A Matter of Faith

I had the card laminated. I always carry it around; in case I get barred from entering without it. But I have not had a firsthand experience of a guard asking for my E-Salvar card. I heard a band of barristers have filed a case against the city’s implementation of the ordinance. I also heard that one mall has been strictly implementing the no E-Salvar, no entry rule. Yet, I suppose the significant number of business enterprises don’t seem to mind about it, watering down its presumed effects. By the looks of it, some if not many citizens don’t have much confidence on the constitutionality of the card. On the other end of the spectrum, the local government seems to have so much confidence on the code.

A few days ago, I came across a friend who just happened to be a Covid survivor. It had been weeks since he tested positive, subsequently isolated and quarantined and gratefully recovered. Accordingly, the office in which he works at had to close for some days. A number of his associates understandably also tested positive and also had to go through that same ordeal of quarantine and isolation. Thankfully, none of them succumbed to death. He said his greetings and took my hand for a handshake. I was startled when his palms touched mine while my mind was going on overdrive on the propriety of such traditional gestures. I was thinking, “shouldn’t he be not doing that anymore?”. But I went along with it because the concern of not offending a friend got the better of me. Honestly, my pandemic paranoia was itching me to get out of there quickly. All of the sudden, the files that I was requesting from that office took too long. For the sake of politeness, I managed the guts to engage my Covid survivor friend in conversation and asked him how he feels now and how the experience was. I got all the more startled when he immediately gave a dismissive response. He said he got a severe flu. One of his bosses gave him a similarly severe reprimand. Then he capped off my shock with a remark that he doesn’t believe in Covid. This Covid-19 survivor did not believe in Covid; and after testing positive, having struggle in breathing, went through quarantined, still does not believe in Covid. The spirit in me wanted to rise up in revolt. But I held myself back, not wanting to incite argument.

I couldn’t believe that. Could you?

Now, as I took my ride in my exclusive tricycle back to my own work station, I was thinking, no wonder he got infected. He didn’t believe in the existence of the virus anyway. Maybe he’s not the only one. That remark reminded me of a recent incident when someone called out the social distance between me and another person. That person who was too close to me said, “Dai man ‘yan totoo”. Can someone please check if there’s an underground society of Covid-19 deniers? Do they hold secret mass gatherings without social distance, with unmasked and unshielded faces, in venues where their shoes don’t stomp on foot baths, and on the entrance their temperature are not checked and no alcohol is sprayed on their hands?

Now, maybe that’s the root cause of this all. Maybe problems continue to proliferate because some people don’t believe on the existence of the veracity or the severity of the problem anyway. Maybe, people continue to go out unmindful and unprotected because of unbelief; As unbelievable as it may seem.

Could it be that the same plague prevails through sectors of society? Maybe Internet connection has a hard time reaching its optimum speed for online classes because the people in charge of these technicalities don’t have enough faith on it as an essential for education. Maybe self-learning modules are marred with misgivings because the administrators and implementors themselves mistrust its makings.

Maybe a certain House Speaker is having a hard time letting go of his position and abiding by a long standing agreement (which gentlemen expects to be honoured), because in the first place, he has not believed in that agreement. What does that make of his affirmation? Lip service?

Maybe that’s the reason why the public has problems with approval of the President. Maybe the population really doesn’t have adequate conviction towards that authorization.

Maybe we don’t really have faith on what is, what should be, what could be and what we could do. In such a case, we would be faithlessly fainting and failing.

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;” Ephesians 6:16