Smile!

Last week our country was hit by a great calamity. Typhoon "Ondoy" (international name is "Ketsana") wreaked havoc in the country, flooding almost 90% of the country's city streets. No one expected it since there was only heavy rain and no strong wind, but by lunch time of Sept. 27, 2009, we have heard news of devastation left and right in the areas of Cainta, Marikina, and Pasig.

Our area was lucky enough to be spared from all that. We have electricity, water and food but there were a lot of areas surrounding us that weren't that lucky.

Watching and listening to the news of the fate of my countrymen, it was really heart-wrenching. Seeing people leaving their homes and looking hungry, cold and drenched would really move you.

But despite all that, you would also see the genuine smile of their faces whenever the cameras focus on them. You would be able to see them wave to an unseen audience and smile whole-heartedly despite the calamity they have just faced. They smile, despite the problem they would be facing. They're homeless and hungry with very little knowledge of what would happened but they are still able to smile despite the uncertainty of their future.

Smile. Even now, after another typhoon landed on our northern shores, and calamity struck again up north, we as a nation have always looked at the bright side. We see gold at the end of the rainbow. We smile despite the problems we have faced and is currently facing with rescue unable to get there on time because of problematic roads. Despite all the problems we have been encountering, we smile. We give a bright smile for the world to see and as a nation we shout, "THIS TOO SHALL PASS!"

Foreigners wonder where we get the energy to still smile despite the problem that we are currently facing as a nation. I guess it's because we are a nation who's faith in God is strong. We believe in the power of prayer and faith that with every bad thing that has happened, it would be replaced with something even better.

Faith that things will always be better has been the fuel to make us smile despite what has happened to us. It's faith that has always lifted our spirits. It's faith that He would never leave us and that he would always help us when we really need it. It is faith that made children play in the receding flood, that families pick up what's left of their property and start making plans to rebuild, and that despite us being a poor nation we give what little we can to help out those who have less than us.

We smile. And our smile would shine bright for the whole world to see because we want the whole world to know that we are a nation filled with hope. And that we will be okay. We will rise from this and would become whole again.

We are a nation of bright smiles. And I guess we will remain that way for generations to come.