The storm had passed. A dove went back to the Ark bringing to Noah a leaf, a signal that new life had begun.
Then there was the rainbow. It was the sign of the covenant God made with Noah that there would no longer be great waters to wipe the face of the earth.
Until Yolanda (Haiyan) forced the million-peso, or rather, the million-soul question to Filipinos and to the world:
Has God already forgotten His covenant? Was it not applicable to the Visayas?
God was put on the hot seat. But He was not there.
Neither was the Dove nor the Rainbow. At least not on their conventional forms.
There have been Doves, not the cute angelic birds but the ones with engines, bringing “leaves,” signals that life continues—planes of many sorts bringing relief from countless hearts called to solidarity.
The doves do not mean that there is so much life at this time. The doves are telling everyone that there is so much life to give.
And there has been the Rainbow. It could not be seen above. Only the color of the flags—not just seven hues but a burst of the colors of countless hearts called to solidarity.
The rainbow no longer stands for a light-spectacle-after-a-rain whose points are difficult to find where a pot gold could be found. It now stands as a Bridge of nations—specific points in the world where golds are real and could be shared.
The rainbow no longer means no more flood, no more suffering. It now stands for hope, for solidarity, for genuine beauty of humanity.
And God? He is never on the hot seat critics are supposing to have put him. He is there among those who appeal for solidarity. He is there among those who extend charity. He is here among all of us.
