Death, uncertainty, financial instability, how the world would wish for this pandemic to disappear as fast as it appeared, but sadly out of all the things in life it’s the one that decided to stick around for quite some time.
Ironically such deplorable circumstances of living have existed far longer than the actual virus itself. Poverty left 17.6 million Filipinos hungry in the dead of night with uncertainty and instability looming over their shoulders everywhere they turn in the year 2018 but only now do we see great concern over such problems when both situations are one and the same, just varying degrees. Why? To put oneself in another person’s shoe is a long standing saying but how often is it applied? In April 2021 a total of 358 Community Pantries were established all over the country. Communities after communities binding together in an act of solidarity and subsidiarity making sure that in this troubled time no one is left behind. Empathy bloomed in the hearts of people all over the nation in such a chaotic time.
The pandemic may be one hell of a situation to face but like in every storm there’s a silver lining. The shift of perspective it gave the world is something we haven’t seen for decades now and something we would have missed had we not known the feeling our fellow men were facing. It just proves to show that no matter how bad things may seem to be, sometimes the hardship we face might just become a hidden blessing in disguise.