Thursday, November 14, 2013

How Dare You Anderson Cooper


How Dare You Anderson Cooper!

by: Erwin L. Sison


Recently a certain Anderson Cooper who made some remarks through CNN regarding the way the Philippine Government is handling the situation in Tacloban City.

He was quoted as saying, “It's a miserable, miserable situation here. It is not getting better day-by-day. We're now entering the fifth day since the storm hit here in Tacloban ... You would expect maybe a feeding center that has been set up five days after the storm. We haven't seen that, certainly not in this area."

As to who's in charge of the Philippine side of the whole operation, that is not really clear. I'm just surprised that on this day 5, maybe I've gotten here late, that things would be well in hand. It does not seem like that,” Cooper continued.

He even compared the situation to Japan during the tsunami in 2011, “When I was in Japan, right after the tsunami there two years ago, within a day or two, you had Japanese defense forces going out, carving up cities into grids and going out on foot looking for people, walking through the wreckage. We have not seen that here in any kind of large-scale operation,” Cooper said.

My take? I am offended as a Filipino.

How dare you Anderson Cooper to belittle the Filipino resolve. It might be true that there is no BIG military presence on the same spot that you are standing on but you should be sensible enough to know that the disaster covers a very very large area spanning from Eastern Samar, Tacloban, Masbate, Cebu, Palawan, Davao all the way to Negros Occidental. That is almost half of the country and these places are separate islands across the archipelago.

How dare you Anderson Cooper to speak as if you are an expert in handling natural disasters telling the whole world what Filipino Government should have done in this situation. YOU’RE NOT AN EXPERT Mr. Cooper you’re just a spectator making a living out of these disasters! I watch basketball almost everyday does it make me an EXPERT? Does it mean I can be the head coach on the Miami Heat? Your remarks are downright absurd and irresponsible.

How dare you Anderson Cooper comparing us with the way the Japanese handled the situation in Japan during the 2011 tsunami. That is totally a different condition, geographically speaking, in Japan the areas heavily affected were the shorelines and rescuers can still move from the northeast side of the country towards southwest, unlike in our situation where the whole island is affected. In times like these mobility is one of the key factors and we simply don’t have that in this particular state (I am not an expert). You should know that right?

How dare you Anderson Cooper forgetting to compare our condition to your home country when Hurricane Katrina struck America and there was widespread violence, looting, rape, hunger and killings because the US Government DID NOT RESPOND properly and on time. You were there, have you forgotten about that? Isn’t that the closest comparison to our situation instead of the tsunami?

And finally, how dare you Anderson Cooper being a veteran journalist barking out all these nonsense on international TV disregarding the effect of your irresponsible reporting (barks) to the entire Philippine nation who is reeling from the effects of the strongest typhoon ever recorded in the history of mankind. It was like rubbing salt to a wound.

Note: Anderson Cooper is an American journalist labeled as “emo-anchor”. In my opinion the label is very close to “an Actor”. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

In Pursuit of (Momentary) Happiness




It is safe to say that everybody wants to be happy.

Will everybody be happy? I'd boldly say YES. Intrigued? Go on.

To start with, happiness is one of the biggest misconceptions in life. Most of us think that it is the ultimate goal,  something that eludes us until we finally hit the jackpot. People spend a lifetime pursuing it, trying to force it and at the end of the day when they feel their time is almost up, they'll ask themselves, "Am I happy?".  If I were to ask that question to myself knowing that my end is just around the corner then my answer would be a crispy "Hell no!", that would probably qualify as one of the most upsetting moment of my life. But if I were to ask myself, "Was I happy?" then my answer could have been different.

My point is, Happiness is not the jackpot that we long for nor the ultimate goal that we seek. Well it is a goal in a manner of speaking but it isn't as grand as we perceive it to be.

Happiness is a state of a moment, an instance or an event of being happy. More often, it is just a temporary feeling. But although it diminishes real fast, it is quickly replaced by our unending drive to be happy again

Humans are programmed to chase happiness. It is what we always aim for. The best thing about it is, we are capable of achieving it at least once a day and that my friends is what keeps us moving forward, what keeps us in our pursuit of a momentary happiness.

Life they say is a cycle, a series of ups and downs. I strongly agree. One moment we are happy the next moment we are gearing up to seize it back again. 

So kick that ball, score that goal and once you did score, savour the moment, celebrate, be happy then run back out again and plan for your next attack. 

:o)