The Building Storm

A flurry of texts came my way starting February 9, all enjoining friends to join the march at various points wearing various colors all meeting at the Ninoy Aquino statue by Paseo de Roxas. As the day nears, I kept praying there will be many who will join and this will not be the same faces or the same hakots seen in almsot all post-Erap rallies. I also prayed for sun so that it will be a warm day of again creating history.

On Friday, 15 February I decided not to join the various groups marching to the Paseo. I decided to walk on my own trying to remember when was the last time I joined a march, asking myself why I am here and what's the point of joining this effort. It was a cloudy afternoon with threats of rain pouring any minute. I decided to pass by a huddle where a security guard was telling everyone "ang daming tao, ito na siguro". I was wondering what he meant by that statement but along the way, you can hear people saying, "sana ito na..." Yes the crowd was big but its not the typical crowd you would see in the early days of people power.

What makes the rally unique were each of the streets leading to the statute were headed by different groups; there were no politicians going up the stage (they were all down observing and feeling their way), its a cross section of the society who listened and quietly left. The crowd was thick then some left by 5 pm and a different set of people, mostly young law students came by early evening, increasing the number to almost 10,000.

Indeed, these are again the small steps we have to take for our country. As a people, it seems we never learn.