Home for the Hurricanes

Ulysses is the Roman name for Odysseus who after taking part in sacking Troy, went all around in adventures in the Mediterranean Sea to go home to his admirably loyal wife to knock down all his wife’s shameless suitors who had presumed his death and had taken it that he would be not much of a threat. So, maybe that’s why he had to go around for too long. Rolly was tough; but at least, we had the chance to clean up early in the afternoon. (To whom could I relate Rolly? One of Dolphy’s sons?)

There was so much talk about how the typhoon took us all to a surprise, how everyone did not expect it to be that nasty. Wait. Let’s process that for a while. PAGASA or Mike Padua (whom I hope has had his generator running already) reports a coming typhoon. Do you go about your normal business if it doesn’t reach the supertyphoon armagedonic deluge level? Because the storm has not touched the titanic time of the Day after Tomorrow, would you go around driving around downtown? Would you stop by your favourite hangout to sip ice coffee? Would you still check if your gym is open so you could work up a sweat? Would you go jogging or play basketball? Would you go shopping for a fancy dress that you could use for that office Christmas party despite ban against it? Would you go to your friend’s house to play video games? Would you, administrator or office manager expect engagement in business operations along with employees and clients until that cherished closing time of 5pm?

For crying out loud, it’s a typhoon. Whatever the level be, run home for the sake of safety. That’s what we all should be doing; instead of taunting the typhoon and then, whining like wet puppies when wading in warring waters of rain and river. In a coming cyclone, why are administrators still holding on a firm grip on running operations on the standard day and time and finding it extremely difficult to let personnel off when any office duty is already tough to accomplish with power and the Internet down. Is this an extreme case of loyalty to labor or an equally extreme insensitivity to humanity? Initially, reporting to the job had been declared off at 3pm, then later moved back to 12 noon, making it a half day of work. Why not suspend work for the day altogether until situations normalize? If these bosses are so obsessed with work hours, they have to huddle with outgoing US President Donald Trump and accept reality; and theirs is the fact that no work could be accomplished if their staff are uneasy and no volts go through the breakers and no signal go to the routers. With the rains all raging and ravaging, you all might as well go home. With everyone huddled indoors, there won’t be a chance for you to get shocked that a storm does get strong.

But then, there’s the question of rising water levels and reliability of the roofs; which would be exaserbated by toppling trees and poles and sliding masses of soil. All these come after the rage of Rolly, the quashing Quinta in the middle of the crisis that is Covid-19; lest we all forget. Some international illness prevented proximity and we resolved it with distance learning and deliveries. Now, we’re even having a tough time at any of those because we don’t have power to plug on to or signal to sign up with. There is really no one or nothing that is worthy to be held liable. No one just can’t stand in nature’s warpath.

On the day after that half day of hurricane, the skies treated us to a true tropical sunshine for the kids to run a round and play on the streets, and for guys to daydream of babes in bikinis on the beach; as if the sky was saying, “all in a day’s work”. The skies have moved on and we should too. Just when we thought that we would be making national news or even international news for having been battered by three typhoons in a row in a span of a week from each other, we held our mouths in shock in the torrents that trashed the territories of Luzon; and we thought we were having it worst.

Now, as we anticipate CASURECO linemen in our neighborhoods and Internet signal to surge in strength, and of course, for those flood waters to subside, let’s contemplate on how we could decrease the damage next time.

“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm..” Isaiah 25:4