Out of our comfort zone

MANILA, Philippines - In Butong, a small barangay in Cabuyao, Laguna, the road that used to be for tricycles and pedicabs now belongs to bancas and banana rafts. At Ondoy’s wake, the whole barrio is submerged in water — murky and muddy, rancid and stale. In a few days, especially when the habagat wind starts to blow, people are bracing themselves for the stench. Since the place is very near Laguna Lake, the residents expect the water to recede even after Christmastime — if it will recede at all, what with the imminent threat of two more typhoons in the region.

The heart-wrenching scene in Butong is partly repeated in the barangays of Bigaa, Marinig, Baclaran, Mamatid and Gulod, the barrio where I live. For a small town like Cabuyao that is composed of 18 barangays, about 16,000 families are affected. Of this figure, 1,103 families are now living in 10 evacuation centers in Cabuyao. This kind of flooding has not happened to residents living near the bay in so many years.

Despite the gloom around, the human spirit is lighted anew with its capacity to help those who are gravely affected by the calamity. In times of trouble, Filipinos here and abroad rise to prove to the world that, despite our many differences, we hold hands and watch each other’s back in times when we need to display acts of kindness the most. In moments of need, we are one.

Selfishness is thrown out of the window. The led are now also taking the lead of selflessness. They give their time in bayanihan fashion — a testament that love is innate and intrinsic in human beings. Like the stout man who has crutches yet mans the traffic in a flooded area in Marinig. Limping on almost waist-deep floodwaters, he barks at motorists to mind the deep area. Such display of selflessness.

We get out of our comfort zone to help others. Those who have plenty give more. Those who have little give a part of what is left of them. Those who have nothing perhaps say the most potent of prayers for those who are affected by the deluge. Even those who are directly hit by Ondoy are saying a prayer or two for each other. Such is the beauty of the human spirit, of the Filipino spirit.

It may take time for many to recover from the onslaught of Ondoy but this experience will not cow the resilience of the Filipinos to rise to the occasion again. After all, pliant is another term for Pinoys.

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Though my family and I are safe and dry, that does not give us guarantee to sleep soundly at night knowing fully that across our humble home in Gulod, some of our relatives are sleeping on bamboo beds that are just a little above the floodwaters.

As my septuagenarian father distinctly demonstrated, this is the time to forget about the self. And he illustrated it clearly when he willingly parted with his oxygen tank, his “best friend” and constant life support ever since 2006, to lend to a needy neighbor who, while her house was submerged in waist-deep water, was suffering from constant shortness of breath as a result of a complicated sickness. Ever since he lent his oxygen tank, he has been relying on faith to save him. God is certainly doing wonders because it has been a week since he bravely weaned himself from his life-tank.

If my father could sacrifice his own comfort, who am I not to follow suit? If my father could let go of something that meant almost everything to ensure his life, why can’t I go out of my little comfort zone?

* * *

So I found myself volunteering in the repacking of goods being done at the grounds of the Cabuyao municipal hall. (As of this writing, I learned that since not one yet of the many big companies in Cabuyao had done its CSR initiatives, the local government took it upon itself to get money from its calamity fund so the residents in the affected areas could see through.) In the line of repacking duty, I found myself with other volunteers — an elderly woman who was scooping three kilos of rice onto a white sando bag, she herself almost lost her house at Ondoy’s every whip; a young lady who was shooting with precision in each plastic bag five sachets of ready-mix coffee and five pieces of biscuits and whose daughter was waiting for her at home — her daughter, she said, was sick; another young woman who was carefully inserting a can of corned beef and two cans of sardines in a bag was explaining to her boyfriend why they couldn’t meet that time.

 I’m sure other volunteers — including the mayor, the division chiefs and other employees — had other important matters to attend to but at that time, they chose to be there — to be people for others. I was told, the day I volunteered was the fourth day they had been doing the repacking round the clock. I promised to return on some days. On days that I am not in the line doing my task of putting five pieces of noodles soup in a sando bag, all I can do is to storm the gates of heaven to protect those who are directly hit by Ondoy and those who unselfishly give of themselves.

With more and more people lending a helping hand, I hold no reservation that God will bless the Philippines more and more, too.

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. Have a blessed Sunday!)