Dear Congressmen (and other abusive government officials),

One of you got shot in front of a church and another was allegedly bombed (although the reasons and evidences cited so far look flimsy).

Why are caricatures of you always about greed and idiocy? Why is there so much hatred against you? Why are you such easy targets so that sitting ducks prefer to stand and move away from you? Why am I asking rhetorical questions? Let me count the ways.

We hate you not for the grand stupidities that you make (like unceremoniously passing laws that any simpleton would recognize to be unpopular). We hate you not for being the epitome of corruption. We hate you not for having enough backbone to work towards real progress. After all, we already expected these of you, you being the Filipino politicians that you are.

What really gets our goat is the little things:

Because when you are around, you make sure we notice your presence, thanks to your arrogant guards who will always push us around;

Because when you travel, you will always ride in a large, black, air-conditioned vehicle with a single-digit license plate;

Because your gaggle of guards and police escorts will always scare ordinary motorists to move out of the way so that your honor could have a luxurious, traffic-free ride home;

Because while we ordinary folks struggle to make ends meet, you bicker among yourselves in your walled-up halls;

I must admit that I probably contributed to this negative energy directed against you. Because every time I hear the sirens blaring from your armored car, every time your big luxury truck pushes my car to the side of the road-- I let out a curse to release my anger. There may have been a couple of times when I even looked back to the days when communist assassins struck fear in your hearts. Had I no sense of compassion left in my bones, I would have relished these killings and bombings that target you.

I realize now that it's not just me who has been letting out little curses. And, Dear Congressmen, remember that little things have a way of piling up until they can no longer be ignored.