Notes in the Aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan

To my international friends and colleagues:

Source: National Geographic

Thank you for your thoughtful messages of concern and solidarity. It's horrible; I can't help but cry watching the news and seeing those ugly images. None of my immediate family and friends have been harmed by the super tropical cyclone, but I know of friends who are still unable to communicate with their loved ones in the afflicted areas. Aside from my brother, who works in the media and is currently on his way to the affected province of Leyte, I can only pray and wish for the best for the safety of my sponsored child and her family living in a remote and poor rural area in Leyte. In your own little ways, please extend immediate help and continue to fight for social, ecological, and climate justice.

To my articulate and well-meaning Filipino friends from the academics to the activists to the religious:

Please be reminded that there's a proper time and place for every thing. I do understand your arguments and sentiments. But at this very moment, we have fellow human beings in the Visayas who need immediate help, rescue, relief, and comfort.

To the Filipino people:

Resilience is a virtue so long as it means hope and active learning. Prayers must coexist with action. Faith is best combined with science and technology. A critique on historical corruption of our political-economic elites and government officials should be extended to a ruthless criticism of the dominant capitalist model of overproduction and overconsumption and of the unjust political economy of climate negotiations, as well as to a serious reflection on how we re-organise our lives and communities in ways that respect the natural relationship of nature with humans.

To my dearest child:

I am sorry that you have arrived at a world replete with so much sufferings, vulnerabilities, insecurities, privations, and injustices. But life in itself is beautiful; and it can stay as beautiful as it is. We just have to struggle hard for the world to rediscover the beauty of nature, social relations, and human life. We shall continue to be conscious of our decisions and actions in life in ways that make as part of the solution and always on the side of justice, humanity, hope, and love.