I believe the whole country or at least majority knows of the news about Mariannet Amper, a 12 year old girl from Davao City who committed suicide last week. A diary was found in her room, and there it was written how she laments further on her family’s piteous situation. It was all in the news, so I don’t think I’ll have to go further about this. 

    This tragic incident serves as a wake up call for the government and everyone else, including the “non-existent” people as well. It reminds us that we should all be contented with what we have. It teaches us to STOP whining and complaining about our very insignificant everyday “crisis”.

    What I’m trying to say here is that…
     ♣We incessantly pester our parents to buy us the latest gadgets and gizmos or impractically expensive things and we fire up if they refuse when Mariannet had to write to “ Wish ko lang*” just for a new bag and a pair of shoes.
    ♣We are so fortunate that at 12 we didn’t have to go to work to add to our family income, yet we complain when our parents ask us to do some light household chores.
    ♣We waste our time flunking school; we barely even go to class, and we hardly even study yet a lot of children (like Mariannet) out there desperately wants to be in school but they just can’t afford it.
    ♣We rage into arms, we protest, and we rally about the small salary we get from the company we work for when Mariannet’s parents have to live by on a scanty income of more or less than fifty pesos a day.
    ♣We stay up and party all night spending and burning big bucks while they spend sleepless nights thinking how can they get through the merely small amount they have for the next day.
    ♣We scowl upon a tuyo** set before us when their family hardly even has anything to eat.
    ♣We grumble when we don’t get enough allowance for our miscellaneous expenses while Mariannet’s father couldn’t even hand her out a hundred pesos for her school project.

    There’s so much in life that we have to be thankful for yet we failed to see.

    I hope this heartrending news slapped our faces hard. I hope it awakened every one of us. We don’t have to lose a life just to remind us to be thankful and be contented of the things that we have. Even though we don’t get all the lavishness we desire, at least we’re fortunate enough that we haven’t gone through what they have just to survive this very unjust world. Count your blessings and be grateful for that.

*a tv program that seeks to bring hope to the TV audience by granting some of their wishes sent through letters every week.
**a dried fish