Sunshine After the Rain

    

   
Only a Filipino can really smile in the middle of misfortune. We laugh when we're happy, we laugh when we're sad. We smile in our mistakes. We smile when we say sorry. It doesn't mean that we are not sincerely saying sorry...we just smile in everything we do. Like for instance when we accidentally bump someone while walking; we would automatically smile...and if you don't return a smile, the other person might think you are still mad. Okay! It's an accident...and we smiles even in accident. 

   An employee would even smile while he is being reprimanded by his boss...other nationality might think this action is a sign of disrespect but actually it's the other way around. Smiling on this situation is a sign of humility. We wont look in the eyes to show we are not fighting back. To look in your boss straight in the eyes could mean that you are threatening a challenge especially when you are being discipline. We as a race maybe puzzling sometimes but this craziness saves most of us in hardships. 



THE PEOPLE OF SMILES
  Once again we saw this Filipino resilience during these past days in the midst of storm surges. I saw people smiling back at the camera even under distress...even while the flood rises and they are trapped on roof tops. 

   A Filipino would even smile while crying...OH No! She's not mentally ill. She's perfectly normal...we just care so much to those that sympathized with us...so we smile for them. We always think of another person's feeling so we smile even if we are on the brink of danger. We send positive energy when we smile. Smiling protect us from pain...we pull strength in our hearts when we smile.

  Toughness in the midst of hardships is a common trait for us...and the Bayanihan Spirit (People Power) emerges again in the midst of chaos.  

   At this very moment while I sit here in front of my computer, I illuminate images on my head.  Typhoon Gener brings the worst and best in us. Nameless heroes appeared in the strangest situation. 

   I was touched when a man said something like this: "I am helping the rescue here because I am too far away to save my family...I am hoping that someone would help them right now too. So I am here to help." Isn't it the very same words that Jesus commanded us "to do unto others"?

   Now with a smile on my lips, I pray that my countrymen would pass yet another test of faith. These calamities are just passing but their smiling faces will remain forever in our hearts.