As a tropical country frequently visited and shaken by typhoons and earthquakes, we are –we ought to be by now– more than prepared to face such natural disasters. Disaster awareness has become more part of our system, especially after very devastating storms as Milenyo, Ondoy and Yolanda.
Still, our preparedness for these natural threats is nothing compared to the order, discipline and system demonstrated by countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Not-so-recently, I heard that some disaster experts from Japan visited to orient and prepare us for the ‘long-delayed BIG ONE (earthquake)!’
My friend who attended the briefing was very enlightened and impressed with how our Asian neighbors applied very practical and life-saving measures. For example, every floor of every building must be supplied with a ‘grab bag.’ These bags contain the basic provisions that would help survivors carry on for at least three days.
Another very helpful point was to designate ‘disaster meetings point’ or a local area marked by the family, institution or association. Everyone would have to meet at this specific point at an agreed time after a disaster strikes. This would immediately give an idea of how many are missing, etc.
As my friend listened, someone commented beside him, “Grab bags in the Philippines wouldn’t last a day.”
“What do you mean?” my friend asked.
“Even before disaster strikes, someone would have already grabbed them!”
True and sad. But despite this, we can still say that we are moving to a more concerted effort to address disasters in our country in view of the common good.
While we hope that we become more prepared for big natural threats, we still have to contend with something apparently insignificant, but may have dire consequences on how we manage ourselves and our responsibilities.
This has to do with decision-making problems before and during natural disasters, and in particular when classes or work are called off during typhoons.
Prior to the cancellation of classes or work, we commonly have our minds set to accomplish many, many scheduled things. Then BANG! Classes cancelled, traffic jam, no electricity and worse (HELP!!!) no Wi-Fi! The next thing the mind considers, after sorting out the fastest route home, is what to do with ALL that free time?
Naturally, for the more responsible students, there would be the occasions of advancing in reading assignments, researching for a paperwork, polishing on some already finished project prior to submission, etc. But reality kicks in upon reaching the house: it is dark, no electricity, no internet! Worse, one doesn’t know how long this ‘suspended state of affairs’ will last.
Uncertainty leads to indecision. Indecision leads to just chilling around. Chilling around leads to simply not doing anything. And no specific thing to do can be a dangerous vacuum for attracting vices. The hurricane of indecision has just began.
Indecision isn’t so much the tendency of not making a choice. It is more rooted in not having a clear end or priority in mind, and the lack of will to stick or commit oneself to the tasks he has previously set. In fact, one does make a choice to commit himself to abstract engagements with uncertainties such as maybe, later, tomorrow, what if, I thought or I didn’t know.
This disordered choice to a non-committal state of affairs is what really leads one to many undesired results. Only then do these bring in other storms such as laziness, gluttony, lust, and over self-indulgence in food, video games or music. It’s time to have an emergency grab bag for typhoon season!
This grab bag consists of things that we literally LIST DOWN in a notebook. It is like a ‘bucket-list’ of things ‘I would like to do if I had time to spare.’ We further divide our list into sections, for example: VERY IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT, and SIGNIFICANT. Then we can categorize things according to what can be done even with the absence of electricity or the Internet (e.g. finish reading a book, learn to play an instrument, or study a language.)
So when a storm happens to drop by and offers us some ‘spare time’ due to the cancellation of work or classes, then our first stop is to check out what we can do in our ‘grab bag.’ This strategy would not only weather our state of indecision, but will also offer an opportunity to personally grow and discover through all seasons our yet untapped God-given resources.
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