Fact of life?

These past few weeks have bombarded our collective consciousness with images of violence, from both near and far. First, there was that apparently psychological unstable man who opened fire at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona. The burst of 31 bullets led to 15 seconds of horror for 19 victims, six of whom died, including nine-year-old Christina Green who, last Christmas, asked to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Then there was the bombing in Moscow’s international airport where 35 innocent “greeters”, waiting at the arrival area, were greeted not by the warm hug of a loved one but the cold thud of a mean explosive.  

Closer to home, we bore witness to the successive kidnap-carnap-burning-slaying of car traders/businessmen Venson Evangelista, Emerson Lozano and Ernane Sensil. We were all incensed by the brutality of the deeds. A tagalog word captures the essence of the crime better  “karumaldumal.” And then, just this week, there was the EDSA bus bombing incident that left 5 passengers dead and 13 more injured. Senseless deaths, shattered lives  literally and figuratively.

The barrage and quick succession of these “incidents” makes it tempting and easy for us to lump them all together, as though they were all the same. In fact, it’s probably safe to assume that, in a week or two, nearly everybody would have moved on to the next new headline. Something always inevitably comes up.

These “incidents” will always be that one that happened there  because they happened to someone else. Without the extreme close-up that we give to that of our own lives, there will always be a fundamental disconnect between our sense of compassion and our ability to be outraged. It’s not so much ironic, as it is unfortunate, that while the internet and new forms of social media have made some of us more “interconnected”, many of us have become, in reality, less of a good samaritan to our neighbor’s plight.

There’s much to be said about these events that leave us speechless  and even more about the words that we no longer speak, after all, there is a difference. And that is the price of violence: in all its myriad forms, while it might not always result to death, it almost always certainly desensitizes and deadens. Violence dulls our senses: our ability to speak up and to show outrage fails us. In our rush to move on to the next story, we confuse the silence that the flip of a page, or click of the “off button” with peace.

Let not the silent and sh rill cries for justice of the victims and those they left behind fall on peaceful ears. For they ring bells within us as well. We should all endeavor to ensure that these tragedies do not become just another fact of life.

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After the Azkals, come the Razcals: One centavo this week is given to the Philippine Little Razcals for winning the first-ever Asia Pacific Zone Pony Mustang Baseball Tournament in Vietnam. Their victory in the 10-years-and-below category earned them a ticket to the Pony Mustang World Series scheduled on August 3-6, 2011 in Burleson, Texas. Coincidentally, the Razcals won in the same field where the Azkals beat the Vietnamese booters in the Suzuki football cup a few weeks ago.

But going back to baseball, one centavo is also given to US Ambassador Harry Thomas for promoting the sport by promising to create more “fields of dreams” in the country. Ambassador Harry also announced the impending visit of retired Seattle Mariner homerun king Ken Griffey Jr. to conduct youth baseball clinics. 

Apparently the visit of Griffey is not the first one to be undertaken by a major league player. I was pleased to learn that in 1934, baseball legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played at the newly opened Rizal Memorial stadium. Both scored home runs although Ruth was struck out in a subsequent game by an unheralded pitcher from Cavite  Armando Oncinian. Indeed, when you think about it, given the average Filipino’s physique, we should re-think our “hopeless love affair” with basketball and focus more on baseball and football where we may have a greater chance of success in the world arena.

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Zodiac mess: There is semi-panic in the astrological world given astronomer Park Kunkle’s observation that changes in the Earth’s alignment has impacted the astral system. This will supposedly lead to a realignment of the dates of our zodiac signs as well as the introduction of a 13th sign  Ophiuchus. Not sure if this report was for real or a hoax, I surfed the net and found an explanation which will further compound the problem. It would seem that Kunkle’s conclusions will only apply to the sidereal zodiac, a constellation based system used in the East. Westerners follow the tropical zodiac that is fixed to seasons (equinox to equinox). In other words, those who live in the Western hemisphere do not have anything to worry about but Eastern hemisphereans who regularly place their fates on the stars do.  

If that is the case, then perhaps the world can enter into this compromise divide  let the West follow their equinox-based zodiac while the East will ditch the latter and just follow the “Chinese” zodiac. This way, no one will need to shift signs and listen to (perhaps even pay for) new astrological advice. In this regard, advanced “Kung hei fat choi” to everyone (but the greeting is only meant for those living in our hemisphere).

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”Society is composed of two great classes: those who have more dinners than appetite and those who have more appetite than dinners.”  Sebastien Roch

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