What Typhoon Pedring Taught Me?

Yes! Everyone in the Philippines, even abroad knew Pedring. It's a force of nature that has wrecked hundreds of houses/businesses including ours.

I actually want to post some pictures of our house but I've decided not to as I write this post. I just thought that the face of this tremendous event that happened to us last Tuesday morning resembles what's in the news. Everyone has seen the same pictures and have uttered, "kawawa naman sila". It's no big deal. No one will be surprised.

Instead of complaining of what Pedring has brought us, I've also decided to list down the things I should be thankful for and learned after this tragedy. This is my way of moving on and also, getting ready for another possible disaster that might come soon.

From loving and treating the trees right to how to handle people and such events, I think I've learned a lot.

1. Everything happens on God's chosen time. The mango tree that fell on our house is too old. Since I was six, my grandmother has been complaining about the leaves falling on our roof and backyard. That tree is our neighbors'. I'm at my thirties now and my grandma has gone the fight to have it cut. My dad have also filed complaints but nobody from our neighbor's side took it seriously until this tragedy happened. The tree finally sets its verdict on our wall. That tree might be much older that I'am and it has been laid to rest. So bad that it left us a huge mark.

2. Thank God, nobody's hurt. Despite of this misfortune, I truly thank God because nobody is hurt. The broken things are being fixed now.

3. No more falling leaves. The falls inside our house each time it rains has been a way of life for us. Every three years, we are replacing our "nabulok na bubong", apply Vulcasil once in a while but in the past five years, we have settles on just getting "timba" and "palangana" to catch the water. While this is one of the reasons I hate rain, I realized that the tree is gone now. Now, I can enjoy the rain without worrying about things that might get wet.

4. Only some people care. It was a rainy and dark morning of Tuesday when one of our neighbors knocked and informed us about the tree's threat of possibly falling on our wall. When I went out to look at how close it is, I saw a lot of bystanders looking at the tree and talking with each other. Each time the wind blows, you will hear them yelling. It's actually annoying because no one bothered to take the initiative to at least refrain it from falling, even the owner of the tree.

5. Everyone needs help. I must thank the Action Center of Valenzuela for taking action on cutting the branches of the tree and prevented it from seriously damaging the entire house on the day it fell. But only this morning, they were able to cut the trunks. What a heck! Yet I learned that everybody needs help. I'm thankful that we've been saved at the time we needed help.

6. Don't expect people to be concerned. I must say that the owner of the tree has demonstrated a rude and unacceptable behavior on the day the tree fell and on the next day. After several knocks at their door, she finally took the guts to face what's her property has damaged us. It's so sad! She did not even asked if anyone is hurt.

Life is not fair. We may meet few people that would test our faith in God, hurt our principles in life and take our patience but we should not stumble. Instead, we should show grace, strength and fight for our right! This incident has thought me a lot of things. And has made me realized in a tragedy, there can be opportunity. And most importantly, no one can give you justice if you don't seek/ask for it.