Kalamidad, Kasiraan, Kalikasan

Ika – 26 ng Setyembre, 2009 – Pilipinas. Nang magising ang mga residente sa Metro Manila, ikinagulat nila ang lakas ng buhos ng ulan at ihip ng hangin na dala ng Bagyong Ondoy. Ilang oras pa lamang ang nakakalipas, halos lumubog na ang isang lungsod. Sa ibang bahagi naman ng Asia at ng mundo, nagkaroon ng iba’t ibang uri ng kalamidad. Sa mga pulo ng Samoa at Sumatra, Indonesia, nagkaroon ng lindol na may lakas ng “magnitude 8.0”, pagkatapos nito ay tinamaan naman sila ng isang “tsunami”. Sa America naman ay sunud-sunod ang matitinding sunog sa estado ng California. Ito ang mga nangyayari sa kasalukuyan; bagyo, lindol, “tsunami” at mga sunog.

Ayon sa data mula sa gobyerno noong ika-29 ng Setyembre, 2009 mayroong 246 na taong namatay, 38 taong nawawala at 5 nasaktan dahil sa Bagyong Ondoy. Sa Samoa at Sumatra, mayroong 1292 taong namatay dahil sa “tsunami” at lindol noong ika-30 ng Setyembre. Ang mga ipinapakita ng mga statistikong ito ay maliit na porsiyento lamang ng epekto ng mga kalamidad sa ating mundo. Masasabi nating talagang nagdurusa ang mga tao pagkatapos ng isang kalamidad. Maraming namamatay, maraming nasasaktan, pisikal man o emosyonal. Ang mga negosyo ay bumabagsak dahil sa mga nasirang produkto at nawawalan ng hanapbuhay ang mga trabahero. Sa ating paligid ay makikita ang mga nasirang gusali, mga natabunan ng putik o kaya’y lupa at mga punong nakakalat na lamang sa kung saan-saan.

Maraming taong nagtataka kung bakit ito nangyayari sa kanila, inosente naman sila, wala naman silang ginagawang masama ngunit hindi nila naiisip na hindi lamang sila ang tanging apektado, hindi lamang sila ang tanging pinagbibintangan. Nakakalimutan nila na mayroon pang ibang rason kung bakit tayo natatamaan ng sunud-sunod na kalamidad. Mga rason tulad ng polusyon, sobra-sobrang pagkuha ng likas na yaman at ang pagiging makasarili ng tao. Dito pa lamang sa Pilipinas, kahit saan ka man tumingin, makikita mo ang mga basurang nakakalat lamang sa kung saan-saan. Mayroon ding mga motoristang walang pakialam sa binubugang nangingitim na usok ng mga sasakyan nila. Ang mga ginagawa nating polusyon ay dumaragdag pa sa mataas na lebel ng polusyon sa buong mundo. Hindi natin namamalayan na untiunti na nating sinisira ang kalikasan; hindi natin alam na ang basurang ikinakalat at iniiwan sa lupa at karagatan ay nagpapakawala ng mga delikadong kemikal na makakasama sa lahat. Alam nating lahat na ang mga bansa ay mayroong mga napakaimportanteng likas na yaman. Tama lamang na kunin natin ito at gamitin dahil tayo na din naman ang may ari nitong mga ito ngunit minsa’y sumusobra na ang pagkuha natin na hindi na natin inaalala ang mga maarang mangyari dahil ditto. Halimbawa, ang tinatawag nating “illegal logging”. Dahil ginugusto ng mga negosyante na makakuha sila agad ng maraming pera, kukuha sila ng maraming maari nilang ibenta tulad ng punong-kahoy. Sa mga napagaralan natin sa asignaturang Siyensiya, alam natin na ang ugat ng halaman ay siyang humihigop ng tubig mula sa lupa. Ang mga puno sa mga bundok at gubat ay ang sumisipsip ng tubig sa mga masmababang lugar ngunit dahil sa ginagawa ng taong sobrang pagkuha ng puno, nagkakaroon ng baha sa mga lugar na hindi naman dapat mabaha at gumuguho ang lupa sa mga daanang malapit rito. Sa mga ipinakitang halimbawa ukol sa polusyon at sa sobra-sobrang pagkuha ng likas na yaman, maari nating sabihin na ang pinakapanimula nitong lahat ay ang tao. Tao dahil makasarili tayo, tao dahil pabaya tayo. Iniisip na lamang natin ang kabutihan ng sarili, at binabalewala ang paligid. Hindi ba natin naisip kailanman ang pagsira natin ng kalikasan ay ang magiging dahilan ng ating paghihirap?

