Not Your Ordinary Day

I spent friday night with a friend having a belated birthday celebration at Kaya while we talked about our not so distant past. I was happy I had nothing scheduled the next day so I can sleep longer and enjoy another ordinary week-end with the family. I guess I spoke too early because nothing ordinary happened over the week-end.

So while having brunch, I turned on the tv and tuned in to a local cable news channel to be updated on what's happening and was shocked with the images being televised. More than 60 died (mostly elderly women) and hundreds were injured in a stampede to enter the venue of a game show celebrating it's first anniversary. Lured by the big prizes being offered a lot of the marginalized poor in the city and nearby provinces trooped to ULTRA in Pasig City hoping that they will be the lucky one to win but ended up losing more. Throught the day all local stations showed scenes of people trying to find their love ones in hospitals and morgues and kids looking for their parents (why they drag them to a crowded place is beyond me).

Then another flash report of a ship sinking in the Red Sea near Egypt with 1000 reported dead. My heart sank deeper because I also made friends through the net in that country (good thing they made assurances that they are safe). There were no life vests given and the crew even left without notice to their passengers, how heartless! Somehow it cast a shadow to my day and made me think that if only more precautions were enforced, disasters like this could be avoided.