REHABILITATION? RECONSTRUCTION? WISDOM?

Typhoon 'Ondoy' and the excessive water it brought down to the National Capital region of the Philippines in September 26, 2009 was devastating. Many homes were destroyed. Cars were rolled down by waters like toys. People were flushed down rivers and creeks like insects. Mountain sides eroded bringing downstream so much mud. Roads and bridges were torn down. In the aftermath, affected areas ones more looked like an uncivilized towship of people walking in stockings, boots, socks, and shoes made of clay.

The day before the deluge, I watched tv and saw an actress in her best looks promoting a soap that will soon be aired. The following morning when I open the tv, the same actress was on tv, but this time on top ot the roof of her house with her mum and relatives crying, calling for help and rescue. She is one of the residents in the area that was hardest hit by the flood.

Right after the storm had ravage so much already, people were scrambling on who and how to rescue survivors. Thirty kilometers away from them, I watch in silence over the television and thought, how much more wisdom will those who are again proposing for rehabilitation, and immediate reconstruction input into the areas where they have once touched with their well-publicized intellectual abilities. Lesser damages could have been inflected, had it not been for the excessive conversion of forested areas into housing subdividions.

Indeed viewing the aftermath pictures onscreen, seeing people almost ruined by the sight of their homes and properties destroyed by water and mud is excruciating. But, knowing that most of them are in areas where supposedly fruit trees and crops for the majority who are underprivileged could have been growing, then, the balancing forces of nature must be understood.

If I were to propose, everyday people eat fruit or fruits. In order to rehabilitate and reconstruct with wisdom, each one after eating a fruit, plant the seed. Within one year, one person can produce 365 growing plants. If an area has a thousand population, then the community can produce 365, 000 growing plants in one year. The National Capital region has about 13, 000, 000 million people. So, in a year there would be about 47, 450, 000, 000 growing plants. Trees will bear fruits and become mature in about 3 to 5 years.