Catching Up With the Actual Tide

Image from www.nydailynews.com

The whole world picked up the news regarding the earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan this past week. Even I, who was isolated behind the four mighty walls of the academe from reality while sipping coffee and reading Umberto Eco, caught up with the information via text message from girlfriend. Then, during class, after talking about the requirements to be submitted before the end of the month, we cannot help but mull over the horrifying details of the incident: an 8.9 earthquake magnitude, followed by a tsunami waved that reached as high as 24 feet, and around 60 confirmed deaths, with 200 people missing (at that time).

Once the class commenced and knowing that there's still time to kill before the color coding ban is lifted, I immediately visited a computer shop in the campus to read more on the Internet about the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. Better yet, I viewed the screaming video reports from news sites that cover the events as they happen.

There's a disgusting beauty that is revealed to you after seeing tragedy with your own eyes; a wave of dark liquid mush with an estimated height of three feet containing debris of building and houses engulfing a bountiful farm area, a violent flood slamming onto the supports holding the highway, not knowing whether the cars driving through that road would meet their end, gasping for air while being carried by the rushing water toward certain doom.

It's sickening, devastating, and terrifying all at once while watching the videos, drawing back these feelings from the Ondoy experience that struck our cities from two years past. However, at the same time, there's an unsaid sublimity within the derangement in the events that took place, one that reveals a hint of bloom amidst this hot, stupid mess that the victims are in.

These powerful portraits in life serve as a reminder that nothing is sacred and that everything one has achieved and built upon throughout the years can be washed away in a matter of seconds. Everything unfolds the way it should be towards a determined end that satisfies the mean, and all of this is done with a reason. Simply put, there's something bigger working beyond the machinations of this world, beyond our wildest imaginations. Some call him God. The Greek tradition refers to this as the Prime Mover. But whatever 'It' is, the message sent is undeniably loud and clear.

(See what I did there? I mentioned God and alluded to the concept of predetermined existence in The Magical Tumbong. Furthermore, I just mentioned 'God' and 'tumbong' in the same sentence. What the hell is happening in this world?!)

Indeed, these past events that took place in Japan is indeed horrible and I refuse to draw something positive out of the situation, as if there's a moral to be learned. Let the victims grieve their losses and breathe from the tragedy that has suffocated them. However, if there is something to be said - the most important, in fact - it will never be.