Still Asleep, Eh?

Aside from getting busy with my Multiply account, our internet connection hasn’t been too friendly – in fact, not friendly at all – for the last few days. Blame global warming! Hahaha. Seriously.

So here I am, about to share one of my write-ups last semester. And just a random thought: Why are English classes - not the subject - so boring?! Well, at least for me. (:

A LESSON FOR THE UNAWAKE

 I cannot begin to express how saddened I am with the story of Mariannet Amper’s struggle with life’s harsh realities – a story that clearly had no trace of happy endings. To have concluded a life of twelve painful years without as much as a dream come true nor hopes for a better tomorrow is tragedy in its ugliest form.

Surely enough, Mariannet’s self-inflicted death has caught the attention of this country’s blind, deaf and mute citizens. Yes, it took that much just to make us realize the severity of our country’s poverty situation. And the truth is, the now lifeless Mariannet isn’t the only picture painted for us. I mean, how many homeless individuals sleep on the streets? How many out-of-school youth have chosen to beg for a living? How many crimes have been desperately committed on account of kahirapan? Indeed, Mariannet is but one of the many who have been screaming for our attention all along. It just so happened that her tragic story was made public.

And along with this publicizing goes the people, especially the government, who now rush to provide for the family that Mariannet left behind. Irony? A cruel joke? Or is this the way we have chosen to apologize for the suicide that we have unconsciously taken part of? 

Maybe 12 year-old Mariannet Amper’s decision of giving up life was set for a reason – to remind us to be grateful about the blessings we have. And if in this sudden state of gratitude we find ourselves determined to help make life better for others, who knows how many Mariannets we could save?

This was a reaction-slash-journal entry on Conrado De Quiros’s Philippine Daily Inquirer column that I had to make for my Basic Communication 12 (Essay Writing) class last sem. It obviously talks about Mariannet Amper. Remember? The 12 year-old girl who committed (Lord, I hate to say this next word) suicide because of poverty?

Oh, yes. We’ve talked about Mariannet for days, weeks even. The thought of an elementary-level child’s self-inflicted death shocked us so much that I bet some of us had trouble sleeping the first night we heard the news (I know I did). Didn’t we go running to shower her family with cash, grants, promises, and all sorts of abuloy? Didn’t we say, explicitly or not, that we would be doing our best to wake up from a stupor that got so used to poverty?

And why am I talking about her now after n months? (May her soul rest in peace.) Because the very people who felt that they learned something out of her story are also the very ones trying to get ahead of each other in this new crisis we’re facing. For the last couple of days, I’ve seen and heard people complain of how their "mas may kayang" fellowmen hog all the NFA rice for their own. Some rice dealers cheat customers by overpricing and “renaming” NFA rice as commercial. Why, around here I know of a store that sells a kilo of NFA rice for 29 pesos. 29 pesos for a kilo of rice that you as a dealer buy for only 18.50! Everyone’s getting desperate, I can tell. But cheating and taking advantage of such a crisis is another story. We have woken up, alright. With our inner greed.

I’m not one to say or know a lot about the issues that this country is facing. But I know for certain that in these times of despair, we should be humbling ourselves more and think of the one time we got inspired to move forward without pushing others back or selfishly racing ahead on our own. We owe Mariannet that promise fulfilled. Let’s not take away another child’s life because of hopelessness, hunger, and poverty. Cooperation, equality, respect, a voice for means rather than complaints, a hand for helping rather than pushing, a mind that works for the benefit of many, a heart that trusts in the Omnipotent – we’ll not save only one child, we’ll save a nation.

P.S. Sinumbong na namin ni Daddy sa NFA yung overpricing dealer. Dun rin naman kasi nagtatrabaho erpats ko eh. (: