The Fox and the Grapes

By Joselito Basilio

The English idiom “sour grapes” is derived from the fable “The Fox and the Grapes” where the protagonist fox fails to reach some grapes hanging high up on a vine, retreats, and rationalizes that the grapes are probably not ripe anyway. The fable’s moral story is that it is easy to despise what you cannot get. The idiom had later been misused by those who do not know the original story and is now taken to mean “bitterness” or “resentment”.

There is a towering personality in the civil society who may be likened to the proverbial fox. He did not get what he wanted. He’s bitter about Dabu’s denial of his desire to have his proposed program implemented. He continues to be resentful at the way he was treated by Dabu and, by extension, Among Ed.

I am of course alluding to top businessman Renato Romero who’s calling not only for Dabu’s resignation but for Among Ed’s. He went to the point of expressing his support for the recall bid against Among Ed. Not contended, he is now resorting to ad hominem arguments describing, among others, Among Ed as a thief who stole the advocacy for good governance.

I was right all along. First impression really lasts. With due respect to the good businessman, I doubted his sincerity when I first saw him during the campaign. Our support for Among Ed was supposed to be unequivocal, no string attached. No division of the spoils of war. Obviously he harbors a different agenda.

Mr. Romero’s new found advocacy (if you can call it that way) - resignation or recall of Among Ed - merits no attention. He wants us to return to traditional politics from which he may have benefited in the past. Will the so-called civil society allow that to happen?