dangerous times

as i knew it, it all began with...

teen-age lovers committing a crime of passion,
a jilted wife trooping to the mall killing her husband (and wounded a security guard).

then it grew in my consciousness. the series of unfortunate events were followed by equally gruesome incidents...

an entire family massacred in san pablo,
a missionary priest killed by an unidentified motorcycle riding assassin far down south,
a father killing his wife and children, save for one,
a mother gunned down by his son (the latter then turned the barrel unto himself and pulled the trigger),
a student of uplb gang-raped, robbed and killed,
a policeman shot by another in their own house. the suspect, his wife, surrendered to authorities,
19 soldiers, in the wake of the truce, killed by milf rebels in mindanao,
a so-called serial killer roaming in one of the subdivisions in quezon city and still continue sawing fear among the residents has killed one computer shop habitue with an ice-pick,

today in the news...

a guy shot along congressional road in quezon city by unidentified gunmen,
a man jumped to his death from the fourth floor of robinson's imus.

this is only what i heard on the radio and read in the newspapers. certainly there were more and the list might still grow in the coming days.

the spate of killings in the past weeks has become increasingly alarming. the guns of today is equivalent to the 'indian target' of the 50's and 60's, it has become a popular weapon as if they were handcrafted in every home by almost everyone including pre-adolescent kids or apparently it has become so cheap it can be had from sidewalk or ambulant vendors selling cigarettes on the streets.

what is becoming more alarming are members of the family gunning down each other over family issues. it seems that people these days are more short-tempered and don't believe in power of diplomacy anymore in solving conflicts.

life has also become so cheap. we can't rely to mamang pulis anymore to guarantee our safety. before our parents would warn us not to stay out late at night, the streets are not safe. now, even in the confines of our home we can't be sure anymore about our safety. we can't no longer trust even our father, our wife, our son, our daughter, brother or sister. we seems to be living in dangerous times that even to our self we pose as potential threats to our very life.