeded to elect Todos los Santos as the new village chief.
Feeling that she was wronged by this coup d’etat, Julia Caesar took her case to the Supra Council of Elders. She declared that in the heat of the debate and on the spur of the moment, she resigned from her role as village chief and as alderman. The arbiter of the Supra Council of Elders could not believe what he was hearing, and asked, ”You resigned…?” *** There hangs the tale. Several moons have passed, but up to the time of this writing, the Supra Council of Elders has yet to make known its decision on the prayer of Julia Caesar to be restored as the village chief. Her supporters are confident that the putschists (pronounced “putris”) will be summarily removed from office and that come 7 January 2018 a new council will be installed and peace and progress will return to the happy village of Tarry Awhile. At the other extreme, the incumbents remain confident that possession is nine-tenths of the law.
If this is what happens in an uppercrust neighborhood, you can imagine what it’s like in the rest of our 7,107 isles. Like when President Manuel Quezon said he preferred to have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by Americans. (We never imagined that our polticos would take him literally.)
*** BTW, there is a little hiccup to this saga. After she resigned from office and before she raised her case to the Supra Council of Elders, Julia Caesar brought her issue directly to the villagers. Her supporters reserved the Town Hall and advanced a deposit with the promise to pay the balance for its use. But after the informal meeting, her supporters refused to pay the balance on the rent of the Town Hall, averring that their activity was a village concern. The incumbent village council stood fast and sent a second and third reminder on the balance. In the nick of time, Julia Caesar’s supporters decided to settle the balance. A wise thing, too, because an impish member of the council was waiting for casus belli to cut off the water service of the delinquent debtors.
*** The village Tarry Awhile is predominantly Christian, but from the dagger looks of two opposing sides, one would think it was peopled by ISIS and Talebans. Last Friday, they held their traditional 29 December Christmas party – when all men and women of goodwill would celebrate together. To stress the obvious in this season of hope, if this fable for our times is to have a happy ending, both sides are old enough to know what New Year’s resolution they need to make as neighbors. FEEDBACK: