Disasters bring out the best in us

WHILE not many would agree that it is so, ironically, calamities also bring out the best in people. It brings us closer to each other and makes us learn good things about ourselves. We did not know it, but we discover that we are really capable of that word that we do not have much to see around us.

It is certainly heart-warming to see the outpouring of help from many different kinds of people who selflessly endured the difficulties and hardships to go to distant places just so they could bring their assistance to those in need. Typhoon ‘Pablo’ has failed to dampen the human spirit, or to douse the fire of kinship among us.

I am particularly struck by the efforts of one of my kind who took the time to respond to the needs of her neighbours in Baganga, by bringing in not only material things that she has collected among her colleagues and friends, but she also encouraged other like-minded professionals to join her in physically taking the cudgels for her town folks.

I am referring to my beautiful cousin, Dr. Dale Avellanosa who went out of her way not only to help her parents, Dr. Urcing Avellanosa and Dra. Libbie Avellanosa, whose clinic was blown away by ‘Pablo’. Just recently, a team of medical practitioners from Manila headed by Dr. Dale went to Baganga to extend services in terms of attending to the medical needs of some of the victims in our place, and giving out mosquito nets, banig (mats),medicines and other important things, to help their neighbours with their basic
needs.

Even if they had so little time and resources with them to respond to the immensity of the damage among the lives and properties of the people in Baganga, still they succeed in bringing hope to many among those whom they have touched.

A sense of fulfilment was felt by the team who left Baganga with a buoyant heart, knowing that they have somehow made a difference to the lives of those who needs them most.

All is not lost after all. For some, something comes up naturally. For the newcomers, a new vista of humanity might have been discovered by them, something that money can’t buy.

While the reconstruction of the devastated areas are underway albeit slowly, it seems that nature forces us to take things in stride. We might have been too fast for our good.

We need to slow down, and let God take charge, because we have been too busy planning for ourselves, forgetting that we can only do as much, that it is not for us to chart our own destiny but that it is according to God's will and time.

The futility of man's ‘grand plans’ and ambitions have been trampled upon by nature, if only to make us realize that we are but pawns in the grand scheme of life. I hope we have finally come to terms with ourselves, and instead of making every effort to enrich ourselves, we should instead listen to the ‘inner’ voice that guides us through a better understanding of ourselves...