{"id":40120,"date":"2020-01-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/home\/?p=40120"},"modified":"2020-01-31T11:25:43","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T03:25:43","slug":"on-masamang-damo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/2020\/01\/30\/on-masamang-damo-2\/","title":{"rendered":"On Masamang Damo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image force_fullwidth=”on” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Supporting Image for Fr Bembol” _builder_version=”4.2.2″ hover_enabled=”0″ animation=”off” sticky=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” always_center_on_mobile=”on” src=”http:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Fr.-Bembol-300×169.jpg”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Image Caption ” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”Arial||||” text_font_size=”12″ text_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”||30px|” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Content for Fr Bembol” _builder_version=”4.2.2″ hover_enabled=”0″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

I\u2019ve had quite a number of \u201cclose calls\u201d and I\u2019m still here to talk about it. Does that brand me as one of the MASAMANG DAMO who are long livers? I beg to disagree. The evil ones are (as per Bureau of Corrections and Prison Management data clearly show) the one who gets to be cut short themselves in countries where capital punishment obtains. Perhaps this venerable Pilipino saying (MASAMANG DAMO, MAHIRAP UTASIN) springs from the story of Cain\u2019s being long-lived because Yahweh had warned anyone who\u2019d make the mistake of striking him would get himself struck sevenfold in punishment form above. The \u201cmark of Cain\u201d was branded on his forehead specifically to keep Abel\u2019s murderer safe to have a long life in which to be remorseful for his treacherous act of siblicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, by and large, criminals get it sooner than later \u2013 assuming, that is, that they are caught reasonably early in their criminal career. Like all sayings exception spring up to give the lie to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

But since we\u2019ve been a farming people over millenia, the phrase MASAMANG DAMO simply means that, like TALAHIB AND COGON even repeated scything and hoeing fail to eradicate them. They spring back to pestiferous life here and there and proliferate according where the wind blows their \u201cevil\u201d seed\/pollen and these are legion and our soil not the discouraging type \u2013 in fact, our soil is so rich and accommodating even a carelessly cast off fruit seed would in a matter of a few weeks (rainy season) be up and a growing concern, thank God. But then the pestiferous weeds also get the same treatment and there lies the rub of the phrase MASAMANG DAMO.<\/span><\/p>\n

This trite metaphor for evil persons should be retired, or at least used more sparingly. The biblical example of Cain, the \u201cmark of Cain,\u201d should be taking its place and MASAMANG DAMO given its NUNC DIMITTIS. Or we could knit our brows a bit more and search for a more apt metaphor\/simile to sense the same purpose. That\u2019s a writer\u2019s task after all. Threadbare clich\u00e9s are even worse than the Emperor\u2019s new clothes. What\u2019s your reaction? He! He! He!
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This trite metaphor for evil persons should be retired, or at least used more sparingly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":40123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Perhaps this venerable Pilipino saying (MASAMANG DAMO, MAHIRAP UTASIN) springs from the story of Cain\u2019s being long-lived because Yahweh had warned anyone who\u2019d make the mistake of striking him would get himself struck sevenfold in punishment form above. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[126,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fr-bembol","category-reflections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ootw-ar6","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Fr.-Bembol.jpg?fit=959%2C540&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40127,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40120\/revisions\/40127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}