Retrospection and Registration

I don’t know which is worse, the ravaging rains the other week or the cutting, chilling cold this week. Well, the heavy rains caused floods which in turn forced people to evacuate, made roads impassable, destroyed crops, and suspended delivery operations. On the other hand, the cold woke me up in the middle of the night to get a blanket. I do know of a few people who suffered chest pains or had their blood pressure shoot up, or had the flu with coughs and cold because of that breeze of freeze. Setting them opposite each other, I guess due to extend of inconvenience, the rains beat the cold. I suppose this chill will last beyond New Year’s Day. That’s good if you enjoy burying yourself under your blankets.

Despite time measurements being constant, we still feel that time passes by more quickly in one event than in other events. Well, it’s the last week of the year; and it’s amazing how December’s conditions are so much of a far cry from that of January’s at the start of the year. We opened 2022 with the vagueness of what’s to become of the Covid-19 crisis. I remember almost everyone I know coughing really hard and coming down with a cold. There was not much media hype, but classes had to be suspended altogether for about a month. Even the module distribution and online classes had to pause. That said a lot about the level of gravity of the local situation of the disease. Just when we thought something like that was already part of history, Putin went all tyrant and invaded helpless Ukraine; and the rest of the world imposed sanctions, which altogether sent oil prices shooting up, further aggravating the mess that Covid put the world in. We all forgot about Covid when the election campaign went on full speed. Pinks clashed with reds and emotions were high. Since this is being printed on BICOL mail, I guess, it’s safe to say, that we were all disappointed with how things turned out. I suppose, even half a decade back, no one would have ever predicted how this generation would spit on the face of history in our nation. But it is what it is. Kids went back to school. Everything seems to be back to normal.

Now, everyone who has a cellphone has to be concerned with SIM registration. My sister was asking me why we have to go through all this “nuisance”. All these came about because of people who don’t have anything good to do but use their phones in scams and fraud. Now, this is what legislators have come up with to prevent crime perpetrated through phones. They say, if the SIM card would not be registered, a cellphone user runs the risk of the number being deactivated, rendering it useless. My sister tells me, “so, what? Everyone uses Messenger nowadays, anyway.”. I guess, she has a point there. But I suppose, a large part of the population still depends on text and call for communication. Are not there people who switch Sim cards casually in a snap of a finger like changing clothes? So, could they still do that? Or do they have to register everytime they buy a new SIM? If you think about it, why would one have multiple contact numbers anyway? I guess, in that way, the registration could prevent scams and schemes of that sort.

Of course, there had been some experts that say that this law would not assure the prevention of such crimes. Let’s see. What else do we have to watch for in 2023? I would not want to draw direct relationship, but as quickly as the current administration stepped in, prices of commodities had escalated ridiculously expensive. What would be next after onions, sugar and eggs? There seems to be no turning back after this increase. (if it’s any indication, I walked around downtown on Christmas eve and strolled around a popular mall, and noticed that the shoppers were not as many as it would traditionally be. Did they shop early or did shoppers lost a great deal of their purchasing power?) Will a kilo of rice cost P20 next year? Will Covid-19 continue to die down? Will we be shocked with a sudden surge? What will become of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Despite the setbacks, Putin doesn’t seem to give up. What will become of China’s trespassing in the ?West Philippine Sea? What will happen with the tensions between China and Taiwan? Will stray bullets go our way? What would we do then?

“Those who trust in their own reasoning are fools, but those who walk in wisdom will be kept safe.” Proverbs 28:26