Amidst the Storm: A Tale of Hope and Courage

Catastrophic. Distressing. Tragic.

This was once the situation in Tacloban after super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded in history; wrecked and claimed not only thousands of homes, but also thousands of families and lives.

Cries of help linger throughout every corner of the city as people affected by the storm dwell on the last glimpse or word of a loved one who didn’t make it, all the while experiencing extreme hunger and risk to infections and diseases. One mother, for one, recalls her daughter's last words amidst the typhoon. “Ma, just let go. Save yourself." Bernadette Tenegra, in an interview with a local TV station, quoted her daughter as she was told. "I was holding her, and I kept telling her to hang on.... But she just gave up." With these accounts of homes and lives that didn’t make it through, and each tale uncovered that proved to be more heartbreaking than the last, it was indeed a time where the Filipinos were at its worst.

Yet, it was also a time when we were at our best.

We were at our best, for despite this catastrophe; we are still able to smile, full faith and trust that after the storm the sun will rise and smile back at us. Those people who experienced grief and heartbreak? They do not let the tragedy of their fate get into them. As David Guttenfelder witnessed, “People laugh and are happy, even though their lives are just destroyed. They've built basketball hoops in rubble and play pickup games, and people watch and cheer. The Filipino people have an incredible spirit and an incredible way of moving on. If it were any other place in the world, it would be so different.”

Now, a couple of months after Typhoon Haiyan churned through the Philippines, signage that once read “Please help” are now replaced with a heartfelt “Thank you”. Tacloban is slowly progressing, and though recovery effort is slow and far from over and there are still a lot needed to be fixed, Tacloban is carrying through. Amidst the devastation that once was Typhoon Haiyan, hope lives in the Filipino people’s hearts. Amidst chaos and despair, the Filipino people are not defeated.

Smiles are wider, cheers louder, for the Filipino spirit is alive among us. The Filipino spirit is waterproof.

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TAGS: Features, Original Works   Edit

The Portrait of a Pot Maker (edited)

There was once a pot maker busy molding a lump of clay. He spent long, tiring hours molding it; when all of a sudden, he smashed it. An observer, amazed with what he did, curiously asked why. The pot maker replied, "there was something wrong. It didn't turn out perfect." Then he went back to work.

At the office, we also have our pot maker as well. One who never gets tired of burning his brows to make the best out of everything. We are his lumps of clay and he molds us into shape. Indeed he is like the pot maker in this aspect, but then there lies a conspicuous difference. When sometimes we don't turn out right he doesn't smash us. Instead, he tries harder and doubles his effort in helping us improve in a desirable way. He never fails us when it comes to guiding us. He never tends to be drastic nor assertive; and lets us grow by giving us enough freedom to practice our own craft until it yields to good results. He had faith on us since day one, and guess will never stop believing that we are his masterpieces. He treats us the way he treats a prized possession—with utmost care and supervision.

It may have roughly been just months but to say these words aren't enough to describe how wonderful he is as a person would be the understatement of the year; for during that span of time, he had shown how he ruled with a heart.

To TC Glenn—the worker, the pot maker. Who guides us, molds us.. Hoping that someday, somehow, we may become his sturdy pots.

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TAGS: Features, Random Musings   Edit

A Break-Up Letter

I hope you wouldn't mind if I say that I'm finally letting go of you and my love. It has been more than a year now and for that extensive amount of time, you couldn't say that I haven't been faithful. I was... and have always been. See, no matter how I convince myself to give up on you and just forget about everything, I always end up coming back to you. But... this time's different. Really, it's time to move on. It's time to let go and give up on you for real. It isn't easy, and wouldn't be easy. You're probably thinking that this is just so ridiculous and that you never ordered me to hold on that long for such an unrequited love. Ha, true indeed. But don't worry, it's okay. I'm okay; and would definitely get off of this thing in no time at all. Yet still, you should probably know that the days I spent holding on to this feeling, dreaming and hoping, were one of the best (if not totally the best) that I ever had. It’s just that, I couldn't be stuck in this state forever. I couldn't just wait. And wait. And wait... and wait a lifetime more knowing that had you loved me back, I wouldn't have had to wait.

