Here comes the sun

I’m sure I’m not the only one in the metro (and all around the world wherever Filipinos are) singing this song right now, but after almost a whole week of scary, nonstop torrential rain, it feels so good to see that little flicker of sun between the leaves of our mango tree, the one that has been swaying precariously this whole ordeal.

It was a scary several days, with reports all around of streets impassable, of people needing rescue and friends stranded at their workplace or houses struggling to go to work or back home. This was all too horribly familiar to our 2009 experience with Ondoy, when floods ruined houses and lives in a sweep of dirty, garbage ridden water.

What’s worse is that this was just rain. That’s what news reports, and the weather bureau’s explanation to all of us. Normal rainfall aggravated by a storm in Japan’s area of responsibility. We couldn’t even put a name to the horror that befell the Metro, with people all around getting stuck at some point or another, and some getting worse fates.

My family and I have been lucky, and we thank our lucky stars for where we are, and how we’ve been shielded so far from the effects of really bad weather, even if we have been touched by fire far too many times. Fire we can control to a point, but the air and the sky? Not really.

Here’s hoping we all learn from these circumstances, and focus on not only disaster rescue and relief, but prevention and strengthening of our resources all around. We know things will only get worse as our world deals with the effects of global warming and climate change, somehow, we hope we’re prepared for things to come.

But just for this moment, let’s just smile at the sun.

(and help out in any way you can)