Hardly a blessing...
How strange. It all seemed like the littlest of things that kept other people from heading to Roxas before the blast were a “blessing in disguise”. Little things like maybe they got lazy and cancelled, or maybe their friends told them “bai sa mall nalang ta laag kay medyo layo ang Roxas sa amoa” and so they changed plans, or they were out somewhere and decided to come to the night market to eat or buy clothes from the ukay-ukay but their tummies went berserk so they went home instead. I was supposed to go, too, but something came up and in the back of my mind I was thinking “meh, I guess the balut and isaw would have to wait another day.”
But, what if? What if things went differently for us? What if we actually went? Imagine just sitting there, having fun with your friends or your family while munching on chocolate buchi or something, oblivious of the fact that a bomb was going to go off.
See, a small part of me is thankful that my loved ones and I were spared, but the rest of my being just… aches. I ache for the victims so much I couldn’t sleep. Being spared from something as tragic as that is not even worth rejoicing when you know innocent people died. Coming to Roxas Night Market will never be the same. You just can’t say, “move on, it was just 10+ bodies, more people die in some countries.” You do NOT just compare. Those lives were precious, I know. You do not compare and you do not associate it with politics, and you do not say “oh, they deserve it! They voted for Duterte!”
It was senseless killing, and I cannot think of any reason for some non-Davaoeños to laugh about what happened and call it karma other than they are sick in the head and they need professional help.
