Why Walking in Flood Water is Easy

First: You can leave your death threats in the comment section. 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on with the blogpost.

It has been three days since the Maring and the Habagat joined forces and brought watery hell down our heads. In Paranaque, it was no surprise that there were floods. Water would rise and wane with every burst of rain. People flocked to our sari-sari store because they had no food and they could not cook. The first night of the flood was Sunday. My mother did not sleep, because even though our house was pretty safe, the rising water scared her. 

 

3AM, Monday: The house in front of us has been repeatedly raped by the flood.

3AM, Monday: My mom had not slept. She kept vigil until noon, helping people and keeping watch just in case flood waters enter the house. She's like Wonder Woman that way.

I don't blame her. Years ago, we would have been panicking at the thought of rising water as well. I would have been stuffing clothes and food in plastic bags from Pure Gold and stuffing it in the highest shelves of my closet, along with important documents and my favorite books. I would have proceeded to put most of our possessions on top of each other. Then I would have waited (and hoped fervently)for the rain to stop. 

I grew up walking through flood waters. In fact, having to wade through dirty, muddy, smelly flood water from polluted rivers, drainage, and sewers is part of my high school memories. When I was in college, it was jumping onto a dump truck (you know, where they put trash and shit - literally, to my dismay) in my white nursing uniform so I could get across the flood around SM Sucat and get home. It is still a mystery how my uniform survived, but it did.

Tuesday morning: The water had been rising and waning. Above is a shot of the water entering our gate. Below are photos of how the rest of the neighborhood looked.

Which brings me to my point: walking through flood water is not a noble thing. It is not something to be applauded. And like many other things, it should not be a source of that false manifestation of nationality, "Pinoy Pride". I agree that it is a show of resilience, the "I need to fucking get home" kind or the "I'm going to die if I don't get out of this leptospirosis-infested water" kind.

Think of this, however: If Mother Nature had PMS everyday and decided to unleash its watery fury on us non-water benders, then the Filipino people would be walking in flood water everyday. You know what? Because we would have no choice.

It is easy walk through flood water. All one has to do is put your life, your family and your properties on the line. I promise you, you grit your teeth and take the plunge, shit in dump-truck, swimming rats, and floating cockroaches be damned. Any sane person with a relatively intact moral compass would do the same thing.

Yung totoo, hindi 'eto nakakabilib.

Alam mo kung ano yung nakakabilib? Yung sa susunod na delubyo, wala nang baha.