In times of crisis

One day last week my friend Tarsila and her six-year-old son Eman cleaned out their closets. Clothes outgrown and outmoded were put into boxes, and Tarsila told her son that these were going to be donated to the typhoon victims in Aurora and Quezon provinces. Eman went into a panic. "Mommy, wala na akong damit!" he screamed, when he saw his clothes in boxes about to be given away.

Tarsila calmed him down and explained that these were clothes that no longer fit him, a lot of toddler things, shirts that would now only fit his arm, but would fit the children they saw on television who had no clothes, children walking through mud whose homes were washed away by the floods or destroyed by landslides. The next day, Eman proudly accompanied his mother to the receiving center and turned over his share of the family’s donations to the relief drive for typhoon victims.

It’s never too early to teach a child to share, to think not just of himself but of others, to empathize with another’s misfortune and to be willing to do something to help a fellow human being in need. In our highly consumerized society we are constantly bombarded with messages to buy, buy, and buy some more. We are fed lists of "must have’s" that get longer and longer and we are conditioned to believe we are deprived if we don’t have the "latest" of everything. Kids learn the value of things long before they learn the value of work and charity and love for fellowman and country. Are we losing our sense of family and community, our ability for pagmamalasakit, for instant and material gratification?

As we face yet another national crisis, it is heartening to again see the spirit of volunteerism powering relief efforts, with students manning the phone lines at relief operations centers, egroups sounding the call for volunteers to help in the sorting and packing of donated goods, companies and individuals foregoing holiday parties and exchange gifts and giving the money instead to relief efforts. Our recent history have shown that we have always been able to come together in common purpose when faced with great trials and difficulties.

Wouldn’t it be great if this spirit of coming together and working together–kapit bisig–to overcome a crisis continues beyond the crisis, to when the tough work of rebuilding–not just houses and bridges and roads but lives and communities and industries–begins in earnest?