Saturday, September 26, 2009. I woke up lazily as the rains poured hard outside of the house. After all the past days of struggling to wake up (because of the tempting rains), I was glad because I slept soundly. It was your typical hard raining September morning. I went downstairs and ate breakfast. I woke up late (around 10:30 AM) but it did not feel that late because there was no sun and I was expecting a boring day ahead. I went online and chatted with some of my friends as I killed time to wait for the afternoon UAAP game that featured the Ateneo Blue Eaglets against De La Salle Zobel Junior Archers. The rain continued to pour hard…
Nevertheless, I could not care that much because I expected it to stop some time soon. The only problem was the potential brownout. I heard news that the much-awaited basketball game was postponed. It was just right. With the rate these rains continued to pour, it was at least similar to the typhoons that get classes suspended. By 3 PM, electricity went out but since the weather was cold, I just went to bed and slept. Anyway, it was just another boring day. The rains still poured non-stop but since I could not hear strong winds in the background, I thought that the rains will eventually stop. I woke up by 5 PM noticing that the electricity was restored. The heavy rains are still heard from the background. This is already alarming because I never heard it stop. My parents were tuning to a local TV station which featured people asking for help. I was shocked that celebrities like Cristine Reyes and Jenica Garcia were in big trouble. They showed footages of severe flooding in the streets. I have driven in flooded roads before but since the downpour was still terrible, it is now a huge concern. Before 6 PM, we experienced another brownout. It was still raining but it was not as heavy as it was. It elicited me to curse because we experienced electricity stoppage at a time when the showers have started to lessen. But still, it did not stop. We spent the whole night without electricity and with only a radio (however, it was FM only because it cannot access AM stations) to keep me connected to the rest of the world, it was a complete struggle.
Eventually, the rainfall became a drizzle and it soon stopped by midnight. Electricity was still inexistent so I was still pissed off. I had to stroll at our Silent Hill-looking village so that I could feel the cool weather as my body was sweating badly.
The next day continued to be boring. However, it was because I was still disconnected from the world. In this age, having no Internet connection sucks. I am so dependent on it that my day would easily be ruined without it. When electricity came back, we were set to go to my cousin Kae’s debut. Unfortunately, the huge volume of traffic and flood prevented us from going further. We instead attended the Holy Mass to which Mom was the commentator and we arrived home by 8 PM. Internet connection via DSL was not available then and my only way to connect was via Dad’s WeRoam which was not functioning properly. I still had to connect to do some work but it was too unstable. But when I had some free time, I tried to access Facebook and Twitter. That was when I found out how severe the typhoon really was. There were several videos showing how terrible the situation was. I also found out that some of my friends struggled for their lives as their houses were flooded 9-10 feet deep! There were several messages about donations and volunteering because there were still various people stranded in their houses a day after the storm.
Suddenly, I felt bad. I was getting pissed off that we lost electricity and Internet whereas other people were losing their prized possessions and even their lives. I was just sweating and getting bitten by mosquitoes the previous night while some were sweating for their dear lives by climbing up their rooftops despite getting drenched with the heavy rain. I was too busy worrying about myself while others were already suffering from misfortunes that were more than a hundred times worse than mine. Damn, Jeff you were such an idiot! My conscience got the better of me and I started taking out the clothes that I have in my cabinet to donate. It was time to put some purpose for being an impulsive t-shirt buyer before. I wanted to help further if not for some pending work. I felt sad for that. I ended my night with a prayer hoping that things would get better for the rest of the typhoon victims from then on.
Last weekend was simply the worst weekend of the year. Typhoon Ondoy was simply the worst typhoon of the decade. Our electricity was restored faster than it did during Typhoon Milenyo but it is not anymore a matter of personal experience. After all, I am a Filipino and I ought to care for my countrymen. With the various initiatives around the city, I am proud of the cooperation of the Filipinos. We have set aside all the conflicts to unite as a nation to solve this huge problem. To be honest, I have not done that much to help so I do not deserve any praise at all. But to all those who have spent their precious time to help solve the typhoon problem, kudos to you. All of you are modern-day Filipino heroes.
Calamity has hit this country and it might again in the future. Such cooperative acts are very good but I hope that such scenarios won’t require us to have volunteering in the future as typhoon damage is significantly lessened. I hope that Filipinos would be more proactive than reactive. If the problem can be prevented, then there is no need to resolve it as it did not occur in the first place. I know that this is a tall order and is too idealistic. But, this typhoon serves as a lesson to us from Mother Nature. This is a call to us to be more responsible. As all of this is too much to ask for, I am just praying and hoping that we be:
• More aware of our environment. Global warming is a growing issue and it has become more evident in recent times. We should avoid using things that could worsen global warming.
• More disciplined in disposing our trash. One of the possible reasons of the floods is our garbage problem. If we just throw our trash in the proper way, we could alleviate the concern in our little way. This prayer even goes to the ones who receive relief goods as most of them would be disposing a handful of trash after consuming food.
I am stopping there. Two things to pray for the moment but I think it could be a huge change if we are more disciplined in doing these. I’ll add in another: I pray that the Government fixes possible drainage and flood-aggravating issues.
