Wrath of Man- Induced Catastrophe

"Man, I'm so fucked up. EDSA's traffic is unbearable."
"Too cold here. I need a jacket and someone to cuddle."
"Give me something to do. I'm too darn bored."

Heard, seen, said or posted any of these three statements last Friday and Saturday? Prolly yes. I myself is guilty of this. Why guilty? I'm guilty because it seems that I have the biggest problem, mentioned above, while our brothers and sisters down south are battling for their lives in the wake of Tropical Storm Sendong.

Earlier this week, it was on the news that a storm will hit the country Friday night but it won't be as worse as the earlier typhoons that visited the country. We didn't even hear any news that there was an on- going repackaging of relief goods and evacuation of residents, right? So last Friday night, at the midst of the cold, traffic- stricken and boring Friday night in the metro, there was an action down south. It wasn't the regular fight between the nation's army and leftist group but a battle between life and death brought by the said storm. As the night continued, we ate, slept and probably partied all night long that we got shocked by the news early Saturday morning that more than 100 are dead and more than 800 people are missing and feared dead last night due to the continuous heavy rainfall on Mindanao, especially on Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. They say that this is way worse than 2009's Ondoy that killed around 300+ people here in Manila. Why? The rainfall brought by Sendong is higher by 20.00mm+ per hour than Ondoy. As many knew what happened, donations started pouring in. Call for help started to surround our television sets, radio, cellphone, Facebook and Twitter.

This catastrophe let me realize many things. First, life is so precious that it may be taken away from you at the time that nobody expects. I know I've said this when AJ passed away but I'm saying it again because most of us, including me back then, don't value life. We have "This too shall pass." mentality, which at certain aspects is right, but looking at a different perspective, it's wrong. We shouldn't just let things pass, we should examine it, give it a try, learn from it and live what you have learned. That's life. Second is that the environment's can be our best friend and at the same time our worst enemy. It can be our best friend in the sense that we can depend our lives on it. We get everything that we need from her. But because of man's unending desire for wealth, we end up killing her so she would counter attack on the things we did. I think it's pretty much safe to say that we people deserve and don't deserve this tragedy at the same time. Just imagine, Mindanao, called the "Land of Promise" for it's pristine natural wonders, is having a dilemma on it's own ecosystem. Why? Greedy people are stashing down trees. On the contrary, we don't deserve it too. People died, especially children who have nothing to do with this tree- cutting incidents have perished. Why can't she run after those who try to kill her? Oh well, again, life is unfair. Third, we still live by our customs and tradition. We may not see real life situations of those Bayanihan paintings of lifting houses but it is still practiced by everyone, whether from the metro or not. We easily responded to the call of our fellowmen down south. We forgot our cultural, historical and religious differences just to help each other. This is one of the moments I'm proud that I am Pinoy. Calamities may bring us down temporarily but we stand and conquer it as one, despite of the said differences.

As of this writing, per CNN and PNRC, 650 people, mostly children, aged people and women, have perished from this tragic incident. May we learn from this incident, again. We got some lessons from the Metro's Ondoy but this too shall give us a more remarkable lesson.

As of this writing too, only a few people were tweeting about traffic, boredom and coldness. Perhaps, we have learned that more people are in need of help and attention.

Pinoy’y ating maaasahan
Kailan ma’y di ka iiwan
Handang tumulong sa iyo
Ano man ang pagdaanan mo

Lumalaban sa hamon ng buhay
Hanggang sa ating tagumpay
Mahirap man pagdaanan
Kayang kaya natin ‘yan!