Tell the World

I woke up to a strange LSS. It was the theme song of the World Youth Day Celebration back in 1995 held in Manila, "Tell the World of His Love".

For those that don't know the song (it is infectuous, believe you me), I'm sure you can easily find the source for the audio (maybe even video) track, but let me share with you the chorus:

Let us tell the world of His love
The greatest love the world has known
Search the world for those who have walked astray
and lead them home
Fill the world's darkest corners With His light from up above
Walk every step, Every mile, Every road And tell the world,
Tell the world of His love

Then it struck me: Over the past week or so, the Filipino People have done just that. With the aftermath of Ondoy, despite the threats of Pepeng, We the people, remained steadfast in helping and sharing what we could, what we had with those who lost and did not have.

So scripture says that Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) But what if there were a greater love by living and continuing to live for not just one's friends but our neighbors?

I remember one of our Philo101 lessons "the Socius and the Neighbor", in that society dictates that by mere association, we are all everyone else's socii. However, we choose to be someone's neighbor through our actions. With our deeds and actions this past week, the Filipino People have just become one enormous neighborhood, whether friends or not.

These relief operations are tangible examples of "giving until it hurts, giving until it hurts some more and eventually until it hurts no more". Sweat and Tears (maybe even blood?) in amounts equal to Ondoy's onslaught were (and are still being) given, all in the name of Goodness, Goodwill and Generosity.

With the light generated from within us, we have truly lit the world's darkest corners and told the world of His Love.

The wrath of a million tears

You see things like this on the news and in the movies. As a setting for a story, a major motion picture, to add a dark color and a sad soundtrack to a blockbuster. But seeing and experiencing things like this happen live, with your own eyes, is quite surreal.

Images that will forever be etched in the collective subconscious of Mega-Manilenos are the photos, videos and live feed of the rage of the storm that was called "Ondoy".

The video of the group who, save one, never made it past the underside of the bridge in Rizal, The countless corpses and overturned cars, the insenstive comments of some "filipina" in Dubai (The term Filipina in quotation as she has obviously not shown that she deserves to be called one),the outpouring of support from the angelic samaritans (some even to the point of sacrificing their own lives), and of course celebrities as well, for ne'er a story be complete without them and they, too, were equally affected.

Soaking in the tearful aftermath, one cannot help but ask "What now?". When everyone has recovered from the fury of the storm, will this just be another memory swept under the rug? Will we just let this be another spectacle in time, through which we survived but did not resolve much like the tragedies of the Superferries and Sulpicios?

This calami-tragedy struck me as more of a grieving, melancholic Mother Nature than an angry one. Baguio in 1990,Mount Pinatubo in 1991, Ozone, The Bocaue Pagoda and other similar tragedies all felt "angry". Those seemed as if the discipinarian in Mother Nature spoke up and screamed "This is what you get for treating me like this". Ondoy's case was much different. It felt as if she just poured out in one day (or a few hours) years worth of tears held back, and every single drop of those tears united in one titanic display of authority.

 We must cuddle up to Mother Nature, show her our love and affection, before she leaves us for good. She might just, so as the late MJ said : "Let's make a better place for you and for me".