Lessons from the storms

Typhoon Pepeng destroyed much of Northern Luzon. I recoiled from the images of death and destruction in Baguio, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and other provinces that were flashed frequently in the news. I stopped watching it. I am still dealing with the aftermath of Ondoy. When it rains while I am on the road, I can't help but get a little nervous and wonder if I can get home that day. 

 The outpouring of aid for Ondoy survivors was overwhelming. It must have helped that almost everyone had a friend or relative in Metro Manila who had an Ondoy story to tell.

With Pepeng, I noticed that relief efforts have become more subdued. In The Age of Brillig (http://www.ageofbrillig.com/), a blogger wrote that most people must be experiencing donor fatigue and suggests that "more subtle and indirect means to raise funds for them should be devised." Among his ideas are for the Catholic Church to give last Sunday's collection to Pepeng victims and for corporations to give part of their revenues to Pepeng victims as well.

I do not know how the Catholic Church (or other religious groups) and businesses will respond to this challenge. I do know that at least one business has taken it up.

Last Sunday, my family and I went to Krispy Kreme, a donut chain, and were informed by the crew that proceeds from the sale of all original glazed donuts for that day would be donated to help Ondoy victims.It was an easy decision to order those donuts (although I'm partial to the ones filled with custard). 

Ordering a different variety of donut is little sacrifice in comparison to the act of giving up lunch for one day done by prisoners of the Mandaue City Jail so they could help the Ondoy victims. They illustrated what Gary Zukav wrote about in his book "Soul Stories." Zukav said:

"Sharing doesn't mean simply letting a friend drive your car, lending some money, or even helping a neighbor in need. It means giving something of yourself that is important….If you give only what is easy to give, you can't grow. That is like giving away tomatoes when your garden is full of tomatoes. Sharing things that are important is like giving away tomatoes when you only have a few left-and you love tomatoes."

I hope that organized religions will practice what they preach and never tire of sharing their resources with Ondoy and Pepeng victims. I also hope that businesses will stop paying lip service to the concept of corporate social responsibility and actually give substantial aid to Ondoy and Pepeng victims, even when media is not around to cover it.

I also hope that individuals who are lucky to have been spared from these tragedies continue to share whatever time, cash and material resources they have and help. If inmates can give up lunch, those who are enjoying liberty should be able to do so, too. Check out http://bayanihanonline.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/typhoon-pepeng-relief-goods/ for ways to help.

 My biggest hope is that all of us learn the lessons of Ondoy and Pepeng: we live in a different planet now. A scientist who testified at the international climate justice mock trial in Bangkok said that with global warming, we can expect typhoons to be more intense. 

Maybe we will finally learn to stop cutting down our forests and value their existence for the ecological services they provide (including lessening landslides and flooding). If we don't, we might as well start moving to higher ground, learn to swim, and futilely pray that the next typhoon will not go our way. 

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