Milenyo, the Unforgiving Typhoon

author: John Serrano

Typhoons; who hasn’t been through one? We all know how devastating these wraths of nature can be at times. Because of these, many properties and even innocent lives have been lost. Typhoons usually consist of strong winds and endless bullets of rain. Even the strongest of dams have been broken by the floods brought about by typhoons. Just last week the Philippines witnessed how merciless a typhoon can be. The recent typhoon, Milenyo, caused a state of calamity in many areas including Laguna. Many houses, telephone wires, and other structures were devastated by the end of the week. In fact, most provincial areas in the Philippines remain in darkness without electricity or water. Most phone lines remain down and unusable while others will take more than two weeks to repair.

Behind all this chaos were the lives of those who endured these hardships. I, for one, have much to say about the few days that went past. Quite frankly, the storm was perhaps the most horrific one I have ever seen. Debris was flying all over the place and trees were coming down fast. The wind slowly tore apart the roofs of my neighbors’ houses and the ceilings in my house were leaking badly. I could still remember how many buckets and pails I had to place all over the house just to prevent the house from overflowing with water. To make things worse, there was no electricity or water. My family and I were kept in the dark for almost three days and the only water we had was the water my dad had to get from a far-away well. I found it very difficult to sleep through those nights, and I went through each one thinking that the next day would be better. In the end, my hope was what kept me going and it turned out that everything was going to be alright. Eventually, our subdivision regained electricity and its water supply, and my life finally turned back to normal again.

Although the typhoon made my life a living hell, it did help me realize a couple of things. To me, it was pretty much one loud wake up call, and you could even say it was a giant front jab to the face. It helped me open my eyes to how unprepared we can be sometimes, especially in terrible times like these. I also came to learn that no matter how bad the situation may be, we should always keep our hopes up and hope for the best. We should always remain optimistic regardless of how things may look and never give up hope. Aside from this, I also learned the hard way that we should always prepare for the worst. Someone once said,” If anything can go wrong it will”, and that is why it never hurts to take precautions. Lastly, the thing that hit me the most is that we should always value our lives and life live as if we were to die tomorrow. When I recently watched the news, I saw how many people perished as a result of this typhoon. It helped me realized just how much we should value our lives, and just how devastating it can be to lose someone you love so much. Through it all, the typhoon taught me one important lesson: never forget to tell the people you love how much you love them because you never know if you’ll still have that chance tomorrow.

Even though it was a wake up call for me, not all people I talked to felt the same way. In the sense of realization, others didn’t really see it as a wake up call since they didn’t learn anything at all. Others saw how dangerous typhoons can be while others had silly realizations such as billboards can kill, or staying at home during a brownout sucks. Yet, some did share insights similar to mine. Some said that they saw just how unprepared businesses and ordinary people are nowadays. Such was witnessed with many people flocking to groceries stocking up on water and canned goods. Other shops were forced to close as a result of depleted stocks or no electricity. Aside from that, there were also some who realized how important life is, and that we should value every second of it.

In retrospect, the typhoon wasn’t all that bad for me. I may have had to go through a lot of hardships but at least I learned a lot about life and a lot about myself, as well. Those three wretched days of gloomy darkness and almost intolerable heat will forever remain embedded in my memory for I am sure to keep looking back on this ordeal for the rest of my life.