As time goes by, things (a lot of things) happen to people. Others get hired in the company they applied, others get fired. Others pass the board exam, a lot don't. Others fall in love, others get trashed. Others are happy all the time, others never learn to smile. But the painful part of being a human being is to be vulnerable to pain and the rest of what comes after.
Heart Attack. This happened one week ago. It was Monday. On my way home with my father, he told me that one of our church members was hospitalized because of a heart attack. I was shocked with the news. The day before, Sunday, she was still so healthy during the worship service. She even stayed home after to join us for lunch. Actually, that's what she does every Sunday. And we love her company so much.
She is 56 years old with eight children (more or less). The sad part of it is that she has not established a good relationship with her kids. It's a long story. Maybe I can write it out some other time but not on this post. And now, one week and three days later, she still cannot move, cannot talk and cannot eat. Although the doctor said that she can now be discharged, the sad fact remains: she will never be the same Nang *Ina we used to know. We will miss her talkative nature, her guffaws and her rants about her misery with her children and husband.
Gunmen on the Loose. After the horrifying news about an eight-year-old child raped and killed here in our place two or three weeks ago, another incident happened (just last night). A man was shot twice by "riding in tandem" men because of selfish money ambitions. You see, this man is a motorcycle agent and perhaps, during that time of incident, he was bringing an amount enough for these two men to feel determined to kill him right there and then.
The sad part of this story is that this man is the father of our workmate. She was very apprehensive when she bid our manager goodbye. "Miss uli sa ko. Murag nadisgrasya si papa. (Miss I have to go home. I think something went wrong with Papa.)" These were the shriveling words she said I could vividly remember. When I arrived home, I received a text message from the manager saying, "Please pray for the father of May. Napusilan s'ya. (He was gunned down.)"
Dead. Just this morning, four men died in a road mishap in the town next to mine. Everyday, as I commute the 29-kilometer distance from our house to the city where I work, I always get horrible news such as this.
As our van passed the place where the accident was, I saw how wrecked the public multicab was. It looked like an old sardine can being crushed by a 3x4 truck. The driver and three other passengers died while the rest had their share of bruises. The driver of the truck was arrested.
Everyday, everywhere, things like this happen. It might be a stranger, a loved one or us. We don't know. So, as long as we are still alive and spared, we must love life and give love. The most important thing is we know where we are going after the Angel of Death snatch us out of this world.
