text brigade

the problem with text is that people use it to take advantage of gullible people.

- you won a small fortune in a lottery in which you never participated.  how could somebody win without betting?

- say a prayer and pass to friends to avert disaster.  it would be more productive to stay calm and prepare for disaster. miracles are worked for and not hoped for!

the telcos (smart, globe, sun) stand to gain millions in times like these! does this mean they have something to do about these?

t-t-t-t-t-t-t-textinnnnnng!!!!!!!

ironic how some people take advantage of a crisis situation. yesterday, a text message circulated around the archipelago warning that radioactive material will somehow find its way down the philippines by 4pm following a a nuclear accident in japan. the first sentence was correct. but the subsequent advisory warning that asian countries will be affected. and thus everybody should stay home, close windows and doors after visiting the health center for a swab in the thyroid area.

such a nuclear accident is really nothing compared to the two bombs dropped in nagasaki and hiroshima during WWII. and the adverse effects were limited to a small area.  so how could a nuclear accident be a cause of concern for the rest of asia.

of course, the precaution is good. but only to those living in japan.

what worries me is how the people reacted.  some schools suspended classes. some government offices sent their employees home. domino effect.  without verifying the truth of the information, many reacted.  others say no harm was done simply by following simple text message. i disagree. it means, people are still gullible to dubious text messages. we could have verified information first before acting.

to those who started and rode on the text scam as if it was a text brigade  for some candidate in pilipinas got talent or talentadong pinoy or pinoy big brother, please stop this!

in the wake of disaster

after a killer quake, a 10-meter tsunami left japan so devastated. tens of thousands have yet to be accounted for,  and dead bodies are turning out by the hundreds every day. aggravating the misery is the threat of a nuclear meltdown that could well render the surviving japanese very sick.

many countries are convulsing with their own problems. revolutions, civil wars, terrorism. recession.  and we see  before our own eyes in the luxury of our living rooms in high-definition color, the anger, the rage, the frustration.

then came the quake and the tsunami.

yet we still have to hear of looting, rioting.  all we can see are people patiently queueing up for their meager share. everybody gets to buy a little bit of something to eat or drink. no jostling around. no short tempers. no stealing. no one taking advantage.

is this the japanese way of dealing with disaster? the future is uncertain. yet like ants, they meekly accept what is and tries to do a little bit of good not only for himself but also a bit for a fellow japanese.  from a news item i read from an australian site yesterday, i learned that at the entrance of one of the evacuation site in Rokugo Junior High, the visitor is greeted by a row of neatly stacked footwear.  tacitly, it means, anybody wishing to enter must also leave one's footwear outside.  the local grocers delivered their crates of food and a net row of portable toilets were set up. in the carpark, volunteers (presumably the able-bodied of the survivors helped pump water for those who could not. outside a gas station, motorists calmly queued up to buy their share of gas.

i wish somehow, we could learn lessons from small things like this. especially during disasters. how to survive a disaster --- earthquake, tsunami, and a nuclear crisis. written by THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN!