it was ofw reyna elena‘s great idea, launched early thursday afternoon sa barrio siete of which s/he is la kapitana — the call to bloggers to “tie a yellow ribbon for cory aquino,” sending her a message of love from a grateful people. kumbaga, yoohoo cory, you’re on our minds, you’re in our hearts…
someone may have tipped the binays off, or naunahan lang sila ni reynz, but last night, according to the news, the mayor’s people had started tying yellow ribbons around the makati medical center and along major thoroughfares, promising to do the same citywide.
the first time we tied a yellow ribbon to our car’s antenna was back in ’83, in the wake of ninoy’s assassination. i was working for the ministry of human settlements’ sesame street project, based in the university of life (now ultra). of course hindi pinapasok ng guards ang kotse kasi may yellow ribbon. rather than remove it i walked in na lang. a month later i quit.
i was defiant then, i am just so sad now. my heart goes out to cory, and her children, who are suffering great pain in what may be cory’s final days. and yet, true to our culture — or is it a universal thing — we are not allowed to say she’s dying, we’re not allowed to say goodbye, we’re only allowed to pray, pray for her recovery, pray for a miracle.
the idea is not to speak of death because according to the old folks to do so is to attract it or to bring it on, which is a superstitious notion really, along with crossing fingers and knocking on wood to ward off bad luck. but again who knows , ‘no?
anyway, gil grissom’s line in csi keeps running ’round my head : “i wouldn’tmind dying of cancer, at least i get to say goodbye.”
this is not to say that i don’t believe in miracles, but the kind of miracle we’re praying for, which would find cory suddenly getting better, recovering, has very slim chances of happening, no matter how hard we pray. and then, again, yeah, malay natin, baka nga magmilagro ang langit, so okay i’m leaving that door open while praying praying praying that the suffering ends, one way or another.
now if what’s keeping her here lang pala, without hope of recovery, are the prayers and the holy masses that we’ve been storming heaven with, well, then, i say it’s time to let her go. if we really love her, we’ll let her go. let heaven take her.
so long, cory. love you, cory. salamat, cory.