The power of faith
IT’S so easy to say that we need to let go of the pain so we could make peace with our past and then move forward with life. But when you lose someone you love, the pain never really goes away. It's just scabs. And the scar stays in your heart - forever.
I could barely put into words the heartache I felt when I remember my grandmother. How I was late on her funeral for four days because my mother kept it a secret and how I lost the chance to be with her during her remaining days, hours. Acknowledging that she’s now gone is still a challenge to me. Last night I was hugging her tight and then I woke up only to realize I’ve been dreaming of her again - like I did for the last five years.
I Googled the stages of grief; the framework is denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. So there’s five, maybe it’s easy, I thought. But it’s not the regular “complete this step to progress to the next” kind of task. Sometimes it feels like you’re in the fourth step and ready to jump onto the final stage but you realize you can’t yet so you tumble to square one again.
Imagine my surprise when I heard for the first time, Dennis Larida talk during the commemorative mass for the Roxas Night Market bombing victims on September 3, 2016. He maybe a lot of things but after the blast, he was known as the man who lost his whole family during the violent attack, his long-time partner and wife Melanie and their 12-year old son Josh.
At the mass, Dennis stood at the same ground which claimed his family- his home and yet he was there in front of the sympathizing crowd of Dabawenyos, and other well-wishers speaking sincerely of his emotions, “Wala koy kalagot sa kung kinsa man, ang akoa lang unta duna moy makat-unan ani nga panghitabo. Sa mga terorista, nag-ampo ko nga bag-o man mo muhawa ning kalibutana, makit-an ninyo ang Ginoo ug maghinulsol sa inyong nabuhat. (I am not angry at anyone. I just hope that everyone learns from this situation. To the terrorists, I hope that you find God before you leave this world so you can reflect on what you did),” he said in fragments of what I remembered. CCC(For full story visit www.sunstar.com.ph/ davao/)