The fury of nature; the backlash of neglect; the anger of hatred; the funny superstition of the pious; the vengeance of retard minds; surviving, moving on, away from reality. These are the article titles that came to mind as I began writing this piece. Instead of just mere words strung together I need paragraphs to flesh out these bones of my contentious mind.
THE FURY OF NATURE: The moonson rains of Habagat which broke the darkened skies of Central Luzon on Sunday August 5, still raging to this hour (7pm) of August 8 as I pound the keyboard of my laptop tell me in no uncertain terms I am home. Really home to the memories of space and time of my youth. The rains bring not quick winks of weak blinking lights but blinding flashes of lightning followed not by the crack of pistol shots but deafening roar of rolling thunders; not Cole Porter’s drip, drip of raindrops but more like continuous splatter of shot gun blast on rusty yero roof tops; this fury of nature unlike ONDOY has no typhoon name as it drenched and killed and bury the innocents. So in its fury, NATURE KILLS as gentle downpours of Habagat, boyfriend to fragrant Amihan.
THE BACKLASH OF NEGLECT : Some people survive not because of their common senses nor from learned lessons from harrowing experiences but by sheer instincts and reflex actions when danger comes. When floods and landslides kill them they and not their situations get the blame. Why live in habitats of harm’s way? Why defy the law on squatting? Why remain poor and not seek the challenges of greener pastures? Why be contented with the excuses for a humble life? Why is that the backlash of neglect is never seen or experienced in the mansions of gated villages in the whole of Luzon or in the particular villages of Metro Manila cities. Self-neglect and government–neglect strongly thrive in the poorest barangays. That is where the calamities of nature kill.
THE ANGER OF HATRED: May be what the situation of the poor needs is the anger of hatred against the conditions that corner and pin them down to the hazards of life. That if they can stand up and concretize their revulsion against helplessness that is self and government inflicted, may be change can occur in their endangered lives. Their behaviour in the past however, tells us it will never happen. The drains remain clog up, the esteros black and smelly, the rains just spread garbage and disease around. Meekness and submission seem to be the constant dominant disaster response.
THE FUNNY SUPERSTITION OF THE PIOUS: The act of nature is an act of God. God blessings and wrath are carried out through nature. This is the belief of people during the dark ages. It is still the belief of a large number of Filipinos. Good and evil forces invoke this to their advantage. As when weather results in bountiful harvests, it is God’s reward; but when there are floods and famine it is retribution to man’s evil ways.
Three days after continuous rains many Luzon cities and provinces brought forth not only floods and deaths but also vociferous criticisms of the government zeroing on the acts of P Noy because he was at those critical moments pushing for the passage of the RH Bill among members of the House of Representatives. Allegations fly that the President’s act was impious and deserved the punishment that was deaths to his people. Critics showed the anger of their hatred of the President for his resolve to demolish the windmills of their good life and debunk the sincerety of their mission to preserve dogma. But that is not the point of this paragraph.
What and why is superstition of the pious funny? Rewind to primitive times to get a glimpse of Nature as synonymous to God. Nature is infinite, awesome, mysterious, all powerful but fair and impartial to worshippers and the obedient. Ergo, Nature is God. When Nature is angry and showed his wrath by punishing the tribes; God is angry because of some wrong doings. An extra ordinary act of nature that can not be fully explained is a miracle; a Divine act of God. An act of nature that can be explained and understood became science. The explanative and predictive parts of nature became science and are no longer ascribe to GOD. When God’s ministers resort to superstition to buttress their arguments and declare them miracles, their positions becomes funny science.
THE VENGEANCE OF RETARD MINDS; This is what happens when malevolence like earthquakes and typhoons and other calamities ascribed to nature is claimed by modern day Zealots as non-science but a kind of Divine wrath addressed to wrongdoers.
Government bashers speaking out of concern and anger for the massive destruction wrought from the Habagat rains of August who come from the laity, the clergy and media should have fortified their arguments. Whose sins therefore have caused ONDOY; Katrina of New Orleans, the earthquakes in Haiti, and the Tsunami in Japan?
When acts of nature is passed on as miraculous wrath of God instead of being acts merely explained and predicted by science, the vehemence of claims can be dismissed as the vengeance of retard minds.
SURVIVING, MOVING ON, AWAY FROM REALITY: After every calamity which can occur in predictable frequency, survivors moved away even only spiritually from reality. Life may be dangerous but it must go and move on. The physicality of a victim’s situation, the conditionalities contributing to eminent disasters remains. Bahala na until the next Habagat, or the next typhoon, or the next flood and landslides, may be next year.
THE SOLUTION AFTER THE BLAH BLAH: I heard about this as a high school student in the mid-fifties (1950s). I welcomed then in August or thereabouts the flash floods in Manila brought about by the moonson rains. I waded in the floods to clean and whitened my Chuck Taylor rubber shoes. It’s uncanny how wading in two street blocks of relatively clean flood waters will need just a few brush strokes of Shu-Milk, and my rubber shoes feel and look like new.
This is what I heard 57 years ago. And nobody LISTENED. It was gross exaggeration then; it is the understatement of retards now. “EVERYTIME IT RAINS, MANILA IS LIKE VENICE.” This is what the Internet says now of Venice:
“Anyone who’s been to Venice, Italy, knows that it’s one of the most magical places on earth. Of course, the city wasn’t built by magic. Venice is a testament to the ingenuity of the human spirit of invention. Stone buildings of great beauty sit on the water; boats of varying sizes traverse the canals the way cars, trucks, and busses crowd the streets of more conventional cities; crowds throng the bridges and narrow pedestrian streets.”
Well? I know. I know! Filipinos are not Italians or Romans. But the Ifugaos who built the engineering marvel that is Banawe are Filipinos. It is my great wonder now why the NEW WONDERS OF THE WORLD are all built by Nature when the ancient wonders of the world were constructed by man. It seems we are advancing back to nature.
Certainly, it is more magical to build our own Venice now. That is if we can stop the scoundrels among us from stealing our wealth and make our own poor, nature’s seasonal weaklings.