So there. This isn't goodbye yet, yes? Or is it? Either way, I'd always be thankful for that one chance encounter to have met you. The way you killed me with one smile and how you brought me to life again with another would always be one of the fondest memories I will remember about you. You will forever be here, once treasured but never forgotten.

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Is It In You?

There is no better exercise for the heart than reaching down and lifting someone up.

Last meeting our professor had showed us a video clip—a documentary entitled “Basurero” created by Jay Taruc, an I-Witness remarkable reporter. The gist of the story was about one of the basic problems in urban areas today, garbage.

The case which wraps the top half of the story was about a family of mambabatchoys (those who feed on leftovers) living in an overpass in Cubao. Day by day their routine would be to look for food in the trash (usually of fast food restaurants) and re-cook it; or eat it on the spot just to get through the hazards of living life. Whether rotten or spoiled, they don’t mind. For hungry beings like them, food poisoning is not a catch.

On the other hand, the bottom half of the story unravels yet another side of the garbage dilemma—the scavengers. These are people who spend long tiring hours in the dumpsite looking for a basketful of plastic bottles and cans which they could barter for money. Sounds easy? NOT. Truth is, this case may even be more horrible than those of the mambabatchoys as more and more lives are at risk from being hit or ran-over by bulldozers and trucks.

Now these situations are just among those that the Philippines have been experiencing for the past years. Indeed, the lives of many Filipinos are getting worse as time passes by. Everybody blames everybody else—the rich, the poor, the government, even GOD! They know it’s a ruthless way of life, but what else can they do? It’s the only thing they could do to survive. But…have they ever given a thought of what else can other people do? Or what else do they do? No, because they’re probably too fed up with themselves or content inside their boxes of comfort to even try and think about just anything else.

No matter how corrupt or worse the government may be, still it is always there to help. To offer jobs and support free public education. There is always room for hope and the people. After all, this is what the government is truly all about. However, everything wouldn’t work by merely the government taking action alone. The people must also do their fair share of task. Break out of the box! Study, reach out and strive hard to survive. Everything should be a two-way process.

All in all, problems constantly repeat its self not for the people to suffer, but for them to open up and learn. If only they knew how to take time and listen, how to reach out and help, how to reflect and look within, everything would’ve gradually fallen unto its place. It is only we who holds the key to change, because no one else knows what’s best for us than we do ourselves. It just takes time, patience, courage, virtue. Now tell me, is it in you?

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Letter To A Hero

Dear Dr. Rizal,

Greetings of peace!

Last meeting, July 31, 2007 we have been asked to view a film entitled “Bayaning Third World” (Third World Hero) which talks about your life, and the controversial issue of your retraction. Honestly speaking, I myself have been intrigued by this issue that’s why I’m here, writing you this letter.

It has been clear to me that there have been polarized reactions between those who accept the documents as genuine and those who believe that a religious political conspiracy fabricated the story and forged your penmanship.

Historical documents as well as events prove to speak for themselves—which says that you really have had, retracted. Father Balaguer claimed you did so because the retraction document, said he, had been received by him the evening preceding your execution. However, Father Balaguer himself was not able to distinguish if it’s genuine or just an imitation. Josephine Bracken also claimed the same thing indirectly by saying that there had been a marriage between the two of you. However, Josephine could never produce a certificate of it, in spite of being required to do so.

These alone make your retraction issue a lot more controversial. I mean, if you really have had retracted, how come no one could show where the original copy of it is? Come to think of it, according to many, neither the Archbishop nor Father Pi really saw it. Could it be that what they saw was just a copy done by one who could imitate your handwriting while some friars kept the original?

Just the same, if you really have had retracted how come the highly enlarged photo of your execution shows you without a rosary in your hand? And why had the death sentence for you still carried out? Why was your remains just bundled off in a dirty old sack, as they say, and then just dumped into a hole in the ground outside Paco Cemetery? Was this the proper way to bury historic Catholics who died in an exemplary repentant way?

