Reming reminds me of the lessons I learned from Milenyo

Among the things that worries me is the coming super typhoon ‘Reming’. Over at dinner, I saw the news report saying that it will no longer directly hit Metro Manila due to a high pressure system which has pushed the typhoon more to the West. As of this writing, storm signal No. 2 is raised over here in our province of Cavite and already, though it’s not yet raining and the winds still calm, we are beginning to feel the creeping wrath of Reming. It’s that cold and eerie silence before the storm.

Pray that everyone in the storm’s path would be spared their lives and most of their vital properties. Selfish as I may sound, what really worries me is that Reming might cause massive power blockouts in our area that would last for days as Milenyo did back in September.

Sir Abe has written a thing or two about how we, the Pinoy netizens could and would last in those dark days without electricity powering our tech toys and essentials.

As my comment on that post goes:

I may be tech savvy but I’m not that tech-equipped. Just my AAA battery powered-mp3 player, my mobile phone and my desktops. (No laptops for me, nor wireless routers, nor iPods not even a 3G phone I could use to go online. Just your average Pinoy techie, lucky enough to get a broadband connection, a Mac mini and an Ubuntu Desktop.)

So I guess I’ll just occupy my self with my offline schoolworks, both academic and non-academic. Of course, there’s the three new books I bought from last weekend.

Why am I so worried about power blockouts and the inability to go online? It’s because I need my computer and the connection to accomplish my homeworks, extra-curricular stuff and the tools (read:paperworks) that would enable me to rewrite the history of DLSU-D. I could answer my e-mails when the power goes up again, I could survive without YouTube and my Google Reader for days, I have even learned not to blog when I have nothing good to blog about. The bottom line is, Milenyo has taught me to rethink my e-life – it’s purpose, what it should serve, what and whom it will affect – think more of the other lives around me, especially those who would rather spend their money to have their decent meal instead of spending it on gadgets and shameless self-promotion.

I take back what I’ve said a few months back, that I’ll die without the internet. That I’ll go insane without my mp3 player and I’ll jump off a cliff once I can’t access my e-mail. Now I’m thinking, how could I say such things when many others out there only have a candle to light their shanties that threatens to be blown away by a storm. The only thing that protects them while they huddle in the cold just to stay alive.

I don’t mean to poke the elites of the Pinoy blogosphere in the eye, I don’t mean to offend the tech-savvy and the tech-equipped. This is just me putting my thoughts into words. As I hit the publish button, the rains from Reming are now falling over here in Cavite. The prayers, preparations and the waiting for all this to pass comes into play.

Tagged as: Advocacy, Philippines, Technology, Typhoons, WordPress & Blogging