Isipin natin at balikan ang nakaraan; tingnan natin ang buhay noon at ang buhay ngayon. Noong unang panahon, pinahahalagan ng mga tao ang kalikasan hindi lamang dahil itinuturing nilang mga Diyos at Diyosa ang mga ito, ngunit dahil na din sa kaalaman nilang hindi sila mabubuhay kapag ito’y nawala sa kanila. Alam nila na ang kalikasan ay nagbibigay-buhay sa kanila. Dito nila nakukuha ang pagkain, tirahan, pananamit at hanapbuhay. Hanggang ngayon naman itong mga ito, hanggang ngayon naman, ang kalikasan ay siyang nagbibigay buhay sa atin ngunit dahil sa kaunlarang nararamdaman natin sa teknolohiya at iba pa, iniisip na lamang natin na ang kalikasan ay isang bagay na kayang-kaya nating ipagwalang bahala. Aantayin pa ba natin ang katapusan ng mundo bago tayo magbabago? Kung ngayon pa lamang, ganito na ang lebel ng kasiraan dulot ng mga kalamidad, paano na ang mga susunod pa?

Salamat sa inyong oras at magandang umaga/hapon sa inyong lahat.

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HOGEHD. I don't think I'll survive memorizing that. DON'T CRITICIZE! HAHA! DISCLAIMER: HINDI AKO MAGALING MAGSALITA NG TAGALOG...OR WRITE IT DOWN ON PAPER. SOBRANG LITERAL TRANSLATION NA LANG NGA EH! WAHAHAHHAA!

it's freaking 2.5 pages long.

Ang I'm 4th on the list. O: Someone remind me why I volunteered again? AUGH and halos same pa kami ng talumpati ng 3rd on the list. OH FOREVER PARTNER WHY DID WE HAVE TO HAVE THE SAME FRICKING TOPIC.

Ah well, until we meet again.

Ich sie Sehe morgen? WRONG GRAMMAR AGAIN I THINK! LOL LOL LOL LOL I only speak English and Hokkien fluently. Not Tagalog ang definitely not German.

Summer was supposed to be over by now. But because of Influenza A(H1N1), classes were pushed back a week for us. Oh and did I mention, when we DO go back...we have this A(H1N1) protection kit? Thermometer...medicine...tissue...hand sanitizer/alcohol. WHICH will be checked by the advisers EVERY SINGLE DAMNED MORNING.

I mean. What are we? CHILDREN?! We're freaking seniors already. We don't need people to tell us when to take the damned temperature.

Anyway.

So, because school was pushed back a week, I had to find a way to keep myself entertained without really disturbing anyone else in the house.

(They actually figured out that I painted some parts of the furniture in the guest room BLACK...AND they made ME scrub it out. Well, I took the easy way out, I used acetone. 'Course...the wood's not looking all that fine anymore BUT with a few obstructions here and there, you won't even be able to tell the difference.)

So, I decided on watching Hetalia: Axis Powers...and reading it. I love it! So funny! I wonder why I didn't go reading it LAST YEAR when we were studying World Wars.

