THAT is how one tweet described Mindanao. It is an island of sinners thereby deserving of the earthquakes. This is our karma because we are sinners. Still another tweet actually hoped that Davao would be the epicenter so we would all be wiped out.
If I read those tweets five years ago I would have gone on a blistering response, one that would not take 10 minutes to write. It is easy to write when you are enraged, it really does not take much. But that was five years ago. Today, things are a little different. Of course, I am still mad when I read those things. No normal person would nonchalantly dismiss such things, but now I guess with age, comes a little mercy.
People who cast stones only know stones. Cruel people only have cruelty. Heartless people have no hearts. To live in gloom makes one dark. One cannot be expected to give what one does not have. It is that simple. In my life I have seen and experienced disbelief in the viciousness of certain people. They only know stones. There is something so desperate in those who actively seek your downfall. There is something so futile in wishing ill.
People covet what they do not have. Those who are true and honest find themselves targets of the savagery of the brute. Those who detest you, see in you what they will never have. I have cringed and at times cowered and when I think I have seen enough, somehow, some still manage to shock me even more. It is a cycle of bitterness and malice. And it is bottomless. Liars will always lie. Cheaters will always cheat.
So these statements do not surprise me anymore. Oh yes I get mad but it has been an hour since I started writing this. There was a time it would have been done in 10 minutes.
You cannot create light from darkness that is impossible. But light can penetrate darkness that is divine. And that is what is being asked of us today, in these moments. To be divine. The origin of divine is deus which means godlike. Or if you want Godlike. We need to go beyond what seems easy. It does not take much to be cruel. Bullies, tyrants, sadists, dictators all share common things. Fear. Envy. Emptiness.
Someone once said that “saints are those who managed to love more than we did.” And that is what is being asked today. Let us all be saints in the withering wave of insensibility, depravity and inhumanity. Let us be the channels of peace in the face of the hatred and the violence of heartless hearts. Our foundations may be shaken and our cores assaulted but we shall remain steadfast and unbowed. Because that is what strength is. That is what courage demands. That is what Godlike means.
Let us all be saints in this island of sinners.