REFLECTIONS
ELECTIONS 2016
Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
A
rchaeological digs are always fascinating. They bring back into focus how people at a particular time
and place lived, loved and died. The tombs of
Egypt, the stone warriors in China, the ruins
of Pompeii, the temples of Athens and the
Incas, the Indian mounds in the Americas all
tell stories of their own. From these reconstructed cities, architecture, murals and art of
whatever medium, we speculate on their actions, their upheavals and
times of peace. How they kept their civilizations intact, how their
religious beliefs, philosophies and seers influenced their successes
and downfalls are still matters of conjecture.
In the distant future, what will our progeny, in turn, think of us?
Those born at the cusp of this century have seen innovations that
the world had only dreamed of in the hundred years preceding. The
conquest of space, the proliferation of technologies in communication and travel, the unlocking of secrets of the human body - how it
works and how its parts can be replaced - are all great things man
has achieved and will continue to improve. On the agenda is still
finding the proverbial Fountain of Youth.
With all the material heights that we have achieved however, will
they be able to reconstruct what we have done for the welfare of our
fellow human beings? Will they detect the shift of our populations
and distinguish whether the causes were from natural versus man10
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
made calamities? Will they know that our ideologies affected the
world we passed on to them?
At present, in our own good old USA, we are in the throes of
electing those that would lead us to that future, their past. The
rhetoric has been brutal, many times uncivil. Skeletons long hidden
had been resuscitated from their closets and exposed, unclad, their
hollow eyes staring us in the face, their dangling bones askew. The
frustrated populace was faced with choices that many opine were
not perfect nor ideal. But since when was man’s best asset “perfection,” anyway?
Great indeed is the responsibility that will rest upon those who are
elected. They will steer the Ship of State of one of the great nations
of these times. Upon their judgments and policies will depend the
course of this country. It is our turn to discern well and do a good
job with our choices. We must not forget that out of the roughest
ores, gems may be cut that shine in the light.
We hope that tomorrow may look kindly upon us. May we in
turn, these days, be blessed by the Almighty, with shining hope
and peace!
Dr. Oropilla is a retired psychiatrist.