By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
The cold weather is the trigger that has been sending a lot of people to hospitals, especially the elderly. Two days ago, the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center was full of emergency cases. Those who could not be accommodated were forced to go to private facilities which were almost full also.
When a family member needs emergency medical attention, people don’t count the cost. For you don’t value human life in terms of pesos and dollars. Saving it is what matters. And hospitals are, by and large, magnanimous. They honor promissory notes and guarantees. People would cough up blood if they have to in honor of their signatures that saved a life or lives. That is the human spirit or what humanity is about.
Local hospitals the past few days, to make room for new comers, were under pressure to discharge those who were just almost well.
Sadly, a good number were brought home where family and loved ones would continue their prayers, in many cases after a short detour at the funeral parlor.
I guess, that’s how life is. Some were lucky, some were not. Certainly, we commiserate with those who lost their loved ones. We can only hope they moved to a better place, where they would happily spend the next stage of their journey. . . . as we were told, it would be forever and ever.
We can only pray for the others, who might have lost consciousness somewhere only to wake up in a smoldering site of reckoning. We can only imagine how the place smells with all the cadavers being roasted which, as we were told, would never end. Or would last for thousands of years if they would be lucky to become recipients of Divine Clemency and Grace.
Is that the place reserved for lawyers, money lenders and criminals? I can only wonder.
There was a time when the life expectancy in most countries was just 28 years. Tribes then wanted more births as it would mean military strength for conquering and plundering. The weak groups were not feared, much less respected. They were the laughing stock of the realm. Sources of material resources, slaves or cheap labor and comfort women.
Families then also wanted more kids so even if some of them would cross the Great Divide prematurely, there would still be some hands to help out in the farm or to care for the animals or livestock. Now, because of education or expanded awareness, the wonders of modern medicine and proper nutrition, the general life expectancy is in 70 years, plus or minus.
So, populations now are increasing everywhere like runaway trains. These are unsustainable if we go by the numbers of resources and habitable spaces.
Such resulted in good, bad and ugly realities. Overpopulation, slums, climate change, scarcity, hunger, diseases, crimes, vices, etc.
Some balance will have to be achieved. If nature will have to take its course, it will be painful, shocking and deadly. We had a taste of it in the recent pandemic. What will happen next will be unimaginable in magnitude and intensity.
No amount of preparation might be sufficient.**
