A collective wound needs a collective action

With nine people dead and more than a hundred injured, we have another dark day in our history. We can always speculate on who the perpetrators are but our speculation may most likely be tainted by our personal biases. And as we speculate, the more we magnify the rift that prevails in our land.

Just this time, can we leave our personal and political biases aside and come together and mourn for our dead innocent countrymen. Are we not capable of doing something together at this time of tragedy.

With the Makati bombing, the cyberspace is very much abuzz with all reactions, speculations and personal experiences about the incident. We as a nation have experience a colletive wound, the bombing. And yet, we are not capable of making a united collective action. Instead, we keep on rattling on who did it, what did it, who gained from it, etc. Comments from Manolo's and Ellen Tordesillas'blogs are excellent examples. The Inquirer has reported blogger covering the Makati blast. All blogs, I believe, will say something in reaction to the incident. The blast is also the center of discussion internet forums and groups. That is very understable. As I said, what we experience was a collective wound and it is but normal for us to make a reaction.

But let us also view this incident as an opportunity. An opportunity to come together by mourning for the casualties and expresing our disgust over the dastardly act. Let us take and make a collective action. For once, let us show to ourselves that we are capable of doing something together collectively as a people, as a nation We can use the internet to spread the word. Let it not be an initiative of any group or political party but an initiatve coming from us, netizens. Then we make ourselves useful, instead of bickering all of the time just like politicians.

There are many ways where we can take a collective action to show our unity in expressing our disgust over the bombing. We can make a call on every Filipino homes to display a Philippine flag. Or we can all wear a black shirt on a particular day. Or we can ask the church to toll the bells, honk our cars, hit the pan, make a noise on a particular time. Or we can all just go to Glorietta, no speaches, no banners, no placards, just a show of numbers. Or we can spread the slogan, Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas (too self serving), to express our sentiment on our love for our country. The point is, we have experienced a collective wound. To bring about a positive outcome from this incident, we, the citizens minus the politicians, have to make a collective action.

Bloggers brought Malu Fernandez down on her knees. Let us raise the level of our significance. There is an opportunity to bring our country come together. Are we netizens up to the challenge?