Well. Today's probably my last day of rest. Tomorrow I have to go out and go to the gym (because my mom thinks it helps) and on Wednesday, I have to get to a meeting for school...Thursday, I actually have to GO to school and CLEAN. CLEAN. But it's going to be worth it...I mean, who wants to have meetings in a disgustingly grimy/dusty place right? Anyway...Friday I get to go out and go to my doctor to make myself immune to flu for a while...then Saturday I prolly have to go to the gym again even if I don't want to...and Sunday. Well.

Since everyone's home. It's not much of a rest day.

Seriously. These people don't understand that my idea of vacation is just lazing around with my laptop, a TV and some DVDs. Doing nothing all day but lie down and maybe doodle for sometime. NO! THEY WANT ME TO MOVE IT.

When I turn legal, these people are never ever ever going to see me again. I'll return like...20 years later when I need cash or anything.

Oh. But wait.

Taking over the world will take a lot of time. Make that 50 years. When I co-rule the world with .

Yep. You know that giant Gundam they're making? We're going to hijack that and use it to take over Russia. Why Russia? Well...Russia's Russia. It was her idea. Anyway, all that came after we finished watching Terminator Salvation.

I need to get out more...

**sighs**

Or maybe just watch more kung fu movies? INDEPENDENCE DAY IN 4 DAYS!

**sobs**

WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO SOME DRILLS FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY! IT WAS GOING TO BE THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS FOR US! Oh well. We'll try again in Pinaglabanan Day instead.

(To my honeybabes: I hear they're actually going to let us MARCH this time. Even in CTK!! But I'm not completely sure about that...it could be wrong. You know how old she is.)

-RyuHiMi...OUT!-

WELL OH MY GOD.

After like 3 weeks of preparations and heavy duty training...it's finally over! YES! FINALLY OVER! And although we didn't win...officially...we're still winners at heart.

SOBRANG...WOAH grabe, pare.

Practicing, we were never really complete for practices...it was just today that we were finally able to come all together and practice for real and in the end it worked out. It was soo nice and we received GREAT comments!

I'm so happy I made that zuluberty up! They were like...WOW ang galing! And the h-test, WOW. Comments din! Since no one was laughing at all, they said...wow, tigas ng zulu. WATCHASAY?

YES! And we were the company who had to stand in attention for the longest time possible! I swear my feet still hurt! And although we gave some wrong answers during the t/m-test, we were still able to remember what we stayed up all night to memorize!

THEN THE marchings, well...I've never really been good at that so I guess that it was my fault we made mistakes. Yes, the marchings weren't perfect but at least we did it well. Comments again! They said we were...amazingly pantay and at the same time.

OHYES.

So we stood up for another few minutes, like 16 minutes standing in attention? Mind you, I was wearing combat boots! My feet seriously hurt now.

Anyhoo and our turn at last for the r-test, and we did it well! Although my bandaid came off...in the end.

It was getting loose and I had this cut on my thumb from tying up the combat boots. Yes, I know...I'm accident prone. C: oh well.

Then the BIG thing! 120 counts silent drill! THE THING WE WORKED SO HARD FOR ALL THOSE WEEKS! ALL THOSE SATURDAYS SPENT MAKING THE DRILL AND PERFECTING IT!

It wasn't perfect but then again, nothing is! We still have 5% human error!

And then we were allowed to rest for 3 minutes and finally, we talked. We didn't blame each other, instead, we were complaining on how much our arms and legs hurt. But as asst. commander, I gave a pep talk with the commander. LOL

Doesn't matter if we win or lose, because in the end we're all winners.

That was our winner line! C: And then they announced the winner...surprisingly not very sadly, not us, but the one next to us, Yankee. Personally, theirs was nicer...more organized and stuff.

So there, in the end we still got our merits and promos! YUP! SO PROUD OF YOU ZULU! Everyone made it!

And of course, my lovely honeythrees!! ONE MORE TO GO! LESS THAN A MONTH, 3 WEEKS LEFT! BTW, honeys, we need a name!

