The clouds have cleared a bit allowing the stars to shine through, and that is what happened to your DAILY STAR columnist who had to stop “twinkling” for a few days this past week. I apologize to all our faithful readers and friends for not informing them of that incident, but, honestly, it was caused by something truly beyond my control. I had to be confined in the hospital for a few days, but thank God, it was not the vicious COVID, although, I don’t know at all how it compares with what I was diagnosed with, which was pneumonia.
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But I am grateful to the Lord and to all my relatives, friends and faithful readers who assured me of their prayers and comfort that enabled me to be dismissed in about four days, and here I am, striving to come out with Twinkling again. I truly missed writing but couldn’t do it in my hospital room, but now that I am home again, here we are, trying to twinkle, twinkle, as stars are supposed to do! And before I go on, I would like to thank my doctors, Dr. Evra Corral and Kimberly Tan, and all the other staff of the Riverside Hospital who treated me, and inspired me to comply with requirements and medications, and be able to twinkle again.
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But being out of the hospital was not much of a consolation, especially upon seeing reports of how many victims of the pandemic have been accounted for, and how crowded hospitals still in throughout the country, and even the world. So we all need to continue praying to our Lord, to spare us all, and also ask His heavenly Father, to spare, not only our city and country, but the world as well, from this virus that has been taking such a toll on humanity. Remember what St. Augustine said? “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dream of”!
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Indeed, we need to pray with all our might, because the world today is beset with so many problems never encountered at almost the same times before. Not only is there this new virus that has been reaching so many countries, we also hear about floods, fires, and conflicts between nations that have been causing people to evacuate from their own homelands. The Afghanistans, for instance, are fleeing from their own country because they are being invaded by the Taliban, a nationality that is so different from their own despite being neighbors!
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In the United States, a big fire in scenic Lake Tahoe has caused more than 100,000 residents to evacuate from their homes because of a hurricane called IDA. One can just imagine how people can evacuate or flee from their homes while whirlwinds are blowing them off their trucks! Meanwhile the United States military forces have decided to leave Afghanistan, and now its people may be left at the mercy of the invading Taliban, who are known to be unkind to civilians, and especially to the women of the place they invade. So we still cannot say that “All is right with the world”.
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But now what is this we hear in the national news? Is it true that two women, both coming from families well known in politics, are aiming to take over the helm of our country? What I heard was that Imee Marcos, daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his first lady, Imelda, is lining up to be the vice president of Sara Duterte, daughter of the incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte, in case she runs for president of the country! Well, well, could we call that state of affairs “matriarchal” in case that happens?
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Is it true that in the United States there are still schools where the question of wearing masks is still a problem? There apparently are some institutions that do not want to require them, while others do. So who should resolve that problem? Will school officials the ones, or will it be the State education board? Such a simple precaution for them to make a fuss about, but maybe some are “invoking” what they may call “freedom of masking”. How could their cities, or even their states, oblige them to do so? I hear even the schools are not all in agreement over this issue.
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What a killjoy these oil companies are! They have announced an increase in prices this week, which will certainly affect the earnings of a lot of ordinary workers. Why do they have to raise prices now even if it seems as if the consumption to have gone down? Well, I guess, I cannot speak for other consumer countries, but it is really heartless of the producing ones to raise prices these days. Anyway, I hope users have had a chance to, at least, fill up for this week’s consumption before the increases are implemented. But it is, indeed, a problem to Filipinos who have to rely on imported fuel without any sources of our own. Well, time to bite the bullet again!*
