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The Child In The Dungeon
First Published: Reflections - Philippine Daily Inquirer Publication Date: July 29th 1991 Author's Name: Father Shay Cullen SSC Can we be happy while other suffer? It is a dark and filthy dungeon where the small child is imprisoned and chained to the walls alone, abandoned and unloved. The child lives in fear and constant threats and cries day and night because of hunger and the running sores that cover's the child's body. The flies fester and the insects bite constantly. The child does not die but is chained to suffering. There is no one who dares to go to the rescue, no one who can help. Outside the dungeon is a city of bright lights, the people are "happy" in having a job, caring for their families, feeling secure and in a word think themselves to be "happy". But under the edict of the Lord of the castle their "happiness" depends on the imprisonment and the torture of the child in the castle dungeon. There is no compromise possible. The child must suffer so that "happiness" in the city is maintained. This is the substance of a short story by Ursula Le Guin in a book called "The Sind's Twelve Quater's" (Bantam Books,1976) The story raises the moral question; can anyone accept "happiness" under such a condition? This is a question that challenges all of us who have come to accept the poverty and the suffering of others in the whole of Philippine society as a condition of our prosperity and security. Would you be willing to sacrifice the so called "happiness" and risk your financial security to free the child in the dungeon? You have to accept and act on the belief that such a condition of "security and happiness" is unacceptable and the castle should be shut down and the child freed. That is an individual challenge and it is the same for society. But when it is proposed the proponents are called terrible names, anarchists, troublemakers, revolutionaries and even communists. After some people see the child they are outraged and angered and demand the child be released but are told that they must sacrifice their "happiness and security". That is when they re-think their position and begin to make up explanations why the child would be worse off if taken out of the dungeon and in the end they conclude better that the child stays there after all, their anger and outrage now tempered by sober "reality", which translates into the loss of their business interests, jobs, luxury, creature comforts and perhaps surrender of privilege and pride. "Happiness" and security achieved at the cost of another human's suffering and misery is a very real issue today when it comes to the issue of the military bases. There is much suffering and exploitation that is condoned in the name of jobs and happiness of others. How about the happiness of the thousands of women and children imprisoned in the dungeon of prostitution and exploitation? The U.S. authorities deserve due credit for the investigation and recent trial of a US serviceman paedophile who was found guilty of sexually molesting three Filipino children. The children live in a real life dungeon that is Olongapo slums and side-streets where they are pimped to tourists that flock to the bright lights. Navy investigators working undercover have confirmed that children as young as six years old are offered to them for sex. We rationalize by saying prostitution, even child prostitution is everywhere, it's in Manila, it's in Bangkok and New York. It follows the Navy everywhere, the pragmatists say. The proliferation of the evil does not make it right or more acceptable, rather it makes it more objectionable and reprehensible. But most shrug and condone it by indifference. The small child stays in the dungeon. How true the saying; "It is only sufficient for good people to do nothing so evil can triumph. If the same non-caring attitude was taken to the AIDS pandemic as happens in some countries then the killer virus will continue to spread like wildfire, unseen and unknown - until one of our friends or relatives becomes a person with AIDS, through blood transfusion, contaminated needles or other mis-adventure no fault of their own. For some this will be more serious than enjoying "happiness" at the expense of others because it is a direct threat to their "happiness" We may talk ourselves out of our moral outrage about the child in the dungeon but we can't dismiss AIDS so lightly or can we? Yes, definitely. Some governments, nations and individuals have refused to take action to acknowledge and respond to the HIV Virus. They say that like the the child in the dungeon it doesn't disturb their "Happiness" Thousands now pay dearly in human suffering as the pandemic is wiping out the best and brightest. What was thought to be an act of love becomes an act of death. Many people avoid facing up to the morality of their actions. National leaders announce a war of national salvation for example, a war for freedom and peace, and target thousands of nuclear weapons on other nations to keep the peace by threatening total earthly annihilation. If this is peace can war be any worse? In a previous article I wrote about the US Air Force nuclear handlers being detailed to "rescue" nuclear warheads from Clark after the volcanic eruption and shipped out through Subic. This was based on a much quoted report in the Guardian June 23 written by Malou Mangahas and Paul Brown. This has since been answered by Stanley N. Schrange, Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy, Manila. He says the report is inaccurate. The ship that was reported to be carrying the nuclear warheads left Subic before the alleged convoy went to Clark to get the warheads, he said and pointed out other small inaccuracies. But he neither confirmed or denied that the warheads were in Clark. Robert S. Norris, Senior Staff Analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council, based in Washington also writes in the letter section of the Guardian last July 7 arguing about the implausibility of the Guardian report. It seems the US authorities have made a serious effort to cast aspersions on the story in effect to negate what seems likely - that the US does have nuclear weapons in the Philippines. So we are all like children in a castle dungeon.
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