At wit's end

I’M LOST –the idea finally struck me after hours of walking and trying to figure my way home. I know I was somewhere in San Juan but everything seemed unfamiliar to me. It was getting dark and the bad weather made my situation worse. I was walking in some narrow street; it was a bit scary for I can’t see a single person or street lamp ahead. I got goose bumps for some reason I cannot fathom, my instinct tells me I should walk faster. I’m not the kind of person who ignores instinct or voices in my head; just when I decided to run, someone gripped my backpack and pulled me. I tried my best to outpace him but I failed. Irritably, he asked for my stuff. Anger’s all over his face. Scared, I looked straight to his eyes and begged him. I was willing to give him whatever; I only begged for his mercy, I was afraid he’d hurt me.  He just laughed, then I felt surge of pain somewhere in my body. It took me seconds to realize that he gouged me with a knife. I wobbled; everything is just blurry. I was screaming, I remember myself cursing. I promised I would haunt him and whoever gets hold of my stuff.

And then, I woke up. It was raining outside, I have the air condition on yet I was kind of sweaty. It was quarter past midnight. I was so thirty I went straight downstairs for drink. That was one hell of a dream. Must be Crime and Punishment's effect on me. I swear, it was freaking vivid. I just thought to myself: I don’t usually dream but when I do, it’s awful. Took hours for me to shake off the thought and get back to sleep. It was my first night of living alone and bam! So much for I'm-twenty-four-I-should-try-doing-things-on-my-own-and-living-alone, eh? :)

Ranting 101: RH Bill and Urban Poverty

One noon, as I’m making my way to class, I saw some No to RH Bill tarpaulins inside the campus (not surprised since I’m in a catholic university) and it made me contemplate on some things. House Bill 5043 commonly known as the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is basically an act to provide national policy on reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development; sounds legit, so what's the fuss about? I’ve no idea, at all.

Philippines is a small country yet if you google world’s largest population, you’d see it on the 12^th spot –which I find alarming. One doesn’t need much thinking to arrive that boom in population would affect the economy (either positively or negatively; but in our case it is obviously negative). Walk the streets and you’ll see how crowded it is, take public vehicles and young people (sometimes carrying baby) would hop in and beg for coins, observe the side streets and evidences of scarcity would be right before your eyes. I loathe people who make rude remarks on these people, I mean, are they even thinking? I don’t think anyone would want to beg for money just to eat. You can’t go and tell them to get a job and make a living; NO, you just don’t say that to people who didn’t make it to school, not to people who barely read or write. They were innocently brought in this world by their parents, who more or less share the same sentiments they are actually having now; it is just a cycle, only it gets worse over time. These people are caged in appalling condition; they didn’t have a choice they never had a choice. With RH Bill, these people can have options; they can start bettering their lives. I reckon it’s absurd to advance that passing RH Bill would turn us to a bunch of murderers; I don’t see this Bill far from Family Planning –it’s just something that has to be properly dispensed to each and every people. We shouldn’t even be worrying about having abortion legalized (hidden agenda) yet; I don’t think it would be such a hit if our people are all educated and have access to anything that could prevent unwanted pregnancy in the first place. I think what’s real evil is to let people multiply like rabbits regardless of their situation and capabilities; it is terrible to bring another mouth into the world you know you can’t feed and most of all, it is unjust to bring another soul you know you can’t give education and liberty to lead a quality life.

Look around; do you still like what you are seeing? It is not enough we admit that quality of life in our country is deteriorating; we must also do something about it.