Irish Joy Angel B.

Ulep/Municipality of Bacarra/09468512306

Unwanted Silence
Everything is quiet. Too quiet, that the silence is somehow deafening. It is still mid-day
but the car horns and sound of car engines that I used to console with to muster up some
inspiration, were somehow muted. Silence, which seemed to have no place in this too noisy
world, found a perfect time to take over; carrying with it a weight of panic and threat.
I never thought that silence has such great power.
I used to treat silence as my solace and we used to equate silence with peace. But the type
of silence that took over the world is no peace at all, it is the symbol of people losing hope,
unheard pleas, and moreover, muted shouts of injustice.
It is a type of silence that caused a worldwide threat, a massive number of death cases,
and a number of 1,018,107 positive cases worldwide; which led to a worldwide panic. Namely,
the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
1,018,107 – quite a big number to imagine. Unfortunately, this figure does not reflect the
number of recovered cases about the COVID-19. This number is the April 2020 worldwide
update of the COVID-19 cases according to World Health Organization, with 53,251 death
cases. It is alarming that it steadily increases and that alongside with it is the increase of
worldwide panic, especially in our country, the Philippines. With lacking testing kits, it is no
wonder why our country is struggling to lessen the curve.
Battling with the COVID-19 is like engaging one’s self in a battle where your enemy has
way higher level than you. It is like having a match with your fist as your weapon and your
opponent’s gun as his. A suicide battle, some would say. A battle that would extend your life in
exchange for your silence. We exchanged our freedom, we freed every street with our noise and
somehow, the curve is still not flattened. Due to this, our degrading hopes, taking the initiative,
flattens.
Battling with the COVID-19 is like the government watching a movie with the volume
set to the lowest level. They watch every scene. They are able to witness everything, what every
lips utter but not ever hearing the words; words of help, pleas and words of need of the needy are
reciprocated with just a stare. The needy does everything to be heard but the powerful, though,
not really in need, are paid full attention; well attended.
Battling with the COVID-19 is like being placed on the right side of the scale and the
powerful on the left side of the scale, that in whatever we do, whatever justice we stand on,
however just we are, the scale can never be balanced because at the very start, our side is cut off
from the scale. We were never really hanging, we were dropped to the ground yet we still shout
for the injustices, shouts that will never be heard.
While I am exploring our quest against COVID-19, it dawned on me that the very thing
that this virus had done to us was to keep us silent. And from that silence, a web of events
somehow sprouted. It has led me to realize that we were able to know how to social distance,
Irish Joy Angel B. Ulep/Municipality of Bacarra/09468512306

shocked that the very thing that could help us prevent the spread of the virus was distance. We
were able to know how it is to stay put at home.
Maybe, just maybe, when there is a complete turn of events, the silence that the COVID
has caused us would let us realize the good things, perhaps, a reset. Perhaps COVID-19 let
silence took over to bring peace and rest to the earth, and when the earth is at its peace, then that
silence would cause celebrations, perhaps.
Everything is quiet. Too quiet that the silence is somehow deafening. It is still mid-day
and I decided to close my eyes, feeling the air through my window, imagining the sounds that
once dominated the surroundings: car horns, car engines, the potpot bell of a tinapay vendor, the
“tahoooooo” of a taho vendor and the likes. Someday, things will go back to the way it was.
Silence would soon loosen its grip along with panic and threat.
We are in a suicide battle but with us all fighting together, we might stand a chance. We
just have to wait.