My friend JD speaks with a thick Filipino accent. Long time ago he shared with me a wisdom that has been hard to erase from memory. Discussing office politics one day, JD waved his pointed forefinger in the manner pastors and politicians do when they are saying something important, and confided in me, "Ip you cannot be trusted for smaller things then you cannot be trusted for bigger things." In watching Zardari win the recent presidential elections JD’s aphorism keeps clashing in my head with the observation that over their lifetimes people go through a lot of transitions…and many a times they become better human beings. It would be to the advantage of over 160 million people if in President Zardari JD's maxim proves wrong.

Photo courtesy of AFP.