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I LOVE YOU ZULU!

You really gave me the ULTIMATE PLEAZURE EKZPERIENZ. No one can ever beat our company's laughter and cheer and bond! Sobrang close natin and we have our own random moments of insanity, especially since we have superstar gab with us, si elizabeth and stephco. RANDOM na nga, CRAZY pa! But I love it!

Sobrang mamimiss ko kayo! As in swear! Whatmore kay DIOREZALLEN?

<3DANADANIELLEUYZAMZON. ILZ.

So yesterday, we were called to participate in Pinaglabanan Day! Whoo. At first we thought, hey it'll be just like CTK but then...it wasn't.

We were made to wait under the sun in N.Domingo for 2 hours. 1 hour of which, we were standing up! Until we were given the order to fall out and sit down on the bangketa (or sidewalk).

There were other schools there...like...San Juan National High School. They've got a good CAT thing going on...and Fountain International School, they were speaking some European language that even I could not distinguish.

So while we were under the sun, wearing shirts that exposed our names to the whole world, we chatted about random things. We got darker, I've got a tanline now...and eventually we put our backs against each other to cover the names.

Our commandant later ask us why it was taking so long...and from the students at the other schools, we were able to get that...

The mass had taken too long.

A parade of trucks took place.

The military marching band or drill team (whatever you call it) was there, performing and took up time.

And there were little boy scouts and some karate kids partaking as well.

When we were FINALLY called to fall in again, we were told to march but we all ended up walking because the parade kept stopping and going.

Oh and you know how Filipinos are, they take pictures of unknown people. LOL. We heard several exclamations of..."UY! ICA, ICA!" and then they took pictures of us...marching/walking forward with the school flag.

I saw the mayor of San Juan but we all didn't care. We went into the garisson and were supposed to plant trees there but then our commandant wanted to go home so...we rode back to ICA. Took our food...but before that, we saw military jeeps and wanted to try riding in one.

I think that the guys riding it were amused with us 'cause we were waving and pointing and saying, "Yan na lang sakyan natin pauwi!" and one of them actually asked us if we wanted to. But...safety comes first so...we couldn't.

We crammed ourselves into two vans, rode back with our food...and ate it in ICA, under the gallery.

Inside the styrofoam containers were: 2 pieces of longanisa, one hard boiled egg, rock salt, and a big serving of rice. We wondered who cooked it because it looked like military rations. LOL. And the people who gave it to us were the military personnel.

In anycase, since I don't eat longanisa anyway, I peeled off the shell of the egg and ate it with like one third of the rice before putting the food into the leftover bin and going off to wait for my sister to fetch me.

Now that I think about it, it's actually quite fun. I love it. I hope next year, we get to wear our fatigues and march with our combat boots killing our feet despite wearing 3 pairs of socks.

I shall update this journal soon...or in 3 months. Busy schedules have taken over my 3rd year brain...I'M FAILING MY SUBJECTS! Like omg! Low scores on the card!! (Low for my mother's standards...which also became mine so...LOW!)

So it's been more than a week since I last wrote...that POEM! WHOO!

Well, I'm ignoring her now. And focussing on my studies, it ain't gonna be my problem if she fails while trying to outdo me.

It's currently 10pm here...and I have yet to finish printing. LOL.

Research.

Oh glorious research.

Well, after doing that research topic...btw the file is called pt_research_revised_afterdana_aftermeryl.docx

and now I'm doing something on a file I dubbed crackers.doc

Yes. I am insane...or going insane.

Me and Steph are writing stuff. Bitterness, tiredness, dry humor and insanity. Yup. we were planning to sell it. 40 per story...and we split it 20-20. LOL

Anyhoo. I'm just waiting for the last file and I'm off to finish my writing assignment...yeah...I should've done that Saturday night...or Friday night...the same time i did the mopit thing.

OH WELL.