Lucidity in the choices

Choices, when done with lucidity, can promote the qualification of personal life and the integral development of society. Freedom of choice is a right, but it is necessary to know the consequences of each decision. For this reason, it is not advisable that the choices should be made simply by 
conveniences. Neither should they be determined by the psychic and affective dynamics of individuals, as they impact on socio-political and cultural contexts. Thus, only the lucidity in the choices, fruit of the indispensable exercise of discernment, is capable of generating the necessary balance to the decisions directed towards the common good.

And every process of discernment is complex. It reveals individual weaknesses, regardless of social, academic and economic conditions. Thus, the secret of good discernment lies in the human and spiritual competence to articulate concepts, information and to see, with greater clarity, reality. But in many situations, people are not able to discern well. Even more troubling is when individuals with large responsibilities are unprepared. Managers who have a duty to represent the people make inadequate choices, causing devastating impacts on society.

For this reason, it is necessary to choose these managers, specifically in the electoral process. Many submit their names to the suffrage of the ballot boxes moved exclusively by vanity. Worse, the presence in politics of people who seek to occupy positions only to serve private interests, or 
satisfy the desire to have the “power in the hands”. After all, the manager is expected to have a competent government in discernment and choices, prioritizing effectiveness in solving different problems without delays and losses. But, unfortunately, it is often found that they occupy strategic places without the slightest 
perception of their own responsibilities. Instead of presenting results, a prevailing gossip prevails with endless justifications.

New Leaders

This scenario is especially worrying nowadays, when institutions are challenged to remodel, adapting to contemporary reality. And in instances of power, those who represent the people, rather than offering solutions to the many problems, are more concerned with maintaining positions and privileges. They do not even dedicate themselves to the necessary exercise of self-criticism, essential for not repeating mistakes. Lack of lucidity. A pathology that threatens different institutions, submits to the disconnections and idiosyncrasies of its leaders.

Urgent is the emergence of new leaders, capable of leading processes with detachment and intelligence. Particularly, this is an unquestionable necessity for Brazil , which needs to rearticulate the course of democracy, so weakened by the management of those who have followed the paths of pettiness, instead of prioritizing the common good. In this sense, the Brazilian citizen is challenged to choose his representatives well in this year’s elections. Managers and legislators capable of perceiving the complex reality of the country must be sought.

Among the many challenges to be faced is, therefore, the qualification of the political community. The unique opportunity for this is voting at the polls. In order not to lose it, each person must choose his candidate lucidly, considering the proposals that really seek the good of society. Of the politicians, a clear understanding of the real importance of the people is expected, as the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches: people are not an amorphous multitude, an inert mass to be manipulated and instrumentalized, but a set of people with the right to form its own opinion about the public issues, to express its political sensibility and to assert it in a manner consistent with the common good.

It is not enough for politicians to ambitiously to take places in governance processes. We must intuit new ways. The starting point will always be cultivation-learning of discernment, to ensure lucidity in choices.

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