THE Terrible TERRIBLE SOUTHWEST MONSOON RAINS OF AUGUST

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, 

but you can decide not to be reduced by them." 

-- Maya Angelou

Actually that's what I see as pictures flood the news on the floods caused by the terrible TERRIBLE southwest monsoonrains which hit the different areas of Metro Manila and the provinces, as covered by our news networks.

Observe and watch the people ...

..... they may cry, be scared, angry, exasperated ... but you will still see more of them smiling and waving at you or your camera, wading doggedly in the waist deep waters to or from somewhere important, taking swims in the murky waters like it was one big Olympic swimming pool, creating make-shift means of transportation to travel or bring people from one point to another, hanging on for another day hoping that help would come soon, good Samaritans volunteering their vehicles to transport stranded people on the streets or their homes to shelter evacuees-neighbors, a family cooking food to bring to the evacuation center, a banana fruit vendor distributed his wares to hungry people on the street, a rescuer part of a rescue team apparently shivering from the cold yet persevered in rescuing people stranded in their homes, a pet owner carrying his dog as he trudged through the waters to get to an evacuation center (walang iwanan - I love this guy), and many more similar images and stories.

Hope springs eternal..... indeed! Their spirit will bounce back --- like it always does. Amazing! But at the same time let us mind the lessons that should be learned from this.