|
Friday, July 21, 2006
Editorials: Worse than a Greek tragedy
Israeli forces are now inside southern Lebanon undertaking, though on a limited scale, an offensive against Hezbollah guerillas, said to be the “pawns” of Syria and Iran.
Efforts of the United Nations to mediate and negotiate a ceasefire have somehow failed.
More than 260 people have already perished in the conflict, 25 of them in Israel and the rest in Lebanon.
Evacuation of foreign nationals, especially the Americans, caught by the conflict in Beirut and elsewhere has begun, but it was only yesterday that some Filipinos were finally able to leave Lebanon on their circuitous way home.
Worried kin
Meanwhile, kin of Filipinos in Lebanon are knocking on the doors of the overseas workers office of the Department of Labor trying to get news about their relatives.
Initial reports indicated disappointment when these people could not get the needed information.
It seems like if the conflict in Lebanon worsens, tragedy will befall Filipino workers there.
Noble and good
The Greeks, so some scholars of its great plays claim, did not consider the death of hundreds, nay, even thousands of people in war or in a holocaust as tragedy if they were killed in the process of committing something wrong or inhuman.
But it was a tragedy, even if only one person died, if the life was lost in defense of or while doing something noble and good.
Thus, the death of even one overseas Filipino worker would be a tragedy because they would have died trying to do something good for their respective families, and something noble for their country.
Personal sacrifice
For example, credit on the recent report that the Philippines is enjoying a significant surplus of dollars in its international reserves should be shared by our exporters and our dollar-earning overseas workers.
The latter for the great personal sacrifice they offer to earn dollars.
It thus behooves upon our government to do its utmost to prevent such a tragedy from happening to any of our workers now stranded in Lebanon.
When war breaks out in an alien land, and one is caught in the middle of it, becoming in the process an innocent bystander to the violent struggle, there is no limit to the loneliness one would endure.
And that could be a situation worse than a Greek tragedy because one is alive and experiencing it.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 21, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
