Tale of two cities
MAKATI CITY — The wrath of CoVid-19 in the past weeks has exposed the painful inequality in our society with the heaviest impact on people with low or no income, no savings and worse, no health insurance and practically zero access to emergency care and, tragically, and in the most extreme cases, funeral services.
While the admonishment to “Let the Dead bury Their Dead,” may be biblical in origin, this terse phrase has taken a stark, and almost cruel, meaning at a time when we are forced to bid on-line adieus to dearly departed friends and their loved ones.
Despite the scrambling and best efforts of both government and private entities to alleviate the situation, we continue to see the raw and gripping images of people scrambling for food, complaining of not having enough aid or whining that “sawa na kami sa sardinas at ayaw na naming ang amoy lata, kulang ang ayuda, wala na kaming pang kape! etc”
Chutzpah is the only word that can describe the sad, petty, audacious, and self-entitled nature of some people who cannot seem to grasp that aid is something that has to be paid for and allocated with a lot of effort and management. And aid must come from the taxes of hardworking people, many of whom have not received anything. (Alas, the dissonance of this cry is the subject of another future article!) On the flip-side, you see people gratefully posting pictures of food aid delivered to their homes.
Indeed, they say that in a crisis, you see the best and the worst in man. Sure, we worry about our families, livelihood and other concerns. But many of us need a “batok or dukol” in the head to remind us that we live in a bigger community where there are people who literally have NOTHING to eat, who sleep under bridges and fly-overs, who were stuck in a place not their own because of the quarantine.
I fear that the oft-repeated stories and pictures of exhausted front-liners in the hospitals, of military and security personnel getting sick and who put their lives and families at risk, have somehow inured us.
The “sacrifices” we have purportedly made are really but drops in the buckets of tears that are shed by those who have less. I am guilty of ranting during this pandemic but have decided to quit sowing seeds of negativity by pursuing more fruitful initiatives through our community of women entrepreneurs, moms, etc., who can actually use our skills to catalyze a more positive impact on others.
I have witnessed people bring hope with food and face masks to front-liners and going the extra mile like my “anak,” Chef Greggie Mercado who sent Easter doughnuts with bunny ears to hospital staff, my classmate and bakery owner Princess Lunar who sent boxes upon boxes of bread to hospitals in Manila or churchmate Charu Asperin, who has tirelessly sent and cheered up people with surprise gifts of ube bread.
The inequality of CoVid-19 will still be felt in the coming months and years but somehow humane stories like these allow us to experience hope and restore, in some measure, our faith in mankind.
In the coming days, let us remain hopeful and be rooted in His promise:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord.” Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 .
Stay home and stay safe Everyone!
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