The loss and desolation in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda which battered parts of Visayas leave us no reason not to help and tighten our efforts to rise up again and make history.
They say it’s a privilege for the Philippines. They say, the Filipino spirit is valiant and we are the best epitomes of resiliency. They say, God is punishing us.
I was once told that before we point our fingers, we must make sure our own fingers are clean. If we do, remember that four fingers are pointing back at us. Blame games wrap the compass and bedazzle what it is that should be looked at and focused upon now. We end up putting the mirror of change off the wall.
It may be a privilege for us Filipinos to have experienced the strongest typhoon in the history of the planet. Immortalized beyond afterlife. But, seeing the deluge makes me feel like it’s more of an apocalypse for those suffering and armageddon to those who lead instead of a privilege. The people who survived won’t die of the disaster but of hunger and famine. Their privilege now comes but how long should they wait for it? On the other hand, leaders make this an opportunity to smell like the most generous animals, an outbreak of a very contagious disease in the country. It is indeed a privilege for them, an immunity they grant themselves the ‘peculiar benefit, advantage and/or favor’. In layman’s tongue, to increase their votes and secure a position.
Again and again, we Filipinos prove how valiant our spirit is. We have overcome disasters and calamities not nice to put in mind thus must not be named. How strong our family ties proves that together, we can be a family, a group of people harmonized of love and compassion. Along the very narrow road to progress, we arrange strategic thrusts to aid through every step we take with the yellow-blue-red light from the Empire State Building showing affection and that simply show that valiance doesn’t have to produce nuclear weapons or the most perilous missiles. Love is more than enough. And we Filipinos have so much of it.
Now, I know I have an agnostic alter-ego but some people to say that God is punishing us is an idea I won’t accept and agree at. A friend again emphasized, ‘Who held the chainsaw and deforested? God?’. Yes, we should blame nobody. But there are just people who don’t follow rules, people who are allergic to disaster preparedness, people who think they are Superman and can bend storm surges, people who think hunger is manageable, people who think 7-Eleven is invincible, people who think helping will be a good political strategy, people who think looting is a big felony, people who think that delayed relief operations are sins, people who think pork barrels are friends with NGOs and people who ‘THINK’ but actually ‘DON’T’.
One thing’s for sure now, let us think. Think of how we can help without thinking of others’ ways of helping. Doing so doesn’t actually help. Living on floating sofas, floating houses and cocoon sleeping bags would be interesting than none. Pardon me but it’s not funny.