Life - the good, the bad and the ugly.

It
was a usually busy day for me when I was first informed about Zennia’s untimely
death. It was a shocking, unbelievable
news. But then I received a barrage of
text messages asking me if it was true and asking me to verify the
information. I contacted somebody I know
who confirmed that indeed, there was a bomb blast in a 5-star hotel in Kabul,

Afghanistan, and one of
the casualties was a Filipina. Her name
was being withheld then but after a few phone calls, I was confirmed that it
was her. I was so shaken that it even
took me some effort dialing Baki’s number. I knew from the tone of his voice that they were already informed. We were both in shock that we did not even
know what to say to each other. We just
promised to keep in touch.

I
dropped everything I was doing then and contacted our batchmates and friends
through email and text messages. Many
responded with shock and disbelief.

Once
the shock started to wane, the denial stage set in. It cannot be true! We tried to cling to that
thin hope that the news was not true. We
wanted to believe that there some mistake along the way – that maybe there was
miscommunication – that maybe there was a mix up. We were praying that things will take a turn
around……………………………

But
then, we began to face reality. And with
reality came extreme grief, anger and helplessness. Grief over the loss of a daughter, a sister,
a friend….. Anger towards the perpetrators of this senseless war raging on in
the world….helplessness because we were not even able to do something to help
her, to protect her, or to save her.

While
going through her friendster account in the internet, her saying immediately
caught my attention. She quoted Douglas
Adams when he said, “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I
have gone, where I needed to be.” What
was the message she wanted to deliver with this saying? Was she referring to her being inAfghanistan

despite the objections of everyone? Was
this a sign of where she is now, in a place with her creator?

I
remember last year when she came home, I was concerned about her security inAfghanistan. She fearlessly assured me and everyone else that she was safe where she was in Afghanistan as we are here in the country. She even
said, to quote her words, “Ine nunan gubat et id   Mindanao, sak-en et wada ak id Baguio isunga
adayo isnan gulo.” (If the war is in Mindanao, I am in Baguio, so i am far from the war area.) Well, who should have
known otherwise. Even when she called me
to assist her in getting an exemption from the Bureau of Immigration for her to
be allowed to Afghanistan, I was telling her that I would even tell immigration
not to issue the said exemption – but she said that if that happens, then she
will just pay the man at the airport $100.00 and off she goes to Afghanistan.

 
That
was how she was. She was a determined
person with a free spirit. She lived her
life the way she wanted it to be and did what she wanted to do. Her life may have been lived shorter than
what we wanted, but she lived it with fulfillment.  Others have already said that she was caring,
loving, understanding, strong, a happy person and a true friend. She used her wisdom to stand up for what is
right and to correct what is wrong. She touched the lives of persons she loved,
and of persons she met. She lived her
principles and encouraged others to do the same, always giving words of
encouragement for those who needed them. She was a loving and peaceful person.

If she needed to
be where she is now, then it was because she had a purpose. Even with the circumstance of her death, she
wanted to send a message to those she left behind. I know for sure she would not want us to take
up arms and avenge her death. Her
message is for us to become advocates against war or violence and become
instruments for peace and justice because in war, there are no victors, just
victims. There is no better eulogy to Zennia
and the other victims of war than to put a total stop to it.

As
we say our last farewell and go on with our separate lives, let us not forget
Zennia. Let us make her part of our
daily lives by becoming instruments of peace and justice among our family,
friends, community, country and the whole world. Let us make her principles be part of our own
and her dreams part of our own dreams.

Farewell
my friend, ‘til we meet again.

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