Seven lessons learned from Ruby and Yolanda
No matter if we were badly battered and bruised, injured or maimed by the onslaught of either Yolanda, or Ruby or both. Regardless of whether or not our homes were destroyed, our crops flooded and inundated, or our working animals drowned and killed. What matters most is that after the storms and all other disasters and calamities, we remain standing firm on our feet, heads aching but not bowed, tired but not without courage, wounded but never defeated.What is most essential is that we remain steadfast in our faith and determination to start all over again.
The first lesson we should have learned is that whatever little preparation before the typhoon, no matter how inadequate and how late, is much much better than none at all. Preparations should have been at all levels: National, regional, local ( provincial, city and municipal ), village level, purok and the family and individual.The second lesson is that cooperation, no matter how little or least is much more preferable than the best criticism. Calamities are not the right time for finger-pointing. Everyone is under pressure and needs help and understanding.
The third lesson is that natural disasters cut across political divides. For instance, even if the President is an Aquino and the Tacloban Mayor is a Romualdez, there is a need for coordination and team work between the national agencies and the local government units.In Cebu, we see a working harmony between Governor JunJun Davide who is a Liberal, and City Mayor Mike Rama who belongs to the Binay camp. That is why there was less problem in our province and city. The two local executives are wise enough to realize that cooperation is better than PNE (Pataasan Ng Ego).
The fourth lesson is that it is better to light just one little candle than to keep on cursing the dark. The typhoon is not the fault of any single person or any political party. But our responses to the typhoon may be either positive, which is to help in saving lives and properties, or negative, say to lambast the government's inadequacies and errors in judgment. Fifth, we have to learn that rescue and retrieval are not just the burdens of government. We need to lend a helping hand. We can not stand idly nor remain impervious while the community is being inundated by a raging surge of waves and floods.
Sixth, recovery and rehabiltation will take a long, long time. It also requires a lot of money. But most of all, it requires our collective strong will, determination and steadfastness. Wounds may heal over time and broken properties can be repaired. But the human will, the human spirit, needs a long and tedious and prudent process and demands extraordinary diligence over an extended peiod of time. Seventh,in times of hardships and adversities, like Yolanda and Ruby, we need to pray and really pray hard. For without Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, nothing is impossible. At the end of the day, among all our defense mechanisms, our faith is what matters most.
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