TO THE APOLITICAL INTELLECTUAL

For three weeks, I was not able to write in my column due to an enormous amount of load in my law office. Deadlines have reached up to my nose and even a little ripple would drown me.

The other reason why I temporarily quit writing is that I had this discussion with my only daughter Batin on the topics I write about. She wanted me to write about anything that would not be linked to politics. For a while, I considered her suggestion. It might be good sometimes to review some good books or write about children or anything about our environment.

However, I remembered the poem tacked on a board in the publication room of the Crusaders in Xavier University in the mid 70’s entitled “To The Apolitical Intellectual”. In those days, about thirty years ago, I have so decided not to become an apolitical intellectual. Such commitment has sunk deep and has subconsciously been with me until now.

The poem was written by a Guatemalan poet and a revolutionary named Otto Rene Castillo which goes:

TO THE APOLITICAL INTELLECTUAL

One day
The apolitical
Intellectuals
Of my country
Will be interrogated
By the simplest
Of our People.
They will be asked
What they did
When their nation died out
Slowly,
Like a sweet fire,
Small and alone.
No one will ask them
-About their dress
Their long siestas after lunch
No one will want to know
About their sterile combats
With "the idea
Of the nothing"
No one will care about
Their higher financial learning.
They won't be questioned
On Greek mythology
Or regarding their self-disgust,
When someone within them
Begins to die
The coward's death.
They'll be asked nothing
About their absurd
justifications
Born in the shadow
Of the total lie.
On that day
The simple men will come.
Those who had no place
In the books and poems
Of the apolitical intellectuals,
But daily delivered
Their bread and milk
Their tortillas and eggs,
Those who mended their clothes,
Those who drove their cars,
Who cared for their dogs
and gardens
And worked for them,
And they'll ask:
“What did you do when the poor
Suffered, when tenderness
And life
Burned out in them?"

In his lifetime, Otto Rene Castillo wrote two volumes of work entitled Poema Tecun Uman and Vamonos Patria a Caminar. A year before his death, he returned to Guatemala and joined the guerrilla struggle with the Rebel Armed Forces (RAF). He was captured by the government forces, interrogated, tortured and finally killed or immolated.

Now, will I write anything apolitical or should I take sides on what I believe is right? Should I condemn corruption and embrace the ideals of good governance? Should I fight to alleviate the plight of the poor instead of praising the wily business stratagems of the rich? Should I continue crucifying the corrupt leaders and seek glory for our country through the emerging genre of young leaders through my pen?

To my daughter Batin, I am so sorry. I can never be an apolitical intellectual. Your banters will always have political color.