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.

THIS IS GOING TO BE SUPER!

CLICK HERE.

DON'T MISS THIS

Harmut Borries is a very special individual who literally helped me change my life when I felt stuck in darkness. Please click on the poster to get the best view. I hope to meet you there.

A GOOD READ

I stumbled upon this book last week, on a day when I needed it most. I was struggling over a violent attack to my soul and spirit.

I found this book right across the check out counter shortly after the attack and I felt redeemed and strong again, knowing I behaved in an upright fashion.

Go to the bookstore and get a copy. It was grace finding it that day. I thought I'd share it with you.

HONOR HER LIFE

Cory Aquino had such an amazing biography. Everyone had their eyes on Ninoy; they thought he was the main guy in the story. To me, it is clear that he was merely her preparation. She was a remarkable human being with a very special task.

Today, everywhere we look, people are emotional. We realize what we have lost in her, in our country and, perhaps, even in ourselves. Our last symbol of integrity is gone. Our security blanket is gone. We are all alone.

Will we let our emotions stay where they are, stuck in our tears, encased in melancholy, only to dissipate into senseless nostalgia in years to come, or will we honor Cory's life by embodying what she stood for, all her life?

So many of us are watching that speech she gave before the U.S. Congress. It made my hair stand when they gave her a standing ovation. I was so proud of her and what we were able to achieve in our country then. But look where we took that. Look at us today. Democracy was not just in her hands; it was--and has always been--in ours.

But we have forgotten that. We tell ourselves that lying, cheating and stealing are par for the course in politics. We simply accept it. Even as we say we want to be bearers of new politics, we say that buying and spending for votes, giving journalists money so they can tell our story, sell our business, promote our message--that's reality. We say we will vote for someone who is "winnable"; we settle for the lesser evil, even if our gut tells us something else.

I wish we could harness our emotions today and let that illumine us through the 2010 elections. May it propel us towards intelligent choices in 2010. May we choose a candidate who represents true change--not one who promises it, but thinks nothing of employing good old dirty tricks, spending gazillions on glossy ads full of empty drama, buying votes, buying endorsements, because well, that's how politics is won in this country.

Let's not let our emotions today for what was or what could have been, congeal into mere nostalgia or drama. Let's make Cory Aquino's passing mean something for our future--for the emergence of the Philippines we deserve.