You see Dr. Rizal, this is really just very intriguing. Have you really changed your mind and turned about the masonry, enunciating all of your writings and repenting to the authority of the Catholic Church; thus giving up your noble honor so?

I wish you could really give us some clue about how we could solve this intriguing puzzle. Because to me, it would be really hard to believe that the retraction document was written by your own colonially pierced hands.

Yours Truly,

Sette

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An Epistolary

It has been a long time since I last saw your smile. Could it be because you're still drowning on your self-infatuated misery? Do you still believe in what other people say about you? That you're exactly a fraud and more than a failure? That in this beautiful surrounding you are hideous, a spider among perfect things?

Well, I guess it’s time for you to wake up and come into consciousness. Stop being inadequately passive! Avoid imagining almost anything except action; some way out of your own despair. Cause you know, what people say about you is only what they see on the outside of you.

It’s like a line from the book Mister God This Is Anna. “The sun is nice, but it lights things up so much that you can’t see very far. Your soul doesn’t go very far in the daylight because it stops where you can see. The nighttime is better. It stretches your soul right out the stars. And that, is a very long way. In the nighttime you don’t have to stop going  out. It’s like your ears. In the daytime it’s so noisy you can’t hear. In the nighttime you can. The nighttime stretches you.”

Putting it this way, what people say about you is only what they see on the daytime, on the outside of you. The truth is, they still don’t know you well, because they hadn’t gone deeper yet. So, in order for them to see whom the real you are, they have to stretch into the night time and look on the inside of you.

Thus, you must always remember not to let anyone rob you of your right to be complete.

God said ‘I am’ and that’s what He wants us all to say. Wherever you go take your whole self with you; you don’t leave bits lying around to get stamped on; you’re all of a piece; and you’re what God wants you to be.

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Live Life To The Fullest

There is always a dawn on the horizon and there’s no need to worry. Yep, that’s right. Most of us live as if there is going to be a tomorrow — a tomorrow to fix things, to care for, to do things, to cherish, to love, to give, to say and to do those great things we dream of.

It seems to most of us that there is always time and there is no need to be in any hurry. We think the sun will always rise, and we can always look and plan and hope for a better future ahead.

Well, this is good, except that most of the time we are not prepared if things fall apart. We seem to expect things to stay the same. Sometimes we are so certain of ourselves that we fail to accept the bumps in our lives.

Not all people succeed. It is an accepted reality. But even if it is the case, man shouldn’t stop from striving to achieve his full potentials and desire to improve his future life.

Therefore, what man needs to do is to draw out what’s best in him. He must learn how to live life to the fullest, and make use of it. After all, there is always a final dawn on the horizon and there’s no need to worry. But sooner or later, this final dawn comes when you least expect it.

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The Portrait of a Pot Maker

There was once a pot maker busily molding a lump of clay. He spent long tiring hours molding it when all of a sudden he smashed it. An observer, amazed with what he did curiously asked why. The pot maker replied: “There was something wrong with it. It didn’t turn out perfect.” Then he went back to work.

In our world today, there are also these pot makers trying to mold every little piece of our personality into perfect shapes. They work untiringly to help us develop our skills and learn from our successes and mistakes.

However, these two pot makers we referred to quite differ from each other. And that’s in a great sense.

While one smashes his pot if something is wrong with it, the other does not. He does just the opposite. Instead of smashing his work, he tries to mold it even better. He tries to mold us, till we get into perfect shapes.

Yes, this second type of pot makers never get tired of working; they persistently guide us and teach us all there is to know about life.

They lead us to the right path we have to take and educate us. They feed our minds and give us strength to go on. They serve as frames that support us every time we feel frail and weak. They shelter us, welcome us, and care for us. They treat us like very priceless possessions—with utmost care and supervision.

Undoubtedly, these people we have been talking about are none other than our very dear teachers. They are the heroes of our world. They are the workers, the pot makers. They guide us and mold us, hoping that someday, somehow, we may become their sturdy pots.

Note: Regional journalism contest entry (2004 RSSPC).

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TAGS: Features, Original Works   Edit