‘It could’ve been worse’ is a crappy measurement of ‘excellence’

ICYMI, the anniversary of the pandemic lockdown is in a few days. And despite the thousands of lives lost and millions left jobless, Malacañang didn’t miss a beat in calling the country’s COVID-19 response ‘excellent’.

‘We were excellent. We controlled the spread of the disease, especially when compared to richer countries with more modern hospitals’, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who used the COVID crisis in the United States as his measuring stick.

But while it’s true that things could’ve been worse, does that automatically mean it’s been stellar? As a report pointed out, PH currently has one of the highest cases in Southeast Asia, faced one of the region’s worst economic recessions, and was painfully slower in getting vaccines compared to its other neighbors.

This brings us back to my first question: If something isn’t the worst, is it officially considered good? Or should we start judging something for what it is, not for what it could’ve been?

‘It could’ve been worse’ is a common rebuttal nowadays. Try calling out one leader’s flaw and his fanati- erm, ‘supporters’ would instantly counter with ‘Well, Former Leader A was an a*hole as well’ or my personal fave, ‘Ganyan na dati pa (It’s always been this way).’

But none of these clapbacks answer the main point of contention ‘Is he doing his job well or not?’. Because while we might feel some sort of gratification when we high-five our classmates and say ‘Bagsak ka rin?!’ after an exam, the truth is that, at the end of the day, we’ll still get a tongue lashing from our parents and a huge permanent L on our report card.

Both scenarios aren’t any good.

So when it comes to our pandemic response, is it acceptable then to hear something that sounds like ‘Hey, millions could’ve died. At least it’s only twelve thousand!’?

Or should we set higher standards for ourselves and be humble enough to realize that things could’ve – and should’ve – been better, as proven by our next-door neighbors?

The latter may be nothing short of fantasy in today’s climate, but hey, a guy can dream.

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Source: we the pvblic