The heavy downpours and almost incessant rains that we experienced here in Eastern Visayas in the past days due to the low-pressure area had once again uncovered the extant problems that we have had in this part of the country, unresolved up to this time.
Indeed, the recent LPA was such a stubborn weather disturbance. It moved so slowly, skirting the eastern parts of Mindanao and Visayas, and bringing with it thick clouds of rain that did not seem to halt. There have been LPAs in the past, some even evolving into typhoons, but they did not cause as much rain as this one did.
And so, after days of frequent rains, these recurrent problems surfaced, the first noticeable one being flooding in many areas. Many densely populated communities, barangays, towns, and cities were quickly flooded. Supposedly, the accumulated rainwater on the ground need not be a problem as this water should merely flow down the rivers and other waterways into the sea. But due to poor drainage planning and rampant filling of waterways, water is instead trapped in many areas, hence those floods.
Landslides or mudslides are another consequence of heavy downpours, which is a normal occurrence in many areas of the region. This does not happen in mountainous areas where the soil is intact and protected by forest covers. But due to the wanton cutting of trees and deforestation in general, highlands became prone to landslides that sometimes destroy lives and properties.
The litany of problems that recur when the incessant rains come could go on, but the point is, we should learn from these problems and then do the necessary steps to address them. We call on the authorities to take the initiative, and the people to participate and cooperate. These woes do not come during the dry season, so somehow we should thank the rains for bringing them to our attention. But we should work together to resolve them.
Labor and sorrow
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10).
This is the verse in the Bible that sets the biblical life span of human beings on earth. God had set this limit when human beings had already multiplied and occupied the whole world. It’s threescore years and ten. One score is equivalent to twenty, so threescore is twenty times three, which is sixty. Plus ten, that’s seventy. So the typical, biblical life span of people is seventy years old.
Does it mean that people do not die before reaching the age of seventy? No. Do people who reach seventy years of age die immediately? No. Just because God had declared seventy as the people’s life expectancy doesn’t mean they only die at exactly seventy years old. They could die before or after it, as we must have observed. It’s just the typical age limit.
Well, life on earth used to be so long, especially during those times when the number of people on earth was still very small. They lived up to hundreds of years. Many of them such as Methuselah and Noah lived to be nine hundred plus years. And even if they were already hundreds of years old, they were still procreating sons and daughters until such time that the earth’s population had multiplied.
And so, when people had already occupied the whole earth as God commanded, their numbers multiplied, and God had shortened man’s lifespan into threescore years and ten, or seventy. Of course, life expectancy nowadays is also dictated by culture, lifestyles, status in life, religion, and many others. In our country, that’s apparently the average life span so long as people die of natural deaths.
If for some reason, someone lives to be eighty or ninety, the Bible says that his days will be full of labor and sorrows. He would be suffering from bodily pains and even emotional anguish. Sickness and disease multiply among old folks as their strength and body deteriorate. These are deteriorating years, and losing years. One eventually loses eyesight, hearing, teeth, strength, beauty, friends, and many others, not to mention the pains that settle in many parts of the body.
In short, one may live to be over seventy years old, but these years would be nothing but years of suffering, pain, sorrow, loneliness, sadness, idleness, boredom, anxiety, depression, and many other negative experiences. It would take a great optimist to convert all this into favorable ones. Perhaps, that’s what one gets for living beyond the limit. It’s not an exciting life anymore, hence the preference of some to just give up the ghost.
Make no mistake about this. Am not saying that life beyond seventy is useless. Of course, it’s a blessing from God, a bonus so to speak. One should take it gratefully if one lives to be a hundred or more. Praise God for it.