The world can get crazy. The speed of events can run me to the ground. That’s how I sometimes feel at the end of the day. To make matters worse, there are times when the preoccupations of the last few hours stick in my mind and engage me almost ceaselessly long after they have transpired. Even in the privacy and solitude of my room, I am still in the thick of things. My mind won’t let go.
On the noon-time of Saturday, as floodwaters began to rise on the street, I started braving the knee to waist-high current to make it on my call time at work. Edsa Highway was in chaos with vehicles caught in heavy traffic as the water rose steadily and swiftly through the afternoon. It was like seeing “District 9″ (a movie we where forced to watch just so we have something to do in lieu of the cancelled Sagada trip due to a typhoon just weeks ago! *bitter mode*) coming into reality meaning mud and squalor. Despite the inconvenience and “what-might-have-beens, I’m still alive and made it on my duty (and my family I left home is safe and sound).
As I write this, radio and TV reports are filled with accounts of the flooding in different parts of the metropolis, Rizal Province and Central Luzon, with dramatic footage of rescues, frantic evacuations, and long nights spent cold, wet, hungry and desperately wondering how soon relief would come.
The very fact that the speed of our lives is faster than ever must all the more remind us to step on the brakes periodically in order to remain safe and sane. Tales of heroism and courage, tragedy and loss, and just plain survival will be told and re-told in the days to come. We have been tested by water and beseted by mud. But we have learned the really important lessons in life.
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