Even as I am feeling deep compassion for the victims, I am angered by the fact that we were not prepared enough for the catastrophe and the aftermath. Initially, the reports of the casualties were just in the hundreds. In a matter of hours, the estimates now run into the thousands. I am angered by our leaders and public officials who had pocketed public funds instead of spending these on needed infrastructure projects that could have mitigated the damage from the storm. Even as I am gladdened and inspired by the bravery, courage and generosity of the first responders to the calamity, I am saddened by those people who have gone of a rampage of looting. Even as I try to help in whatever way I can, I feel like a cop out when all I can do now is to pray and to give money to the relief efforts.
It is in moments like this that it is difficult for me to keep my faith. Is life really stronger than death? Will light really conquer the darkness? Will goodness really overcome evil? Will tears truly go away to be replaced forever by true joy and real happiness? Is there really a loving God who wishes for us only happiness and the fullness of life? Even now, as we try to pick up the pieces, there is another storm poised to pass through the same path again in the Visayas. It does not any that there are fantastic conspiracy stories that the typhoon Yolanda was man-made. I cry in desperation with the words of the Psalmist:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.” ~ Psalm 22
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.”
Luke 17:1-6
Yes, apparently when we have faith, our requests could become commands and claim what we asked for, even the impossible. It seems that the Yolanda induced tragedy is bringing out the best and the worst in Filipinos. Amidst the physical environmental devastation, the stench spiritual deprivation expressed in blaming, warped priorities, and what have you, is becoming apparent as the inventory of fatalities files up. Let us all do what we CAN, even if it’s only sighing a prayer for the victims and alas, for our leaders also!
Thank you Louie for your consoling words.
Thank YOU, Verne!