- I appreciated the sun even more.
- I am grateful that I live in an area where flood is a rare event.
- I thanked God for telling me to go home right after work last Saturday instead of staying in Makati and meeting my friend. I probably would've been stranded and sick.
- I realized that there are showbiz personalities who are more than just pretty faces.
- I appreciated being a Filipino seeing alot of nameless heroes trying their best to help out the victims of this unexpected calamity.
I was sick for most of the day and did not realize the gravity of the situation until I turned on the television and saw how bad the rain was. A month's worth of falling water in the span of a few hours. Someone's mightily pissed off up there, that's what I thought.
Yesterday, thankfully the storm left the country. And just as the sun emerged, so did the heroes. On tv, you could see videos of men and women risking their lives to save relatives, neighbors, friends and strangers. Famous showbiz personalities calling out to their endorsers to donate what they have to help out victims of the deluge. And just like when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, when the earthquake hit the country, when Estrada was ousted, and when former Pres. Aquino was buried, the country was once again united.
Blame is being thrown at the government for it's unpreparedness and slow action during the calamity. But in my opinion, no one is to be blamed for this tragedy. Every once in awhile, mother nature does things to remind us we need to take care of our environment. We shouldn't throw our garbage on rivers, maintain our drainage systems. We shouldn't rely too much on the government things that we ourselves can do.
We learn our lessons in calamities like this, but then again we tend to forget the morals learned from these situations. I guess the challenge here really is to remember the lessons we learned from all of this and to not let this happen again.
After the storm, I knew that alot shall be written about this ordeal. But I thought that not everything posted about it should be sad or gloomy or tragic. Like with everything else, this too shall pass.
be safe my friend
ReplyDeleteSame here, dude. I was thankful that I went home after night shift work that Saturday morning while most of my officemates stayed inside the building pa. True that we can't always play the victims by putting blame on the government all the time. Not this time. The water was brown in the disaster area (Cainta, Pasig, etc.) not like the black, muddy flood color of Manila which means that flash floods came from the high Rizal terrain. The rainfall amount was considerably higher than Hurricane Katrina and it even broke the average amount registered in Manila circa 1967.
ReplyDeleteNicely put, man. It is time that we show compassion to the victims. I have relatives who suffered despite their good disposition in life.
ReplyDeleteThis is a warning and hell yeah, the beginning of the end of the world.
Glad ur safe. Submerged pa rin bahay namin sa tubig pero bumababa na pakonti konti at may kuryente na kami. I'm still worried sa ibang tao lalo na sa mga taga Marikina. Oh well, may Bro help us recover. Its still a thank you indeed!
ReplyDelete' wow.. love this one engel.. =)
ReplyDelete- i disagree with some of your points but crap, who cares, you're engel.. someone i can agree with to disagree.. ehe.. =)
Another good post, engel. Thanks for your thoughtful insights.
ReplyDelete"After the storm, I knew that alot shall be written about this ordeal. But I thought that not everything posted about it should be sad or gloomy or tragic. Like with everything else, this too shall pass."
While this is naturally a great disaster and no one can make light of it, I also agree with that closing paragraph. Our compassion is real, but yes, life will go on. Not for all of us, sadly, but still, it goes on.
very well said! one of the rare ondoy posts that ended in a happy note.
ReplyDeleteyes, this too shall pass and if there's one thing to be grateful for, it's the fact that our country is in unity- even if it's to hate certain politicians who cashed in on this tragedy by politicking or that girl from facebook whos multiply account has been constantly bombarded with hate comments since yesterday. through loss, charity and hate, we filipinos have proven that we are tenacious and united. :D
wv: nolosers (how apt! :D)
it was more than a year when the typhoon frank hit our city.there will always be countless stories of survival, of heroism, of bravery. some of them we will never know, or read.
ReplyDeletebut to those who survived, to those who braved, to those heroes we will never meet or know, i salute you...
bangon, pilipinas!
the geek: our attention should be to those heroes who risked their lives for the safety of others and not to facebook users who don't know what they're saying.
ReplyDeletecitybuoy: i find it really fascinating sometimes how word verifications are related to what we posted as comment.
rudeboy: sadly, for alot of people, moving on meant being without a family or a home.
jedi: yan ang gusto ko sa'yo ok lang kahit ano sabihin ko. sige na nga, kahit di mo nako ilibre ng kape. =P
Dom: Hope everything will be fine with you and your family.
Goodboi: The difference I guess is with perspective. Some see this event as a tragedy, others a challenge.
random student: thanks for visiting my site.
period: thanks. you too.
I loved your post.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the people I know and are dear to me are safe and dry, kahit papaano..
The relief works are very inspiring. This is a chance to relearn how to work together, and just quit the finger-pointing.:-)
Government should be criticized for its unpreparedness and inadequate response during and after the calamity.
ReplyDeleteGood thing there were heroes during the calamity. And there are heroes after the calamity. It is amazing how the spirit of bayanihan is infectious. And more amazing, how technology has turned it into a pandemic.
I don't have a Facebook account... Buti na lang may Task Force Ondoy yung blue na school. Maaalis din ang kati. :)
sometimes, we should first experience this situations for us to be prepared for worse things to come. Pessimistic apporach...
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous, do we really have to blame someone for something like this? F*ck you!
ReplyDeleteSorry Engel for this.
Be safe my friend :)
ReplyDelete"Blame is being thrown at the government for it's unpreparedness and slow action during the calamity." → TRUE!. This isn't the time to point fingers at people. If we look at the situation, all of us, we're all at fault here for not really taking care of our environment.
ReplyDeleteNice post. Bloghopping from Sonia's.Ü