But at the end, if a storm is really that heavy, everything is in God’s hands. Thus, we pray. But with what little control that we have on our future, I hope that we maximize it by doing what we ought to do.
It has been said over and over again: in our little ways, we can collectively change our world for the better. Stay safe, everyone.
Nevertheless, I could not care that much because I expected it to stop some time soon. The only problem was the potential brownout. I heard news that the much-awaited basketball game was postponed. It was just right. With the rate these rains continued to pour, it was at least similar to the typhoons that get classes suspended. By 3 PM, electricity went out but since the weather was cold, I just went to bed and slept. Anyway, it was just another boring day. The rains still poured non-stop but since I could not hear strong winds in the background, I thought that the rains will eventually stop. I woke up by 5 PM noticing that the electricity was restored. The heavy rains are still heard from the background. This is already alarming because I never heard it stop. My parents were tuning to a local TV station which featured people asking for help. I was shocked that celebrities like Cristine Reyes and Jenica Garcia were in big trouble. They showed footages of severe flooding in the streets. I have driven in flooded roads before but since the downpour was still terrible, it is now a huge concern. Before 6 PM, we experienced another brownout. It was still raining but it was not as heavy as it was. It elicited me to curse because we experienced electricity stoppage at a time when the showers have started to lessen. But still, it did not stop. We spent the whole night without electricity and with only a radio (however, it was FM only because it cannot access AM stations) to keep me connected to the rest of the world, it was a complete struggle.
Eventually, the rainfall became a drizzle and it soon stopped by midnight. Electricity was still inexistent so I was still pissed off. I had to stroll at our Silent Hill-looking village so that I could feel the cool weather as my body was sweating badly.
The next day continued to be boring. However, it was because I was still disconnected from the world. In this age, having no Internet connection sucks. I am so dependent on it that my day would easily be ruined without it. When electricity came back, we were set to go to my cousin Kae’s debut. Unfortunately, the huge volume of traffic and flood prevented us from going further. We instead attended the Holy Mass to which Mom was the commentator and we arrived home by 8 PM. Internet connection via DSL was not available then and my only way to connect was via Dad’s WeRoam which was not functioning properly. I still had to connect to do some work but it was too unstable. But when I had some free time, I tried to access Facebook and Twitter. That was when I found out how severe the typhoon really was. There were several videos showing how terrible the situation was. I also found out that some of my friends struggled for their lives as their houses were flooded 9-10 feet deep! There were several messages about donations and volunteering because there were still various people stranded in their houses a day after the storm.
Suddenly, I felt bad. I was getting pissed off that we lost electricity and Internet whereas other people were losing their prized possessions and even their lives. I was just sweating and getting bitten by mosquitoes the previous night while some were sweating for their dear lives by climbing up their rooftops despite getting drenched with the heavy rain. I was too busy worrying about myself while others were already suffering from misfortunes that were more than a hundred times worse than mine. Damn, Jeff you were such an idiot! My conscience got the better of me and I started taking out the clothes that I have in my cabinet to donate. It was time to put some purpose for being an impulsive t-shirt buyer before. I wanted to help further if not for some pending work. I felt sad for that. I ended my night with a prayer hoping that things would get better for the rest of the typhoon victims from then on.
Last weekend was simply the worst weekend of the year. Typhoon Ondoy was simply the worst typhoon of the decade. Our electricity was restored faster than it did during Typhoon Milenyo but it is not anymore a matter of personal experience. After all, I am a Filipino and I ought to care for my countrymen. With the various initiatives around the city, I am proud of the cooperation of the Filipinos. We have set aside all the conflicts to unite as a nation to solve this huge problem. To be honest, I have not done that much to help so I do not deserve any praise at all. But to all those who have spent their precious time to help solve the typhoon problem, kudos to you. All of you are modern-day Filipino heroes.
Calamity has hit this country and it might again in the future. Such cooperative acts are very good but I hope that such scenarios won’t require us to have volunteering in the future as typhoon damage is significantly lessened. I hope that Filipinos would be more proactive than reactive. If the problem can be prevented, then there is no need to resolve it as it did not occur in the first place. I know that this is a tall order and is too idealistic. But, this typhoon serves as a lesson to us from Mother Nature. This is a call to us to be more responsible. As all of this is too much to ask for, I am just praying and hoping that we be:
• More aware of our environment. Global warming is a growing issue and it has become more evident in recent times. We should avoid using things that could worsen global warming.
• More disciplined in disposing our trash. One of the possible reasons of the floods is our garbage problem. If we just throw our trash in the proper way, we could alleviate the concern in our little way. This prayer even goes to the ones who receive relief goods as most of them would be disposing a handful of trash after consuming food.
I am stopping there. Two things to pray for the moment but I think it could be a huge change if we are more disciplined in doing these. I’ll add in another: I pray that the Government fixes possible drainage and flood-aggravating issues.
But at the end, if a storm is really that heavy, everything is in God’s hands. Thus, we pray. But with what little control that we have on our future, I hope that we maximize it by doing what we ought to do.
It has been said over and over again: in our little ways, we can collectively change our world for the better. Stay safe, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment