Carry Me To Your Arms

Yolly, Yolands, Yolz and Yoling. These are just the common funny name that Filipino amused themselves of calling the "Yolanda Storm" (Haiyan) one of the strongest Typhoon ever hit in the world and the landfall is no other than PHILIPPINES!... My country.

I'm grateful that I was safe in the comfort of my home and enjoying the beautiful day that was offered to me when the storm landed in Philippines, but at the same time, I feel disheartened for not being part of the suffering that my fellow Filipinos had endured especially those who were part of it. It's not that I want to be part of it, Of course, I don't want to be part of it, Who does? But I feel heartbroken in the sense that,why would they experience such disaster and I am not? Why would they go through it and I, and you are spared? It's not fair and its never going to be fair.

It may not be fair to me and to everyone but I guess there must be a reason why I got spared or you got spared because You and I has to comfort, soothe, console and reassure them that everything will be fine.

When the storm was happening, I saw my Facebook stream and it was all about Yolanda. Some were plagued of worries, some were so prayerful and hopeful, and some of them were just totally enjoying making fun of it. I guess because, Filipinos have gotten so used of Nature's Burst. Our country has always been the passage of storms so Yolanda was just one of them but Yolanda was different because she was the strongest of them all and I think her vigorous power never got anticipated.

There were lots of prayers exchanging in the net world. One of them, to spare the Philippines or to stop the storm so people will not suffer or get hurt. I, on the other hand, only prayed. "Strength, Acceptance and Peace". I could not pray to stop it because in my heart, no matter how much I'll put an extreme amount of effort to pray of stopping it. I knew its not going to happen and Philippines is not going to be spared of the wrath of Yolanda at all even though millions of prayers has been poured out. It is what it is.

Can I be angry to God? I wanted to but I couldn't for He created this world this way.

After the storm was over, videos, pictures, news of the devastation has been all around the world. Immense count of deaths is remarkable. I tried so hard to not watch anything because not only it will painfully affect me, it will also breaks my heart watching them suffer. So I tried to live my life as how it is because my tears cannot help them. My anger, frustrations, wrath and complains cannot either. I can cry all I want and resent the storm and the government who is so irresponsible and disorganized but is my emotions and view can change it? Are the lives who got lost can live again? Are the places that got wrecked can be put back again in the normal state?  My answer is definitely NO.

I cannot do anything about those people who is taking advantage of the situation,  whatever their reasons are, no matter how evil and unreasonable it is, they still have their selfish reasons and they'll always do what they want to do! Can I stop them? Definitely Not! I can rant all I want and blame whoever I want to blame with, but can I change their minds? Not at all! Sadly to say it's part of this world, some people are just greedy and just don't freaking care.

Whether we want to hear it or not, It is what it is! Whatever good and bad that is happening between this chaos, its part of the creation and plan of the outcome that Yolanda will bring. All I can really do is do what I think I can do to help. That's all.

Even though I really cannot do anything physically since I am so far away from the affected area but YES my donation can help them big time. I can only do what I can do in my own little power. My donation is that little light among all the lights that embraced these people who have suffered. My light and your light made the big difference of these broken souls in the depths of the darkness who had lost everything including those people they love so dearly! Oh I can just imagine their pain!

Ultimately, these are the credible reasons why we got spared, so we can touch the broken ones and to help them heal and make them whole again.

I am indeed in awe of how much people in these world can shower love! I am overwhelmed of the countries in the world who have reached out to help Philippines.  Their generosity and care is unbelievable. The love of humanity, smothered the catastrophic agony of those people who have suffered in the midst of the storm. Whatever we have contributed and help. We are the heroes and angels to these people.

The storm and the aftermath. The 6 days of starvation and survival sent messages to the world, that the spirit of Filipinos endured the worst storm and it can also endure anything, even sleeping with the dead love ones because no one was around to be there to pick them up, obviously, people had reached their hands and donation seconds after the storm was over, However, government leadership were so dysfunctional and a lack of sense of responsibility eat the people, who have suffered the storm alive.

