𝘃𝗶𝗮 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆𝗮 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗮 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘀, 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗛
"Sana bumagyo para suspended."
It’s a phrase we often see online, with sleepy selfies, flooded streets, or posts begging for class suspension. At first glance, it seems harmless. Sometimes, it even sounds funny. But behind those words is a truth we often ignore.
For students and workers in safe places, the rain means a break from long days. A chance to rest, eat noodles, or scroll through their phones. But for others, the rain is not rest. It is ruin. It means wet floors, broken roofs, missing slippers, and trips to evacuation centers. While some wish for storms to skip school, others pray it doesn’t rain at all, because they might lose everything.
A child from an informal settlement doesn’t look forward to a storm. He carries his school bag above his head, hoping it stays dry. He is not worried about failing a quiz. He is worried their walls will fall apart. For him, there is no such thing as "sana bumagyo." The storm doesn't give him rest. It takes away the little peace he already has.
It’s easy to laugh at memes about flooding when your house stays dry. It’s easy to wish for suspensions when your pantry is full and your lights stay on. But what we don’t see online are the soaked notebooks, the hungry parents, or the children trembling on a cold floor. These don’t make it into our feeds, but they are real.
This is not to blame those who are tired. We all need rest. We all wish for pause. But next time you say "sana bumagyo," think about the people who don’t get to joke about it. Your wish could be someone else’s nightmare.
Instead of waiting for storms to cancel our work, maybe we should learn to take breaks kindly. Instead of joking about the rain, maybe we should start caring about who gets hit the hardest.
Let the rain remind us not just to stop, but to look around. Let the storm shake not just the trees, but our hearts. Because the rain you wished for may be the rain they feared. And perhaps, in place of "sana bumagyo," we can start saying, "sana makapagpahinga tayong lahat, kahit walang ulan."
