"Hi! I received your message and yes, you have a point. Japan needs our prayer, but come to think of it, this could be God's way of getting back on them after all that happened when they invaded us. Do not forget the fact that many Filipinos were killed, many women were raped and many establishments were ruined. Whatever happened to them, they deserve it."
After reading it, there was only one thing that came to my mind, this is the perfect example of INSENSITIVITY. I have not yet forgotten those three years under the Japanese military. I have not yet forgotten the stories told to me by my grandfather, on how they shelter themselves inside improvised caves just to survive. I have not forgotten all those stories of comfort women (and even comfort gays) that had been part of our media in the past years. Those accounts are rooted in my mind. But then, this is not the time to speak ill of our brothers. What happened to them is truly devastating, and what's worst, thousands were killed, and among those victims are people of foreign blood, and Japanese people who had also condemned the acts of their ancestors during the WWII. Today, we are all equal. Japan needs our help, and eventhough we were saved from the wrath of Mother Earth last week, we are not completely saved. I wonder how he would react if Philippines was the one hit by that killer quake and tsunami.
God taught us to be forgiving. He said that if our brother had wronged us, forgive him not only seven times, but forgive him seventy times seven. It means that we must be forgiving, just like how He forgave us by dying on the cross. What Japanese military had done to our ancestors in the past can be compared to flogging and betrayal of Jesus Christ. But at the end, just before He died on the cross, He called upon the Father in Heaven to forgive us, for we do not know what we are doing. A perfect example of forgiveness. If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was able to forgive those who have wronged Him, flogged Him and nailed Him on the cross, who are we not to forgive our Japanese brothers? I still believe that whatever happened last week was God's way of shaking us, on calling us to be united and forgive our brothers. The world had gone crazy in the past, nations rose up against nations, He brought these catastrophe so nations would once again stand hand in hand and restore peace among humanity.
His reaction to my message was completely uncalled for and inhumane. Insensitivity has no room on this earth at this time of sadness. I just wish that he would learn to be a better person too, his richness could never ever bring him into Heaven. He must learn how to reach out to the people outside the fence of his house. I feel sad that he sent his nephews in a Catholic school but he does not know how to properly act as a Catholic Christian.
As my dear alma mater always reminds us (and ironically, his nephews are also studying there now, and I bet he read these lines on various posters and trash bins in the campus when he brings the kids to the school), I hope and pray that he too, will learn to live up on these words:
BE THE SHARER'S OF GOD'S LOVE!
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