Lessons from Ondoy and Pepeng

A few weeks have passed ever since tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng hit the country, causing massive damage to many Filipinos. Until now, many are still trying to recover from the magnitude of the damage.

Allow me to provide some perspective. Aside from the environmental lessons, there are financial lessons, as well.

I know a very devastated husband (not mine) who lost his entire FHM Philippines collection. He diligently collected every issue from day 1 and it was all swept away by the flood.

Another husband’s comic collection was also badly damaged. His wife narrated that her husband started his comic collection ever since he was young. When the flood reached their home, they weren’t able to save anything. All was left was the loose pages from the collection.

Other stories I heard include the rock-bottom prices of houses in subdivisions that were badly hit by Ondoy like Provident Village. It seems that in their desperate attempt to just get rid of their houses and to start moving forward, many homeowners are dropping the prices so low. One is even offering her two-storey house for just P1 million.

What is the take-away from all these?

I believe that calamities like these are a wake-up call from God to focus on the more important things like your loved-ones and your own lives. Maybe we have spent way too much time and money in shallow things like collections, a grand home, etc. when we could have pursued more important things. Sure, we all want to live a comfortable life but we also have to realize that these material things should be balanced with spending more time with our family and loved-ones.

I feel so sorry for those collections and houses damaged by the storms. I have my own Archie comics and snowglobe collections and I would probably be just as devastated. But the storms also serve as a wake-up call to me to focus on the more important things in life.