“How can I make the rain stop, Lola?” a grand daughter asked her nana.
“Just pray to God, and ask so that the rain will stop falling and the water will not rise again.”
“How many times do I have to pray? I’ve already prayed again and again.”
The rain falls relentlessly it seems, flooding countless homes, making children know fear and pain.
These past few days we witnessed how water cannot be stopped.
It invades our sacred spaces, threatens loved ones, creates suffering and pain.
It fills the earth and tortures the land, tormenting Creation and all forms of life.
What once was soft and nourishing, brings death and curses the land.
A babe is embraced by water in a mother’s womb.
It cradles the whales and moistens the seed to summon life from within.
But it is a force that can’t be contained even by megadams.
It falls and thunders and destroys for such structures are not God’s design.
But even when the skies offer water, so many will thirst in the days that come.
Golf courses, giant malls will hoard the water for profit while communities struggle for sustenance
Until we learn that all life is sacred, that all development must respect the integrity of creation and we all belong to the land,
The waters will come again and make vulnerable the innocent, the poor, the proud and the grand.
We humans think we can subdue all creatures and have dominion over earth and seas.
We are but a speck in the universe, and the universe will endure even if we cease.
I do not know what tomorrow brings but for the moment I savor today.
For I see our people rise up again, reaching out to others, to begin a new day.
diwatalakayan 