THE BIG PICTURE

Who is looking at it?

Everywhere we turn, all we see is need. No matter how much we've done and given out, knowing that others are doing the same, it seems we're not making a dent. There are places that have not been reached. Meanwhile, there is the problem of plastics and styrofoam containers--the double-edged sword of relief. We use them to get goods out fast so that people can be helped. And yet, and yet....where is everything going? Garbage collection and processing..who's taking care of that?

Horrific stories abound. Most people I know who have been tirelessly working to get help out are already feeling as though they are being pulled every which way. The government, as usual, is performing poorly. Do they have the big picture? Are they ready for the coming storm?

What do we do with all the questions?

DOES IT REALLY GO ON?

Today I woke-up as usual, put breakfast on and then had to bring my son to the dentist. But I seemed to exist in a parallel universe where I was busy connecting people, getting goods where they were needed, helping out more than I already have. But not today. Today, it was business as usual at home, at least from the outside.

It's weird how life can go on. People who can say that are dealing with feelings of guilt. Whatever did we do to be so lucky? I guess it's human nature. I like to see it as a message that we have to do everything we can to help those who lost everything, over and over again.

Inside us, we know it doesn't go on as usual, despite the sunshine and the outer world looking only slightly tainted. Life goes on but everything is changed. Nothing can ever be the same.

photo by Erik de Castro

COME ON!!

Give it a break, will you. Do something authentic out of the goodness of your heart, without needing or wanting anything in return. Really, how can you sleep at night?

HOW TO HELP

Yesterday was surreal. Those of us who were safe, dry and in homes -- ours or someone else's--felt mostly impotent: what could we do for friends who were texting from their rooftops? We did what we could with the technology available to us, knowing it couldn't be enough. Today we begin the task of rebuilding, restoring and healing. Want to help? Click here for some guidelines, or here if you want to go through the Red Cross.

Those in the south can send relief goods via Operation Rainbow, starting tomorrow, Monday, September 28. Please contact Zac Faelnar- Camara at 4687991. Further south, please send your donations--relief goods only--to Cabalen at the Paseo de Sta. Rosa mall, Sta. Rosa, along the Tagaytay road. Look for Gomer and Apaul.

For Filipinos in the U.S., you can help through NAFCON's "typhoon Ondoy"- BAYANIHAN disaster relief and rehabilitation program. Call the center at 718-5658862 or Anne Beryl at 516-9011642 in the East Coast and Ryan at 626-5344971 in the West Coast. Or email Sandiwa.national@gmail.com. You can also make donations online through the Flower Depot. The owners will send them to the Red Cross and to the ABS-CBN FOUNDATION.

Let's use our blogs, Facebook, Plurk, Twitter, etc., to keep each other posted and to keep the thread of support strong and stable.