Upset

It happens when the heavily favored loses to a lowly regarded player or team. Complacency is the language of the overconfident, upset the surprise package of the never expected. It happens in all sports when those not supposed to win on paper rewrote what it anticipated. And the overhyped left the arena asking what just happened while the underdog celebrates what really happened.

Unexpected but not necessarily unprepared, as opposed to most of us who saw the typhoon coming, may be prepared for the two-hour ordeal of fury unfurled, but not prepared well enough for the morning after. And the mourning after each morning. We so underestimated Odette until she brought death to life and property. And hope.

We thought everything returns to the new normal after a day or two. Instead, we were grounded, and humbled, to realize each new day is worse than yesterday. It speaks volumes about our collective preparedness before and response after the calamity.

With property devastated and people distraught in dire need of help, where else to rant than social media which reach and breadth are so overstretched? This partly explains why lines for charging gadgets are as long those for the basics. We don’t want to be disconnected from virtual reality. Of course communication is essential to keep in touch with family and other people that matter deeply. While our company tells who we are, calamity reveals who we first want to ensure safe and sound.

The need for responsible use of social media has never been more crucial than in times of calamity. Those who share information and images should ensure it is true and accurate. And equally important, that it matters, otherwise known as public interest. In case of doubt, leave it to legitimate media trained to report news the way they should be. If they err, how much more the untrained? Leave it to the professionals.

But helping others is not a profession, it is a basic human instinct. Any form of help is welcome, especially those that answer an urgent need. But help to make others feel better, not validate personal belief you are better than the others. That is not instinct, that stinks.

The opinionated should be given free space for free speech, but should be aware posting thoughts is so tricky and precarious a word could repeat the tragedy especially to the sick and dying. The thirsty, and hangry. Just one word could break the broken, like resilience. So abused a word it doesn’t even solve the problem of the resilient, it merely breeds inaction and incompetence.

Be conscious of the unwritten rules, so timeless they need not be written. Once legislated, they are adulterated. There are things better left unsaid, and rules better left unwritten. If it is easy to rewrite written rules, there is nothing to unwrite in a rule not written. Like sensitivity. But just because a rule is unwritten doesn’t mean those who represent entities in position are not duty bound. Like foresight. Otherwise known, or even written, as contingency, absent which amounts to accountability, a rule written in stone, failing which merits righteous indignation.