Tragedies

Tonight's headlines says that Glorietta has been bombed. Initially, reports say that it was an LPG leak, but follow-up reports concluded that it was a bomb! As of this writing, 8 are already dead while 70 plus are wounded.

This is so terrifying! Glorietta is like my next door mall, not that I live beside it, but it's the most accessible mall for me. Whenever I commute, I always go down at Glorietta for the bus terminal. Dinners, coffees and after-office-walks with friends are almost always at Glorietta (extending upto the Greenbelt area). Add the weekend movies and strolling (though lately, I prefer MOA for leisurely walks). What if the bombing happened when I was there, with my friends or with my family? Such a creepy thought!

To add more to the creepiness, I was there with some friends (from high school) last Wednesday night, at the exact spot where the bombing happened! Creepy! Horrifying!

Another sad new just this week was my uncle's death. It was me and Nanay who first got the call. Monday night, we're almost home when her cell phone rang. I answered it and the man from the other line said he's a doctor (forgot the name) from Las Pinas Medical and is looking for ‘Alfredo's' relative. Since the line was quite choppy, I handed the phone to Nanay. In about 30 seconds of the call, Nanay was pointing out that ‘Alfredo', her brother is not in the country (we were actually thinking that the man on the other line was selling something, like an agent or something). When the man already gave out the full name – Alfredo G (full name withheld) Castillo, and that he's already DOA at the hospital, we panicked! Only then did she realize that it was Tito Fred!

We hurriedly drove to the hospital after fetching Tatay from the house. While on our way to the hospital, we're still hoping against hope, that maybe, just maybe, Tito Fred could still be revived. You know those stories that some people were declared clinically dead for certain minutes and then they get back after.

Tita Hermie (the wife) and Ian (the son) were already there when we arrived (Kat, the eldest, followed shortly). There at the ER, Tito Fred lies. I could only take short peeks at him, I'm to scared to even come close. It's just my thing, I don't look at dead people. When I'm at wakes and is forced come closer to the coffin, I only look at the feet.

In just one week these two instances of death and tragedy made me think that life is short. I should live my life to the fullest, spreading love. That life can be taken in just an instant, no warning signals. Life is too short to harbor grudge and anger.