No, not fear

If you want someone’s assistance on something, scare tactics and intimidation might work but it certainly would not work on everyone.

Try again.

How about kindness?

photo from google images

Fallen 44

“Fallen 44” sounds like something taken from the dystopian book series turned movie, The Hunger Games.

I have seen the movies but have not yet read the books. Maybe in the senselessness of battle/war/fighting and the resulting loss of lives, is where I draw the connection between movie and real life.

It has been 11 days since the tragic incident that happened in Mamasapano, Mindanao. From the government side, we lost 44 brave, young soldiers. From the other side, we lost an unverified number of persons whose affiliations (whether MILF/BIFF/private persons) are yet to be determined. There are pending investigations that we know would not be finished quickly enough to satisfy anyone interested in this matter.

Just a few days after the incident at Mamasapano, my roommate asked for my thoughts about it. She was obviously affected by the evening news. Misty-eyed, she went off about how peace talks should just be discontinued. I, on the other hand, could only mumble about complexity of the issue, and about not reading or knowing enough about the news to give my two-cents worth. We both were and still are feeling downcast with the loss of lives.

Last night, my brother-in-law mentioned that Marwan’s DNA has been confirmed. But, I barely heard what he said as I was preoccupied with my nephew. I just know that Marwan, the terrorist with a $5M bounty in his head, is central to the Mamasapano story.

This violent story has got me torn in disinterest and desire for truthful closure.

***

There are tons of articles, op-eds, news, memes that came out but here are some reads– not just specifically about the Mamasapano incident but also about the related peace struggle in Mindanao, and perceptions of Muslims and Islam– that I find enlightening and sentiments that I relate to:

• A wee bit history
• The killing of an innocent person has no place in genuine Islam
• Day of mourning
• Wanted militant
• Media goes to war
• Sobriety

 

To truly learn, we must never forget

I was too young to remember and lived far from Manila to be even affected by Martial Law. My earliest memory about it was that Richard Gomez movie, Eskapo. I am no expert on Martial Law and I learned stories from my ‘elders’ who lived through this period. For us to understand how important that was, we need to read and ask and make our own judgements and take a side. We cannot be all experts of history and we will not always agree on what makes a great leader. But by now, we should have learned to choose who cannot be a leader. People who are insincere, who have no regard for the lives of other people, who steal to enrich themselves and their family, those type of people cannot lead a country into real and lasting prosperity. Such action only bring about a culture of greed, corruption, and violence. We are all too familiar with that and no I do not want to be part of that vicious cycle any more.