Letter to Myself One Year From Now

 

Dear Vincent, 

 

If you are reading this, you probably adjusting to new protocols as the society may be getting back to normal after receiving doses of the vaccine.

EDSA during the first lockdown

The first year of the pandemic lockdown and quarantine was never easy. The world seems to turn upside down. Remember when you went home walking from Megamall to Guadalupe bridge early morning when the public transportation was suddenly suspended without advance notice. When the lockdown began and the only world now is within the four sides of your home. When you went back to work to 2 weeks later after the lockdown implemented and stayed for two months within the building premises.

You felt like you are working in another region because the only communication is through the phone and thanks to the internet, you can contact the family through video calls. When the lockdown measures were removed to lesser health protocols, we thought everything will be normal again.

Unfortunately, not all business establishments returned to operate. Most already ceased to operate due to bankruptcy. You didn’t realize sooner how it will affect your work. Since most of the events and shows are getting cancelled, all we did was refunding money back to the ticket buyers. Until the business is no longer able to sustain the manpower. One by one we continue to decrease as months passes by. Until this year, it was your turn to make an exit.

New Normal in public transport

Again, your whole world went upside down when it happened. You not only struggled when you lost your work due to the pandemic, you also are not able to walk due to the painful swelling on the foot you got during another lockdown. Until now, you are still getting back to the doctor to find the cause of the swelling.

These may be challenging times but it only shows how our family persevere. When two of our family members lost their job before you did, it opened new opportunities for them to start business. Also, the pandemic brought as back to act as community again just like in the provinces when life was simpler.

You have the family and the community to rely on. The current local city government didn’t forget its constituents. Just like in the biblical times when Joseph became governor of Egypt, he was able to save the people from famine. This just shows that challenges are meant to be overcome.

I leave you now with the inspirational speech from one of our favorite movies. Please read it in the context of the pandemic.

“Mankind-that word should have a new meaning for us today. We cannot be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. You will be once again fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression or persecution but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live, to exist.”

 

“…the world will declare in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive. Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”

 From yours in time,

Vincent

 July 18, 2021.

"This story is an entry to ComCo Southeast Asia’s “Write to Ignite Blogging Project Season 2: Dear Survivor”. The initiative continues to respond to the need of our times, as every story comes a long way during this period of crisis.  The initiative aims to pull and collate powerful stories from the Philippine blogging communities to inspire the nation to rise and move forward amidst the difficult situation. The “Write to Ignite Blogging Project” Season 2 is made possible by ComCo Southeast Asia, with Eastern Communications and Jobstreet as co-presenters, with AirAsia and Xiaomi as major sponsors, and with Teleperformance as sponsor."