It exposes. It reveals. It bares without prejudice. That is what crisis does. It unearths what one tries to hide and peels away the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. This is what happened to us as a nation this weekend because of Typhoon Ondoy.
It revealed the quality of our national leaders and the character of the Filipino as a nation. It exposed to us sincere and generous hearts; heroes in sandos and slippers; millionaires in barong-barongs. It also revealed those who were decisive and those who were not. Those who did it for the applause and those who did it just because.
As far as choosing the nation’s next leaders is concerned in whatever sector, that Wet Saturday was the political campaign that revealed their true colors. It revealed a lot of things that are better caught than taught. What was done speaks louder than whatever was said or will be said in the future. It separated the chaff from the wheat. It is now up to us as voters to decide whether we will HIRE these leaders again and pay their salaries with our taxpayer’s money or choose someone new who is fit for the job. It is crucial for us to choose wisely because in calamities like this, our children are on the line.
On another note, although we are used to floods and tropical storms, nothing prepared us for what happened last Saturday. It was totally out of the norm. I had plans of going downtown to buy my supplies had it not been for the fact that my kids were sick and that I chose to stay home with them. If not for that, I would have been one of the thousands stranded and unable to go home. My brother and niece were among those stranded. Thank God for twitter and other social networking sites that acted like a mass notification system for those who needed to get in touch with loved ones. For sure, technology and communications have made our world smaller and reachable for each other.
For those who wish to help Typhoon Ondoy families check out :
Philippine National Red Cross on twitter: http://twitter.com/philredcross
GMA Kapuso Foundation: http://www.kapusofoundation.com/
ABS CBN Sagip Kapamilya : http://www.sagipkapamilya.com/
