A
former Professor and friend of mine during my studies in Europe greeted
me by e-mail today in relation to our country's present travails. To my
surprise, I was able to spontaneously write the following note. Maybe,
it was also my own way of articulating how this Yolanda/Haiyan saga has
also deeply touched me, yes in ways that I didn't expect.
Great
to hear from you. My family and I are doing well. As everyone in the
Philippines and in many other parts of the, we also our now deep into
our own relief efforts, doing our own share of helping our fellow
Filipinos in the best way we can. In fact, though it's weekend, just
like our other faculty members and students, I also spent time this
morning in our university to help out in repacking all the relief goods
for our typhoon victims. It's so sad that people from the stricken
areas are now going into some kind of voluntary diaspora, and this is
the first time I've seen something like this in quite a
large scale happening to a disaster-hit area in my country. To think,
we Filipinos are a people who as much as possible wouldn't want to leave
our hometowns (our migrant workers leave, but always with the thought
of going back). It saddens me to hear people say, better anywhere than
here. In the contemporary parlance, it's PTSD. But in another lens it's
nothing less than existential despair after one has lost ALL the
members of one's family; or even just a single loved one, and so many
other people, relations, and things that one has valued in one's life.
But, I think, and hope, that all isn't lost as there are those who are
outside the stricken areas who decided to GO BACK to locate, succor,
help heal, or even bury their victimized loved ones, giving the
assurance to the afflicted that they are neither forgotten nor
abandoned. Just a few minutes ago, on TV, was suddenly broadcasted the
once-popular song "We Are the World," sang by artists from all shades of
life. And to my surprise, from the commencement of this Yolanda/Haiyan
tragedy,only now, I found myself spontaneously shedding tears. I can't
fully say why, but I surely knew they were tears of lamentation. And I
immediately got reminded by Elie Wiesel's "Night" question when he was
in front of fellow Jews just newly-hanged by the Nazis: Where is God?
And, though with sadness, however I was consoled by the answer provided
by Wiesel's book itself "There, also hanging on the gallows." Yes,
though I can't fully explain, I'm sure that God was with everyone who
perished to their last moments, and in His own mysterious ways, He still
is with everyone in every fiber of their cries, in every drop of their
tears, and even in every crease of their smiles.
God bless you!
Again, many thanks my friend!
Sincerely,
Nonoy.
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