Nevertheless, I am not here to bash and strike them with criticism because they are part of the plan of God and as I said, it is what it is; despite of it all, I still see the positive and valuable outcome of this turmoil. Whatever horrible was happening in between the calamity, there was a beautiful message underlying in it and that message will somehow wake up the people in this world to be aware of ourselves that we can give love to humanity and we have a gift of compassion and ability to take care of each other.

Why Philippines? Why of all the countries, It has to be Philippines? Of course, If not Philippines, somehow; somewhere a place and people will get affected of it but still the storm didn't back down and still hit Philippines. I think God has a good explanation of it and this is what I felt why He allowed it to happen. Filipinos are like bamboos, we snap back and forth, no storm can break it, no matter how powerful it would be, the bamboo doesn't lose its strength. It still stays and stick on the ground just swinging. The structure of the bamboo is just like the spirit of Filipinos and how its clustered is how we are with each other and how we use our resourcefulness with nothing is also like how the bamboo transformed into good use when they are cut down. The bamboo can make a home out of his structure and we are each other's home. It also symbolizes optimism, unity, and adaptability. When the old bamboo dies, the bamboo sprouts appears. So it means that whatever was lost, bamboos always manage to get up and put everything back to normal with its sense of new powerful spirit in them.

Other than these reasons, Filipinos are also like crickets in the night. We make noises in the world to hear. Our prayers, opinions and judgement and cries is all over the net world! We never stop until we get tired venting and as far as I know, Filipinos are the only one who is doing this sound in the entire world! Our voices must be heard and we make use of our advantages in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or anywhere where we can lash out our emotions and of what we think of a certain situation that is why Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was imposed to Philippine law because we just love to speak our minds and we really love to do it because we totally love attention.

So because of this, I felt that God is using this character of us to shout to the world of how we are as Filipinos and one of the main character we possessed is our faith to God which manifested in the midst of our suffering. Filipinos has always been so outspoken of their love to God.

Philippines is one of the countries where a lot of devotees lives and even if it's a 3rd world country. God has always been the center of our lives. It's one of the religious country in the world. So what happened is that Philippine now became the vessel of the message to the entire world that despite of the disaster, we still manage to put a smile on our faces and through our voices we  proclaimed hope, strength and the trust of God  no matter how devastating our situation is. In other words, we become the voice of God!

The world will somehow learn from Filipinos how to laugh and smile even if cruel things like this happens and they will somehow get the message that no matter how much life slapped them with adversity that they too can overcome it and can still live life to the fullest, Just like how Filipino had dealt with it easy with beam of their faces.



Like what we always say, It's more fun in the Philippines! Whether its flooding or not we always have that Filipino humor to top it off!

Any disasters cannot break us from living our lives, no matter how strong it can be. The happy spirit of Filipinos cannot be thwarted even in the midst of crisis!






I am so impressed of Filipinos essence, enthusiasm, warmth, and frame of mind and it makes me proud that I am Filipino and I can proudly say "It's fun to be Filipino!"

However, before I end this, I pray to God that these noises that Filipino shout to the world will also be the voice of those people who have suffered everyday of hunger and continuous death. I am not talking about people who have been affected of nature's wrath, but I'm talking about those people in countries who have suffered starvation and war everyday! A lifestyle that they could not let go of, because, they have been deprived of the ability to fight it. Those people never have choice because they can't buy food for they don't have nothing and people whose in war cannot fight back either for they are deprived of freedom.

I pray for healing for those people whose not been heard, because they don't have the courage and strength anymore for their miseries is buried inside them for no one is their to speak and fight for them. Filipinos are fortunate for we still have each other and our voices can indeed reach even to the farthest side of the world. Let us use this voice for the unheard ones so that they can feel the love that they deserve to receive. Love that brings healing in wounded souls. Love that preside in the hearts of the people who have help the Yolanda Storm victims. Love that steered up the unity of this world. Love that restore the broken ones.

After all, What is Yolanda is all about? It's really all about love! Yolanda brought love and unity!
Love that endures,  Love that accepts and Love that gives unconditionally.

Think about it........

So Thank You Yolanda for uniting this world as one!