The First Day After Holiday

January 13, 2010

Probably one of the hardest days in a year is the first day after Christmas vacation. You know you’d had to wait more or less 360 days again for Christmas to come. You still have hangover from reunions with families and friends. And when you live in the province, you still can’t get enough of the slow-paced life. Because of bargain hunting for the Best Buy, going out at nights to catch up with old friends, and waking early in day to maximize time with the little kids who already want to start the day playing or watching DVDs, you feel you hadn’t had enough rest, and yet the busy life is knocking again.

And the hardest part of all, your “normal” life isn’t giving you a transition period. You really have to start the year already. Your stress level zooms up, you become homesick, and you feel tired already—all on the first day.

Maguindanao Massacre: Now on DVDs

January 12, 2010

Part of my assignment in legal writing is to make a descriptive narrative of the two-day retrieval operations of the bodies in the mass grave site of the Maguindanao Massacre.

With the help of my ever-dependable friend, we were able to meet the required 5 pages. The video seemed to be an unofficial video, probably taken by someone outside of the government. The video was unedited. Because the paper was to take note of the details, I couldn’t close my eyes to not see the bloated bodies and unreconizable faces. In fact, I had to describe the scenes, vividly if I can.

Anyway, I heard that the government was against the proliferation of the said video. My friend said that the government thinks that the people should not watch it over and over again and that this adds insult to what these people had already suffered.

On the other hand, I believe that there is nothing wrong watching these videos, even with friends and classmates in school AVRs or with officemates while sitting in a modern office furniture.

In the first place, let us not forget that pictures paint a thousand words. The video is a more accurate account of what befell the unfortunate victims. I hope that people, especially those in public order and public service, who would watch this film would “open” their eyes and see that these atrocities really happen. It is an appeal to those with poor imagination and to those turning blind to reality.

Second, I hope this video would be a reminder to the SOCO and other personnel to be more vigilant in securing the crime scenes. During the first day of retrieval, it was mostly the volunteers who were digging the area to search for bodies while those wearing SOCO shirts stood watch. Evidently, whatever vestiges of evidence left would be tampered or destroyed as, understandably, the volunteers weren’t aware of the proper protocol in handling corpses.

Intended or not, let this video wake us up. We need not see these cruelties to act, but we did not, and the video reminds us of that. 

bonding and longing

January 7, 2010

There is always excitement and eager anticipation whenever vacation time comes. Some people plan the holiday season even just at the start of the year, while some just rests. I belong to the second group.

Of course, I also want to go on tours and see things. Maybe fly to Pennsylvania or see some interesting shows. Or perhaps–and this is the best vacation–bask in the sun, run on the sand, and swim on the ocean.

But last holiday season, I did not. In fact, I never once went on vacation during the yuletide season. First off, I have no money. Nada. I barely survived the year. haha. Second, and most importantly, it is bonding time for the family.

Since I’ve been living away from my family, I try to maximize all holidays I can to spend time with them, especially the kids. Oh how I love my kid cousins so much, and I am grateful they love me back. Our house is old and ain’t big and fancy, no Dolan Designs in sight. But we spent almost the whole vacation time just at home.

The focus of attention is our superstar—Keng. She’s my 2-year old niece, and we’re all crazy about her (promise, I’ll post her pictures whenever I can). She’s really cute, with rosy red cheeks and sweet smile. She and her parents are living abroad now, and they come home during the season.

With her, I’ve come to understand what bonding really means. I only spend 2 or 3 weeks with her in a year, and yet I love her so much. And she’s also fond of me (no bias, swear!). Whenever she sees me, she smiles. And she kisses me just because. She slept beside me in my room several nights, and there were just times when I just look at her face while she’s sleeping. She looks like an angel.

It’s just my fourth day away from her, and I miss her so much.  I guess after every bonding, there is longing. And this is one serious longing.